Month: September 2010

TIFF 2010 – Bask-It-Style Media Day

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Media arrived at The Fairmont Royal York’s Prime Minister’s Suite to preview the products that are available in the Bask-It-Style gift bags. They were then distributed to visiting Toronto International Film Festival talent including Mickey Rourke and Megan Fox.  Jsquared2 Public Relations produces Bask-It-Style and has returned for its second year. Media and magazine sponsors for the lounge included FrontRowMag.com and Polysh Magazine. Pink Twig Floral Boutique decorated the Prime Minister’s Suite with beautiful flowers. Gifting lounges have a standard format, you go around to each booth, talk to a rep and move on. Sometimes you get product at the booth and other times it’s all contained in a bag you leave with. The Prime Minister’s Suite is a nice but seem a bit dated compared to the newer and slicker hotel offerings out there. Sponsors in the Bask-It-Style gift bag are: Author Adrienne Kress (Scholastic Canada), CARGO, Coty Inc, DK Publishing, emerginC, ESKA Natural Spring Water, Foxy Originals, , Author Lesley Livingston (HarperCollins), Me + You, Mind, Ball and Soul by Farhan Dhalla, Mistura …

LAX Diaries – Day 4

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When I got up Monday morning I appreciated the SoCal sun. It doesn’t usually come out till after noon so you can sleep in and not feel guilty about missing the day. The weather by the ocean was overcast with clear breaks. When it’s sunny, it’s fantastic and you fall in love. Hell, when it’s overcast you fall in love; it doesn’t rain. I decided to check out the shopping at the 3rd Street Promenade. It was very close to the ocean. I first stopped at the Le Pain Quotidien and had Organic Red Quinoa salad with arugula, chickpeas and artichoke. Paul and Lauren’s original choice for breakfast/lunch was closed. This lunch put me on a quinoa kick and I’m making salad often at home using both regular and red quinoa. 3rd Street Promenade is pretty much all chain stores. That is something I noticed a lot of in my travels. I didn’t make a list of cool shops to visit before I left and I regret that. I really want to see what independent …

TIFF 2010 – Aveda Experience Centre

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Some people have an immediate positive effect on me that usual end up with me having a huge crush. They can be men and women because it’s about the energy they radiate, the knowledge they hold and most importantly their passion. Ray Civello is one of those people. He is the President of Aveda Canada and has salons, spas and stores across the country. I visited the new Aveda Experience Centre at 155 Cumberland Avenue. It carries the full range of lifestyle products, makeup, hair and skin care. Aveda is a line that is plant derived and natural. They’ve been around for 30 years and employ the top scientists in plant-based cosmetics to come up with their products. Guests are welcome to complimentary hand and scalp massages and makeup touch-ups. I had a hand massage and it was quite relaxing. “We chose Yorkville because it is the epicentre of errand-running and multi-tasking for busy urbanites; our Experience Centre provides a refuge from the hustle and bustle with an opportunity to be nurtured and revitalized.”, says …

LAX Diaries – Day 3

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Sunday started out with brunch in Malibu at Moonshadows (20356 Pacific Coast Highway). This restaurant is the most beautiful place I’ve ever eaten at. It overlooks the ocean and it takes your breath away. We were dive bombed by very large seagulls at times but it was totally worth it. This spot really solidified the need of oceans and mountains in my life. Moonshadows is called one of the world’s best beach bars and I can understand why. The west coast is calling me big time. I didn’t expect to love southern California but it was becoming apparent that I was drinking the koolaid hard and fast. I love desert weather, Las Vegas exposed me to it and LA perfected it. Santa Monica is a beautiful place with tree-lined streets and non cookie cutter homes. That was something I noticed a lot, homes with individual personalities. I learned there are no basements and wood dwellings are hard to come by. This is apparently because of earthquakes, termites and cockroaches. After brunch it was a trip …

TIFF Madness

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It’s film festival time and I’m kinda going crazy right now. I’m also on vacation. Posts are a little light right now because I’ve been out a lot. However I got lots of stuff to report on: FT 25th, TIFF Gifting suites and TIFF parties. It’s been fun and I had a couple celeb sightings and interactions. Thanks readers. I <3 you.

