Gilt-y Dresses for under $100

Since I had a Hudson's Bay gift card burning a hole in my wallet, I went to their site and browsed what sorts of apparel they carry these days. I was so stoked when I saw this banner for "Must Have Dresses":

Photo: from TheBay

The featured dress above for "The A Line Shift" caught my eye and I thought I'd hunt it down. I tend to gravitate towards shift dresses - I must have been a paper bag princess in a past life. However, I felt a bit duped because there was nothing like this red, black & white colour block dress at all in their online selections and I have no clue what label its from. They had other nice dresses, but not that one.

So forget The Bay, I'll browse shoes there on another day! For summer dresses I ventured to Gilt, one of those members-only flash sales site, and found they had plenty of pretty dresses ranging from a lot of inexpensive not-so-familiar labels like The Letter and Alex + Alex to Giambattista Valli, Monique Lhuillier, & Zac Posen at other wallet-draining end. There were up to 6 or 7 pages of options for under $100. It sure beats straining your fingers going through the racks at Winners for these prices. There were styles to suit all body types, silhouettes and trends (ie: the lace, the high-low hem, the maxi, etc). Here are a few of my favourites from the site:

L -> R: Alex + Alex, Edun, The Letter, Winter Kate, & Sam & Lavi, all for under $100 CAD
Photos: from Gilt.com 

For years Gilt never shipped to Canada, now they do for a reasonable $9.95. And most prices include duties and taxes, which is a nice bonus! Just to Gilt.com and sign up and ask for an invite (or you can ask me via msg on FB or in the comments below)  Small hoops to jump through.. also the thing about flash sales is that inventory changes daily so impulse buying is unavoidable (sorry!) The other disadvantage is Gilt doesn't allow for returns from Canada. This is why I'd recommend purchasing less expensive items and save the splurge purchases for elsewhere.

Catching up...

Wow, the last couple months have been blur since I've became a mommy. The cycle of feeding, diaper changes, and trouble shooting nap techniques do pass the days and weeks away. Life has changed but every minute with him warms my heart... as exhibited below:

 Sure, I would get an odd minute or two to read up on this and that - so trust me, SOAF blurb ideas have come and gone during this last month. For example, I was excited about and wanted to share the news that some of the Met Gala dresses worn this year were available for sale on a Moda Operandi trunk show - that is if you have four or five digit sums of extra cash available! And H&M announced that their November 2013 collaboration collection is by one of my favourites, Isabel Marant.. I can't wait to see that... and (maybe l will write about this later in a reveal) as a Mother's Day gift, I did acquired a pre-loved cerf tote from one of favourite house that starts with "C" and ends with "L". A girl needs an alternate diaper bag, non?

 However, some things can be accomplished hands free while feeding baby. Like watching 80's chic flicks on the internet and watching you tube videos. I have watched Michelle Phan makeup tutorials as I'm clueless with make up - this tip in particular I will try (video below) as I am getting that urge to chop my hair off. She is super talented and so skilled at transforming looks with makeup. No wonder she is a You Tube millionaire! Well deserved!

And today I discovered Melissa Soldera's You Tube channel. She's the owner/founder of Style Society sales agency, distributing mid to high end designer collections to Canadian retailers. Thus, proving one can have a successful entrepreneurial career in fashion buying here. She's from Montreal and she correctly pronounces her French labels correctly... and those who of you who love LV can appreciate her collection. Here's an example of a video- this one is on what she stuffs into her Birkin:

The last thing I want to note is my recovery from delivering a baby involves that challenge of getting the ol' body back. Like any other mom, its something I am not able to dedicate much time to but will slowly work on. First priority is the little guy and trying to get back in my jeans is secondary. After asking around, I think giving myself a goal of 6 months to a year would be most sensible. In fact, I found a video posted of a fashion show (CCYAA's Oriental Fusion) I participated in a decade ago. The  clothes in this show clip were provided by Diesel from their S/S 2003 season.. and I had to wear a tube top as a skirt because I didn't fit the sample sizes provided. So the consensus is.. if I can get half as fit as I used to be, that'll be fine! :)