Month: September 2007

i want…

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Hats by Claudia Schulz I love the shapes of these hats made by Vancouver based Claudia Schulz. I’m not too sure if these would work with my short hair, but I’m willing to chance it. You can purchase Claudia’s hats online through her website.

geekiviews: The Little Black Book of Style

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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 …

Shopping Secrets

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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?

NYC Fashion Week Spring 2008 – Street Trends

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There were two things that really stuck out for me in New York. 1. Men carried Manbags. All kinds of guys with all kinds of bags, not just the fashion insiders. I liked the look actually and I hope it spreads. Hell, I even liked the guy rocking the clutch at Phi. Find your Man bag here. 2. Goyard is king. I didn’t see a lot of Louis Vuitton, but I saw a lot of Goyard, fake and real. You could get Goyard fakes on every street corner. At night, every street corner had a bunch of guys selling handbags out of garbage bags and boxes. Fucking hilarious. For those that don’t know, Goyard is an old french company that makes very expensive luggage and handbags. images: balenciaga.com and businessweek.com

del.icio.us fashion links for 2007-09-21

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Luxury brands stamped on everything from phones to flowers – International Herald Tribune In recent years the term luxury brand has meant a lot more than just Christian Louboutin’s red-soled pumps or Versace’s gowns. Think chocolates, flowers and tropical resort hotels. (tags: fashion+news brand luxury) Thou Shalt Not Knock Off — The American, A Magazine of Ideas Will Congress move to increase copyright protection for fashion designs? Should it? (tags: fashion+news copyright industry) Luxury, and How It Became Common – New York Times WANT to buy luxury products like Louis Vuitton handbags? Gucci shoes? Prada dresses? There’s no need to comb the fashion alleys of New York, Paris or Milan in search of the brands’ boutique stores. Just zip over to the nearest mall, where high-end dep (tags: fashion+news luxury trends) I Work Retail: The Devil Wears Prada Because Prada Is Hell – Jezebel Welcome to our second installment of “I Work Retail,” in which we investigate the very peculiar torture of selling designer goods. The anonymous author, C, worked at the Soho Prada flagship …

NYC Fashion Week Spring 2008 people watching

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So I saw some interesting people during my trip 1. Demi Moore – she is flawless. It’s kinda disgusting really. However, she was really nice to people. 2. Jenna Jameson – It was extremely weird, I saw her at the hotel. She’s really tiny and duck faced, ugh. 3. Anna Wintour – I saw her entering Thakoon. First knocked off my list. 4. Andre Leon Talley – He’s massive. 2nd knocked off my list 5. Carine Roitfeld – she is my style hero, only that woman can make a grey tshirt look amazing, paired with a balenciaga skirt and sky-high heels. I saw her outside of Proenza. She was the 3rd. Carine in Alaia outside of Phi I got a picture taken with Hillary Alexander (I love her!), she’s was so nice and damn personable. I didn’t get to see Anna Piaggi, who knows if she even was in New York. There were a lot of celebrities at the shows I attended, I didn’t notice them though. images: thefashionspot.com, me

The midriff is coming back, God please no!

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I’ve noticed a few runways shows for Spring 2008 that have featured the dreaded midriff. I saw some midriff action at Doo Ri. I was hoping that it was just one of those random things, but it seems to be gathering steam. Perhaps it won’t be a full blow trend for Spring 2008 (and god I hope so), but I can see a return to it in Spring 2009. Christoper Kane Doo Ri Y-3 – for men, really! 3.1 Philip Lim House of Holland images: style.com, nymag.com

NYC Fashion Week Spring 2008 – Temperley and the after party

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The Temperley show brought me to Bryant Park. Finally I would get to experience the tents. It was madness. The tents are huge. I’m sitting in the forth row in this picture and there were a ton of people behind me. I was stuck at the beginning of the runway which was at a really odd angle. The lighting was poor for my camera and I didn’t get many good shots. See my Temperly photos. I have video after the jump though. I thought the collection was a little all over the place. I loved the black & white and prints. The more neutral stuff and the muted orange just didn’t do anything for me. I’m a big fan of these looks (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4, pic 5). There were two dresses (pic 1, pic 2) that really threw me for a loop, they just didn’t fit in. Agyness was amazing. I had seen her on the street but this was the first time I saw her working.

NYC Fashion Week Spring 2008 – Ruffian

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After Phi it was off to Ruffian at the National Arts Club, right besides Gramercy Park. The building is so completely stunning, I was blown away. Unfortunately, it was terrible for pictures with my crappy digital camera so I don’t have any. The show was an hour late. All the shows I went to were late, but usually only 20 – 30 minutes. The next show, Temperly was waiting for us though. I enjoyed parts of this show. The presentation was amazing, great location and great music. The One Winged Dove Dress in Pomp Pink Satin Faced Organza that Canadian, Lisa Cant wore knocked everyone’s socks off. The high waisted pants and the jackets were amazing. I loved this set: Bustier Trouser in Clay Pearlized Cotton, McLaran Jacket in Clay Pearlized Cotton. ( I love line sheets, thanks thoughtful designers). All the clothes that used the white flowered material reminded me of bed sheets and wallpaper. I didn’t like any of the last 3 gowns either. Video of the show is after the jump…

NYC Fashion Week Spring 2008 – Phi

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It was back to Chelsea on Saturday morning for Phi. Guests rode a big freight elevator up to the 16th floor where the show was to take place. It was the best entrance to a show so far for me. Some pre-show madness The collection was very fall like, too many layers for Spring. It was menswear and androgyny goodness. Everything in this collection I could see myself wearing. If it was Fall it would have been my favourite collection of the small number of shows I saw. The boots were to die for; a feminine version of the Motorcycle boot. It was the first show I saw Sasha P in, I was excited. Hye Park, is definitely one of my favourite models and she was looking lovely too. First siting of Freja. More pictures can be found at my Phi Spring 2008 Flickr photoset Elle has a video you can see here.

