Better Late Than Never

L’Academie blouse (c/o REVOLVE) (similar)
Grlfrnd jeans (c/o REVOLVE)
Christian Louboutin heels
Celine bag
Zara sunglasses (similar)
Madewell rings
& Other Stories earrings
Location: The Grain Exchange Building – Winnipeg, Manitoba

My obsession with REVOLVE is hardly a secret. If you’ve been here a while, you’re undoubtedly used to seeing pieces from REVOLVE pop up over and over again. I worked in partnership with REVOLVE for a long time – close to two years, in fact – and it was, without a doubt, one of the most rewarding collaborations I’ve been lucky to take part in since I started Coco & Vera. All good things must come to an end, of course, and our collaboration did, too. Imagine my surprise, then, when a delivery showed up on my doorstep two weeks ago with a REVOLVE shipping label.

I still order from REVOLVE fairly regularly. The site is my go-to for a lot of things, but most particularly for Grlfrnd jeans, which are my absolute favourite. Every cut I’ve tried is perfect, but I admit to having a particular enthusiasm for the Karolina – Grlfrnd has finally released them in the perfect black wash and I’ll be ordering my pair any day now. But I haven’t yet. In fact, I haven’t ordered anything from REVOLVE for a few months. And when I do, the shipping is always quick. Nothing has ever arrived late, not even by a day. So the delivery was a complete mystery – although, I admit, not an unpleasant one.

Last July, while our collaboration was still ongoing, my monthly delivery from REVOLVE went astray. I was at my fourth address in a number of months, so I was sure it must have simply been mailed to the wrong place. But it didn’t turn up anywhere – not at my old apartment in Vancouver, not at my parents’ house, not even in Paris. Disappointed, I followed up, hoping I would still get a chance to style the pieces, which I had carefully chosen and already loved. But no one seemed able to track the shipment down. Eventually, I gave up hoping it would ever arrive…

…and then, two weeks ago, almost ten months late, it suddenly did. When I opened the mystery delivery two weeks ago, I found a shipping receipt dated July 2017, along with a pair of jeans and a blouse that I’ve loved from afar for nearly a year. I’ll never know where they’ve been, or what kind of crazy journey through the mail they took to get here. But it doesn’t really matter. When it comes to most things in life, late is better than never, and that’s certainly the case with online orders. I envisioned myself wearing this outfit last summer. But it feels just as perfectly timeless and effortless now as it would have then. And no matter how long it took them to arrive, or how late they ultimately were, I am thrilled to have them in my wardrobe now.

I admit, I do almost all of my shopping online. There are very few brick and mortar stores near my home. Even if there were, I’d probably choose to shop on my computer. To me, it’s simpler and more comfortable. But despite how much online shopping I do, It’s rare that I stop to consider all of the logistical planning that goes into ensuring that all my orders arrive at my door on time. And it’s rare because all of my orders do show up relatively on time and without incident. When you actually stop to think about just how much can go wrong, and how many people it takes to get a single order from your online cart to you, it’s actually pretty incredible.

Sure, this outfit took almost a year to get to me. But almost a year later, I still love it. So – better late than never.