Black and White and Grey for Fall

With some red for good fun!

Cotton Cardigan, Plaid Cypress Skirt, Hama Hama Top, and Striped Hester Skirt:

Lily Spotlight: Hester Skirt

Since we have just created a new incarnation of the Hester Skirt, I thought it fitting to do a little retrospective on this cute garment. We've been making this mini skirt for 5 years now. It's seen different pocket styles, and different fabrics, some have been silk-screened, and some not. The common thread is the great fit and cute factor.

I have to confess that I have 5 of them - yes, five! I know it seems crazy but I've loved every incarnation and they are my favourite go to piece for walking out the front door feeling good. In my early 40's I told myself that I would stop wearing mini skirts when I turned 45. Thankfully my boyfriend convinced my otherwise (what boy is going to say "yeah, I think that skirt is too short"?). I will say that I only wear them with tights now, the legs not being what they once were. It will be interesting to see if 50 becomes my new cutoff point for this skirt. For now I am grappling with whether to add a 6th to the collection. Who am I kidding...the new striped version is waaay to cute to resist.

Spring 2006

Summer 2007

Fall 2007

Fall 2007

Spring 2008

Fall 2008

Spring 2009

Fall 2010

Spring 2011

Spring 2011

Summer 2011

Vancouver Update: New Skirts!

You may have noticed these newest additions to a very long line of Smoking Lily skirts posted on our website this weekend. They are fantastic skirts. We love skirts! They are fun, comfortable and I feel they make for a much less traumatic change-room experience than pants (Does anyone else find that pants are overly cruel about pointing out less than desirable physical features, while skirts are happy to help out with acceptable delusions of walking about in your younger body by skimming over the difficult spots and highlighting the good stuff? Aaah skirts, you're a good friend). As any of you that have shopped in our Vancouver store will know, Erin and I are always happy to extoll the benefits of the almighty skirt... and their awesome cousin, the slip.

Here's the new Cypress skirt in men's shirting cotton plaid, paired with a red Hama Hama top and a cotton jersey Cardigan.

And here's the new Hester skirt in striped cotton canvas paired with a Simple Tee - fun!

Shoe buying freeze

Smoking Lily on Main Street in Vancouver is located right next door to Umeboshi, an incredibly awesome shoe store. Due to my weak will power where shoes are concerned, I have a nice collection of boots (my main weakness as they go so well with tights and the Hester Skirts that I live in) and shoes. In September I declared a "shoe buying freeze" for one year for myself. I do have to admit that I qualified that with "new shoes" as I felt a couple pair of second-hand shoes whould be acceptable.

To my amazement, I have done very well so far, until the L.A. trip that is. I bought 2 pairs of shoes - eeek. My excuses, one pair was only $38 brand new (basically second-hand price), the other pair was on such deep discount and were so beautiful I couldn't resist (ok, I could have, but I didn't). So when I tried on the shoes in the photos below I decided that my new tactic would be to photograph my feet in the shoes I wanted and leave them behind. I get some of the shopping thrill and none of the guilt. We'll see how well this works...

These beauties are patent leather and tweed!

The white ones were fine woven jute, so pretty, and so high! I have to admit to being a little more sad about leaving these behind in West Hollywood. The black cotton espadrilles are the $38 pair I brought home.

Good Lookin' Mannequins

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share two of my favourite looks from the Vancouver shop at the moment. Both are casual but put together, and very, very comfortable.

On the left, we have the Richmond Skirt and Mt. Pleasant Top in "Moroccan Blue." On the right is a printed American Apparel cardigan and one of our Ribbon Tees layered over a Hester Skirt (the denim shown is already off the web store, but there are still a few kicking around the shops).

Below is a close up of one of the new lace Dancing Leaf necklaces Noriko dropped off for us last week--sooo pretty, and a good way to inject a little feminine flounce into an otherwise clean-lined look. Noriko even makes a point of using only B.C. wine to dye the lace this lovely pink-purple; she is too cute!

Vancouver Update: Colours, prints, and David Suzuki!

Despite the fact it isn't supposed to last, we have been enjoying some seriously glorious sunshine here at the Vancouver shop--all the better to show off the fabulous David Suzuki fundraiser dress in the window! Today's box from the studio also brought us a roll of kraft paper covered with Mr. Suzuki, so I have a feeling we'll be posting some photos soon of more window display madness (happy birthday tomorrow, David!).

Along with conspicuous amounts of sunshine, we've also been enjoying an amazing amount of colour in the shop of late--yay, Spring! Here are some quick snaps of what's been brightening my day:

Beautiful tomato red and and an olive-y, army-ish green in the Luv Affair Dress. (You can't really tell in this photo, but the green is printed with coils of barbed wire; how lady-like!)

A cheerful range of teal, kelly green, and very bright periwinkle Garden State Dresses. These new Spring colours are all also a bamboo blend fiber, which makes them wondrously soft!

We now have the Cypress Skirt available in three lovely linens (magenta, teal, and pistachio), and are soon to have the über-comfy Wonton Love in a bright grape-y purple to go along with the "Moroccain" blue and "atomic" red pictured above (and my apologies for the rather crummy cell phone photo colour reproduction going on here. I highly recommend coming in to check them all out in person, of course;p).

Last, but not least, we received our first of the new printed Hester Skirt! Made from durable black cotton twill, these little (but not too little!) guys will go with just about everything. Glenda and I are famous for telling people that the Hester is the most useful skirt you'll ever own, and we're not kidding. I have two and Glenda has six--six!--and counting...

Winter Camping

Winter is upon us - but camping continues. I donned my Lily Wool Vest (in-between a silk undershirt and a down sweater) and was off to experience sleeping and fishing through sub zero temperatures. It was a blast! The Squamish River Valley is gorgeous and though the fish weren't biting, the hikes were a satisfying end in themselves.

This New Years Eve, I'll be going a tad more comfy - a roof, running water and a wood stove, with hot springs nearby - dreamy. I think I'll take some Lily slippers along for cozy feet at the cabin.

Oh... the Vest was great survival gear, and I'll be wearing it to a Christmas party over a ruffled sleeve tee with the Hester Skirt and some sparkly tights - yay versatility!