If I am repeating myself, forgive me –– but I have a penchant for fancy pajamas. The simplest are the best; white cotton with navy blue piping –– initials beautifully monogrammed into the breast pocket. It’s a little rêve of mine to spend the entire day in Frette pajamas, Charlotte Olympia loafers on my feet. These here are just perfect, ATS.

I’ve been looking for a light weight coat –– something for the mid to late teens. I tried on a few cotton parkas, but none of them suited me. And then I came across this kimono style coat designed by LRNCE –– a Belgian fashion label based in Marrakech ––and now it’s all I want to wear. That it’s out of stock puts a caveat in my plans, as does the fact that the line is only available at shops in Antwerp, Florence, Paris and Marrakech. Plan B is to take images and a great fabric to my very talented and able Toronto seamstress so she can copy it. It’s rarely the same as the real thing, I know. Sometimes, it’s even better.

I’m a big fan of capes –– I find them quite romantic. And I don’t feel that they’re worn nearly enough. I’ve seen quite a few winter ones of late –– a mix of plaid and cable knit –– that I rather like. But this one here, is sheer frivolity. I’m not sure in what world I’d wear it, but I can say for sure, that it would be a whimsical one.

Neon always makes me think of my old school friend, Luisa Monachello. There was this one school trip to Epping Forest where Luisa turned up at the school bus looking like she was off to a rave; the leggings, the socks, the anorak, the hair scrunchie –– everything was neon. It’s been raining lately, and I’ve thought of my friend a lot as I’ve darted around town with my neon pink K-Way and acid yellow BaoBao. She was on to something all those years ago –– if you’re going to stand out, you may as well go all the way.

I’m kind of crazy about the Valentino ’17 Resort –– the mismatching of print and texture is so exciting to me. Cuba was the inspiration: “The thing we love about Cuba is the many different memories of the place—African, Spanish, ’50s America,” said Valentino creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri in Vogue.  “It gave us a real freedom to mix, like a souvenir, lots of pieces together,” added her partner Pierpaolo Piccioli. If I was picking a piece to take home, this oxblood red leather coat with leopard collar would be a winner in my wardrobe.

Last night Luma went to bed wearing two pairs of pajamas, because she’s two, and one pair just wasn’t enough. The day before, she walked to the ROM wearing a full length mille feuille tutu over her clothes. Most days, she walks out the door looking like she got dressed at a jumble sale. My children have always had a strong sense of how they want to dress. Antimo wore a tutu and a dragon suit through his toddler years, and Iole has pretty much been in fancy dress since birth. Wouldn’t it be fun to leave the house with a Carmen Miranda fruit bowl on your head, or to wear a full length ballgown to the dentist, just because? And why one pair of jeans, when you can wear three?

I’ve seen a lot of bomber jackets about lately. In our early teens, my brother and I both wore bombers. Mine was a Yankees one with white leather sleeves. It was baggy on me, but as a kid in London, an American baseball jacket was the coolest thing. If it hadn’t ended up on the racks of Oxfam, (my Mum is a regular purger) I might be inclined to still wear it. It was a good jacket. My Plan B is this Tahitian beauty, smoking a ciggy in the palm trees. The gold and green combo is pretty cool, too.

Some shoes are just too beautiful to live in a box. Years ago, I bought a breathtaking pair of Marie Antoinette style Manolos in the most perfect pink imaginable. They were a sample sale impulse buy, because they were a size too small. Sometimes, I’ll squeeze my foot in, like one of the ugly stepsisters, and waddle around the house, but the rest of the time, the shoes sit on our drink’s trolley. I think they look rather lovely among the crystal glasses, Whiskey and Gin, and at least this way, I get to enjoy them everyday.

I don’t wear black. Me in black is as bizarro as Diane Pernet in colour. But in the spirit of trying new things (a 65-year-old woman in my pottery class has inspired me with her mission to try everything) I’m giving black another go. This seems like as good a place as any to start.