Ask a Geek: Where to buy a decent blazer cheap in Toronto

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Sometimes readers ask me questions. If they are of value to all my readers I post them online. If you have a question, please feel free to submit it using the contact form. I’ll definitely do my best to answer it. I want I got reader Gloria wrote: This is a bit of a mundane quest, but I’m looking for a good blazer to dress up jeans … the places I go either have more conservative blazers more suited for business, or more stylish looks but not very well cut. I’m looking for something feminine, a little different, and hopefully not bank-breaking if possible (under a hundred dollars). If you can suggest some places, that would be great as it’s perfect blazer season! Your best bet right now is Femme de Carriere. Yes, the shop is more business orientated but they are having a great sale right now and blazers are cheap. I have like 3 suits from these guys and they are really good for the price. I’ve gotten 300 dollar blazers for 70-90 …

NYC Fashion Week Spring 2008 – Doo ri

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Doo ri was the next and final stop for me on Friday in Chelsea. I was suppose to see Proenza Schouler that night but it fell through. Yes, I was a little upset about that. I spent some time looking for my seat with no help from the staff. They would wave in the general direction of seat and walk away. I shouldn’t be the one to kick people out of my own seat, that should be your job. But if you want to get anything done it’s best to do it yourself. I wasn’t in a good vantage point for pictures, I couldn’t even see the shoes. After Thakoon it was hard to impress me. There were a few pieces I really like, but I wasn’t feeling the colour palette and some of the cuts (what’s with the mid-drift stuff, haven’t we moved beyond that). I did love this Bone cotton trend coat It was funny to see that even the top girls fuck up. The first model out the door turned at the …

NYC Fashion Week near miss

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So I was in NYC and I wanted something great to bring back home. I wandered around 5th Ave looking in places like Saks, Prada and Bergdorf’s. I was surprised at how little grabbed me. Of course, I salivated over Lanvin, Prada and Balenciaga, but lets face it, that stuff is way out of my budget. I did see something I wanted badly and I was willing to pay for them…Rupert Sanderson shoes. Remember these babies, well Saks had them and I just about had a fit. I was all excited while the helpful gentlemen went to find my size. He returned empty handed though, boo urns. They are so damn gorgeous and more beautiful in person, sigh. There is one thing I noticed in NYC, store service is excellent, fantastic even. Canada has a lot to learn.

NYC Fashion Week Spring 2008 – Thakoon

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Before and after the Zero show I had time to kill. So I browsed the shops of the Meatpacking district. Scoop, Puma Black Store, Stella McCartney, Jeferry, Ed Hardy, La Perla and Alexander McQueen. I was salivating in the McQueen store, some of the gowns for sale were just beautiful. Thakoon was next show. It was in a large warehouse space, two rows of benches lined the runway which snaked it way around the room. I saw Anna Wintour. It was a brief glimpse of the woman and the only time I saw her all weekend. There were some other celebs in the audience, but I didn’t know who they were. A lot of the top models walked the show, Stam, Irina (both K and L), Hye Park. It’s amazing how thin these women are, it’s astonishing. Top models do screw up time to time and a couple models forgot the layout of the runway and bypassed a whole section of buyers and other guests. The clothes were absolutely stunning. I loved everything and the …

NYC Fashion Week Spring 2008 – Zero Maria Cornejo

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It’s 5AM Friday morning at YYZ. I haven’t slept yet. I decided to go out Thursday night to The Social. I got my butt home at 2:30AM and finished packing in time to leave at 4:30AM for the airport. I’m not sure how I’m going to make it through the day, I have 4 shows planned. I try to sleep on the flight but my neighbour keeps elbowing me. He’s fidgeting like a bastard and my urge to kill is rising; thank god it’s only an hour flight. Arriving at La Guardia is interesting, it’s a busy airport. Not as clean as YYZ, but this is New York after all. There is enough time to check into the hotel and get some breakfast. The first show is Zero Maria Cornejo. It’s held in a small warehouse in the Meatpacking district. I have a front row seat for my first ever NYC fashion week show, I’m pretty excited. The Zero collection features a lot of easy to wear pieces that bucked the trends and featured bright …

I’m back from NYC Fashion Week

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It was an amazing time, better than I could have anticipated. I’ve got lots of post materials, so keep checking back. I got in early this morning so I’ve been sleeping this afternoon. I’ve got a couple of film fest parties to attend tonight. Here is a little preview, check this link out and you can see me front row at the Zero show, It’s the 3rd photo in the slideshow.

Going to NYC

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I’m a fucking lucky person. I’m going to New York City this weekend and I’ll be checking out some fashion shows. Can you believe it? This lowly Toronto fashion blogger is actually going to be at Bryant Park. I’m hoping to see Anna Wintour and ALT in the flesh. Throw in some Anna Piaggi and Carine Roitfeld, I’m in heaven. I’m not going to reveal the shows that I should have access to in order not to jinx them. Watch this space on Tuesday for NYC Fashion Week updates. Danielle from Final Fashion will be there. She’s covering Jeremy Laing, the lucky bastard. I arrive the day after. If I can get my ass to Brooklyn Saturday morning I might meet up with some other fashion bloggers.