Chunky heels from Nine West
I picked up a pair of navy heels the other day. It wasn’t an easy search as shoes are mostly brown, burgundy, tan or black these days. There are a lot of cobalt shoes hanging around but not too much in navy. I found these shoes at Nine West. The picture show is grey but the ones I have are navy. I like the fake reptile print in them also.

They are basically knockoffs from the Chloe Spring 2007 season. They removed a strap, changed the colour and ditched gold for silver.

I like that the chunky heel is back this season, they are so much nicer to walk in, even at 3.5 inches.

I also tried on these Prada Fall 2007 knockoffs but they didn’t look that great on me. The original Prada’s for comparison, they changed the colour, but it’s basically the same shoe.

click the thumbnails for larger images

I talked about my Chanel skirt in my Shopping Secrets post. I scored some other items I scored on that trip like this Jean Paul Gautier sweater

This pic gives you better look at the Chanel skirt.

image: Rachel from TorontoStreetFashion.com

Houndstooth Sweater Dress from Joe Fresh

I’ve been looking for a sweater dress since the beginning of the season. I only have a tank sweater dress and nothing with sleeves. I was passing by the Steeles and Keele Supercentre and stopped in to find one at Joe Fresh. It’s actually 70% lambswool which totally surprised me. It’s cute though, we’ll see how long it takes to get destroyed though.

I picked up a striped sweater dress from H&M too. I’m surprised at how much I like it.

Both were under 30 dollars.

Danielle from Final Fashion is a fashion illustrator.. She started an illustration project for anyone who wished for an original image that would be placed on Moo cards. After seeing the results of Lady Kit Kat, Carolyn and the grumpy owl, I decided to commission my own.

The inspiration:
I wanted my photo to convey some sort of graceful movement instead of the typical jaunty pose. I told Danielle to do what she felt was best, but I wanted movement. I also wanted to be wearing this outfit from my dream collection, Balenciaga Spring 2007.

The reveal after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

The nice people from Harper Collins Canada send me the Little Black Book of Style by Nina Garcia to review. I gladly accepted as I love free books, and she gave me something to blog about. Nina Garcia is the Fashion Director at Elle Magazine and is one of the judges on Project Runway.

The first thing I noticed about the book is the fantastic illustrations by Ruben Toledo. They make the book worth buying alone. The book has a well rounded focus and adds some historical context that is normally found in other offerings of the same genre. I’ll give you a little breakdown of each chapter

1. Be Your Own Muse - basic intro to the book basically telling people that how you present yourself is important, blah, blah

2. The Basics - Great list of items that should be in everyones closet. The items that are the basis of a great wardrobe. It emphasizes wearing what is looks good on you, buying your size and purging your closet.

3. Inspirations - Describes the influences of the following areas: Film, Music, Travel and Art on fashion and the major players

4. What to Wear When - I found this section particularly funny, but I guess some people need guidance. Some of the funny guides included: How to dress on a plane, How to dress for a summer weekend and how to dress for winter.

5. Insider Tips and Tricks - Here Nina has picked the brain some of major players in fashion.

6. Fashion Cliff’s notes, decade by decade - great reference to fashion trends and major designers for each decade.

I’ve read a few style book and I really like this one because it’s not done in a bubble. Historical references and trends need to be considered and many style books avoid this topic.

The Eaton Center is doing a promotion, if you buy $200 of merchandise from any fashion retailers you will receive a copy of the book for free. Little black book of style promotion information

There are some shopping secrets that I will never give up. This story is about one of them.

The Saturday after New York I was wandering downtown with my friend MJ. Usually when we are out he takes me to his favourite consignment shop to troll for designer duds. We hit the motherload on this visit. MJ is the best person to go shopping with. He has this uncanny ability to identify the crap and zoom in on the good just from looking at the rack. What really baffles me with him is that 99.9% of his choices are so spot on. This guy knows what works and what doesn’t.

The most perfect skirt black knife pleated skirt with yoke by Chanel.

It’s unfortunate that my picture is really shitty. You can’t see any of the pleat details, quite a shame. I fell in love after I twirled around. It fits and drapes like a dream. It’s easily the best skirt I’ve ever owned.

Can you guess how much I paid?

Susie Love Jewelry
This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting uber-personality Susie. She opened her blue bag of goodies and pulled out all kinds of jewelry. I picked up 2 rings.

Her jewelry can be found at Melanie’s Closet (829 Dundas St West), Model Citizen (913 Dundas St West), Mink (550 College), Grateful Head (1006 Dundas St West) in Toronto.

Maria Serrano Shoes

My black gladiator sandals bit the dust early this summer. I replaced them with these white ones. They should last much longer because of the quality upgrade.

Maria Serrano shoes is a Toronto based company that sells shoes made in Argentina.

Our intention is to feature new and different lines of shoes that are beautifully wearable. Every one of our shoes is made in Argentina and exclusive to Canada alone. We will carry limited quantities of each style so running into someone on the street with “your” shoes won’t happen.

I also got these red girly flat shoes, which is a little unusual for me. If I’m wearing flats they are running shoes, so this is a departure.

I purchased them at a small sample sale I was invited to. You can also get her stuff online or at the small number of events she attends. Watch her space for details.

I had some network issues over the last couple days with my host. It seems to be resolved now.

Yay!

Danube platforms by Nine West

I always wished to be taller than I am. I currently stand at 5′5″ but I really wanted to be between 5′10″ and 5′11″. It started in high school, I longed for the height because I played basketball and volleyball. I’ve found an artificial way of getting taller and it’s these shoes I picked up from Nine West. They add like 3 to 4 inches, it’s awesome. My shoes look a little different than the picture. The platform doesn’t have the woven finish, it has a plain wood one.

Nine West is having a great sale right now, summer shoes are half off. Have you noticed that Nine West is stocking some hot ass shoes lately

Spectator Shoes by Via Spiga

I’ve been dying for a pair of Spectator Shoes. Necessary items to perfect my menswear inspired looks. I purchased this pair from Winners for $40. They were sufficiently granny-looking enough for my needs. It seems this company’s shoes retails for much more than that.

I finally bit the bullet and joined the Toronto Fashion Incubator as an outreach member. I’ve been kicking the idea around in my head. I was pitched the idea of joining at the Juma Trunk Show by Gail who told me about the great reference section they have. And of course there is the Promostyl Trend Forecast seminars only available to members.