Month: September 2009

Nella Bella Fall 2009 Handbags

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Some of the best part of writing this blog is meeting amazing designers in this city. One night I was out with friends I was introduced to Tarek Al-azbat. He is a Toronto handbag designer. His focus has been producing handbags for other designers. One of his former clients is Alexander Wang. He has been in the business for 14 years and now he is looking to bring more attention to his own handbag line called Nella Bella. Nella Bella is here to give you another fashionable outlet for vegan handbags. I asked Tarek, why vegan? In addition to the environmental benefits he explained that using PU leather allowed for different fabrications that just aren’t possible with leather. He showed me a black bag with a chevron pattern that is possible with PU but not real leather. Tarek showed me a few different designs. I was impressed with fashion forward styles and you can tell design is just as important as vegan materials. I even got a croc stamped tote to give a test drive. …

Sonia Rykiel x H&M for Holiday!

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H&M and Sonia Rykiel president and artistic director Nathalie Rykiel are proud to announce that Sonia Rykiel will be the next guest designer for winter 2009 and spring 2010. The French house founded by the “Queen of Knits” represents the distinctive, modern and impertinent spirit of Paris. This marks the first time that H&M has extended its designer collaboration to the world of lingerie and related accessories for women, with exclusive pieces to be launched in-store on December 5, 2009. The collection will be launched in 1,500 H&M stores worldwide and at the same time, Sonia Rykiel will make this lingerie collection available in Sonia Rykiel’s major boutiques around the world – another first for H&M. Ever fans of surprises, H&M and Sonia Rykiel are pleased to announce a second collaboration for spring 2010, featuring an iconic knitwear collection for women and girls (1.5 to 8 years old) accompanied by playful accessories. This second collection will be launched in around 250 H&M stores on February 20, 2010. (source: H&M Press Release) image: Sonia Rykiel Spring …

Fame! I’m Going to Live Forever

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So, I received an invitation to the Fame movie premier after party. The Bathurst Theater was setup to resemble the school from Fame. Dancers and actors occupied different rooms of the theater that represented singing, dancing and theater. The rooms had various things to keep the guests happy. In one room you could make a music video, just like Canada’s Wonderland. They tried to get us up to sing and act silly, we chose not to. Another room had this awesome mobile flipbook creating studio from Party Impressions. You had 7 seconds to make a video that would be recreated flipbook style. It was so much fun. Most people stuck to the dancing around theme, but some got creative. I like to think the flipbook Natalie and I made was pretty damn good. The appetizers going around were old high school classics like mac and cheese, grilled cheese and meatloaf. The organizers did a great job of keeping the atmosphere correct. I never did get to screen the film as the screening was “sold out”. …

So Dolce & Gabbana are giving us a sneak preview

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Dolce & Gabbana are posting Pre-Show Diaries for everyone to see leading up to the Spring 2010 presentation on Sept 27, 2009. They are show 1 minute films that give you a glimpse of the goings on behind the scenes. Why did they do this, well you can read all about it in an article called Exclusive! Dolce & Gabbana change the catwalk rules on Swide Magazine. Here is Part 1 and Part 2 but follow the Dolce & Gabbana YouTube Channel to see the next installments. I have to admit I like the idea, but I also like looking at Domenico and Stefano. I might be a little bias. So far it looks a lot different from the cowboy look that sister brand D&G showcased for Spring 2010. I’m not into the cowboy look but I have to applaud Domenico and Stefano for an incredibly tight collection. I love collections that have a distinct theme and the execution is flawless. There were some individual pieces I liked, but it’s not my style. They have …