A very belated Jay of the Day. I’ve scored a new job which means that I have been mad busy lately. This sexy ensemble centres around the sexy black faux leather biker jacket that I recently picked up at Mr. Price. Great fit, comfortable material and a generally bad-ass look, this will be a great piece for Autumn and Winter. Beneath, an acrylic slim-fit polo neck that I found in the treasure chest that is Bounty Hunters. Seriously, if you haven’t been, get yourself in there. Skinny blue jeans from Jay Jays and black faux leather shoes from Woolworths.

He’s already gotten several compliments on the jacket, so I’ll have to keep an eye on my biker boyfriend.

The Trevira jacket and waistcoat that today’s Jay of the Day is rocking is an heirloom from his Dad and the sexy seventies wardrobe he managed to acquire. The tweed-look is a little flashy, so I like to pair it with solid colours so that we don’t get too disco.

The grey Woolworths shirt paired with the dusty blue brings out the colours of the set, and I dressed it up a little with the silk bow-tie I bought from Reminiscene for our fourth anniversary. To make the whole look a little younger, he rocked a pair of Converse hi-tops with chequerboard laces. I found the laces at Mr. Price, and got these and a purple pair for just R6. Unfortunately, he got turned down for a bank loan…when applying as a mystery shopper.

Fooled you. ;)

I’m not even going to lie, this is a pretty big and out-there bow tie. It takes real chutzpah to pull something like this off, but even more…it requires simple dressing. Simplicity is beauty, and the devil is in the details. In other words - keep it simple, clean and classic. Today’s Jay of the Day tries to achieve that.

The bow-tie was a gift from J’s Opi. I’m not sure of the era, make or fabric, but it is definitely an assertive piece. To tone it down a notch, we paired it with a classic white shirt with a button-down collar, some black skinny jeans and a subtly-patterned knitted vest. The red plimsolls pulled the colours together, but may be in need of retirement…

Thoughts on this bow-tie? Is it Bill Nye, or oh hai?

Our Jay of the Day for Friday looked particularly suave and sophisticated, but also manly. For our anniversary this year, I bought my lover a pair of red leather brogues. They are only from Mr. Price, but they are from the Project Limited Edition Mister Trickett Range.

That means that a designer (Mister Trickett, or to be more precise, Neville Trickett) designs a number of items, in a finite quantity, for Mr. Price. They are of a better quality, but are still within Mr. Price’s audience’s price range.

The word “brogues” originated in the late sixteenth century and is a derivation of the Irish and Scots Gaelic “bróg”, taken from the Old Norse “brók” meaning “leg covering”. Brogues are descended from an outdoor shoes, made from untanned leather, where the pattern (or broguing) was not merely decorative, but instead allowed water to drain from the shoes after the wearer had crossed wet terrain.

I love these. They are a good, deep red, and the correct term for these specific shoes is a Wingtip (full brogue) Oxford dress shoes. Wingtip refers to the type of pattern, and Oxford refers to the closure style. Every man needs a pair of slightly risqué shoes, and these fit the bill nicely. They are handmade from leather, and match his freebie Hansa tie really well. I thought the combination of paisley on the tie and brogues was quite dandyish, so we toned it down with a classic white cotton shirt and black skinny jeans from Jay Jays.

These beautiful marcasite and jet earrings were a gift from my lover on our fourth anniversary. We browsed through Reminiscene for hours, looking over their beautiful array of vintage jewellery, before settling on these.

Rosemary told us that these are authentic 1920’s earrings, set in sterling silver.

I love them because they are understated and elegant, and go with everything. They can be dressed up or down, and always add the perfect finishing touch to whatever I’m wearing. The shape is flattering, and the marcasite is a wonderfully subtle sparkle that highlights the velvety effect of light on the jet.

The best thing about my Mad Men-style cocktail party was the effort that my guests put in. Without them dressing like they mean it (Caitlin was wearing a vintage 1950s cocktail dress), it would have been a silly effort, with pretentious food and no beer.

Here, for your pleasure, are some choice photos of the best-dressed guests. They turned it into a sizzling shindig!

This is the first post about the cocktail party I mentioned recently. I hadn’t celebrated my birthday yet, and J had presented at an international conference, so I felt we deserved to celebrate. What better way to celebrate than by pretending to be Don Draper and Jean Holloway, and having an early-60’s themed cocktail party?

Naturally, I had to cater to theme. The early 60’s hostess was obsessed with two things: dips, and fiddly fingerfood. Cue home-made cheese and chives dip, a frothy avocado guacamole and foods within other foods. Mayonnaise and mustard flavoured yolk in half egg whites (devilled eggs), prunes in bacon (devils on horseback), chicken sausages in pastry (not pictured, and my Jew-friendly take on pigs in a blanket - chickens in a blanket!), and delicious berry, almond and chocolate phyllo parcels that disappeared before I could take a picture. The canapes were cream cheese, cherry tomato and chive on a garlic melba toast round.

Could you get any more fiddly?

A wonderful time was had by all, especially as the bar was set up with a proper retro recipe book and a poster of the most popular drinks of the time, as well as liquor and cocktail ingredients.

Now that’s how you throw a house party.

Cheers!

Today’s real Jay of the Day was rocking a wonderful addition to his wardrobe - skinny chinos. He loved these dusty teal ones, and the more sophisticated cut is perfect for work. We found them at Jay Jays, and I have to say - they’re pretty versatile! Like jeans for the modern, thinking man. Not that jeans, especially skinny ones, will ever become redundant…it’s just nice to have a little variation. Chinos were actually developed in the mid-19th century for British and French military uniforms!

I teamed these with his Woolworths shoes and a dove grey shirt from the same store, with the sleeves rolled up to make it a little cooler for the season transition. The perfect finishing touch was the bow-tie, which was from his Opi. I can only assume that it is silk, due to the age of the bow-tie as well as the fact that Opi was an unrepentant dandy. He even drew arrows on the back to indicate which way this clip-on bow-tie was meant to be worn.

Bless. :)

Ha, and we thought that last little intermission was worthy of an apology.

Between ridiculous cocktail parties (which shall be shared), childhood illnesses (yes, I’m in my 20s and still got laid low by earache), anniversaries, and discovering the company I was working for was fraudulent, posting has been non-existent.

This Jay of the Day is actually from the second of August, but then sat, forgotten, on my camera. I really liked the combination of the vintage leather skinny tie, which I found at Bounty Hunters, and the delicately striped French Connection shirt. The shirt has dashed red and black vertical stripes, which complement not only the tie but also the black trim on the Celio Club cardigan.

Overall, it’s quite a continental look. The shirt and cardigan are French design, the tie (being leather) is made in Italy, natch. Cue the classic Jay Jays skinnys and Woolworths shoes, and we’re sorted. :)