Lexus Live at Distillery with The Stills

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The Distillery District turned into a free concert venue for a weekend when Lexus debuted the CT 200h to the public. The Lexus CT 200h is their entry into the hybrid market with this sporty coup design. They claim it’s the world’s first luxury compact hybrid car. It also used recycled material for parts like the seats. The car reminded me of my friend in Santa Monica, Paul. He has a hybrid car and tells me he fills up once a month. LA memories and desires were still fresh at this time and everything reminded me that I needed to go back. I attended a little cocktail before the performance of The Stills at The Boiler House which is a gorgeous looking restaurant. I had dinner there a long time ago, probably like 5 years. I’ve been back for the occasional party though. The Still were very good. This was my first exposure to them and I was told they were so four years ago. Who knew! I don’t follow music much at all. I …

Vivid Baby-G Square by Casio

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This watch was my first foray into sample pulling. Coyne PR sent me this Vivid Baby-G Square watch by Casio to review for a month. I wore it around for a bit, pairing it with my bright orange Toy Watch. Eventually, I took these macro shots with the trusty Olympus E-PL1 for this post. I like the Vivid Baby-G Square. It’s a good looking watch with dual analog and digital display. It comes in a variety of bright colours like blue and neon green. I love that all watch companies are following this trend. It’s an easy way to incorporate a pop of colour into your life. It has most of the features you expect from a Casio watch: stop watch, alarm, world clock with 28 time zones, countdown timer and calendar. The analog arms of the watch glow in the dark but I’m not a big fan of the LED light. It doesn’t do that great of a job illuminating the digital face.  The analog arms can get in the way of stopwatch and …

geekiviews: Hudson Jeans

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Over the last few years I’ve seen Hudson Jeans infiltrated many denim bars in the city. The papers were talking about the death of designer denim but Hudson seemed to be thriving. It started in Los Angeles in 2002. It brings premium denim material from the best mills in Europe and Japan. The denim is constructed and hand finished in Los Angeles. The head designer and creative director of Hudson Jeans is Benjamin Taverniti who joined the company in 2007.  Hudson’s trademark is their fit and fabrics. There is both men’s and women’s lines for denim but they are also expanding into tops, dresses and jackets for women. Hudson has a huge celebrity following. If you look at any of the denim blogs you’ll see celebs in Hudson Jeans. I just assumed it was a denim line for skinny girls. Now before you say “Anita, you are a skinny girl”, let me explain. I’m skinny, but my history as an athlete doesn’t give me your stereotypical skinny body. My thighs and calves are muscular and …

LAX Diaries – Day 2

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My first full day in California started with a trip to Rodeo Drive. It seems pretty fitting that my first sightseeing trip in LA would be its luxury centre. The actual road is pretty short but the surrounding blocks have other high-end and moderately priced clothing shops like Roots, Club Monaco and Gap. There were high-end stores I would have never expected to see like Harry Winston. We walked in and took at look at the celeb worn jewels but didn’t walk past the burly security guard who watched over the area where the sales staff where. I didn’t go into a lot of stores as I was a bit overwhelmed with the options. LA is a huge tourist town and I always find it funny to see people taking pictures at some cheesy Rodeo Drive landmark like a sign or water fountain. This happened everywhere, It’s that movie influence and one of the few things I find distasteful about LA. Most of the stores where fairly plain-looking. It seemed only the Prada store lived …

Gap Inc Canadian Online Shopping Launch

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A couple weeks back I attended an event by Gap Inc for the launch of Canadian online shopping at GapCanada.ca, OldNavy.ca and BananaRepublic.ca.   That’s right they finally fulfill orders and ship out of a Canadian warehouse.  No brokerage, no duties.  It was held at the Andrew Richard Design Loft. Each attendee was given a $100 Visa cash card to shop at any of the three sites during the event. It was a great way to get everyone to try out the new system and experience Gap Inc’s online shopping experience. All three websites offer irritation free browsing which is very easy to use. It took me a long time to figure out what would give me the best bang for my buck so I ended up choosing the Haircalf mini chain bag from Banana Republic. It fits into my new hungry for animal print accessories and it would utilize most of the money on the card in one shot. Some attendees also got a lesson in Gap Inc fraud control when some orders were canceled …

LAX Diaries – Day 1

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Klout is a company that uses twitter analytics to determine how influential you are on the medium. I’ve always been interested in these measurement techniques so I signed up for the service.   It works about as well as the rest of them do which means take it with a grain of salt.  Many months later I get an email from Klout telling me I have a free flight on the new Virgin America route from Toronto to San Francisco or Los Angeles. I just had to pay the taxes and fly before the middle of August. This was great as I have a good friend who lives in Santa Monica. It took me a couple of weeks to confirm my dates and I prayed that there were still flights available. Well there were and I spent the Civic holiday weekend in beautiful California. I arrived at terminal 3 super early. I remembered my last flying experience to New York and how crazy the security and customs line was. I didn’t to repeat running to the …

Danier Fall Winter 2010 Virtual Fashion Show, Sept 8, 2010

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Danier is doing the online fashion show thing for their Fall Winter 2010 – 2011 collection. On Wednesday, September 8, 2010 DANIER will introduce their exciting Fall / Winter line-up through a cutting edge, first-ever virtual runway show. The catwalk presentation will be hosted online at the DANIER website by fashion experts Jeanne Beker and George Antonopoulos; bringing industry insight to viewers across the globe, in the comfort of their own homes. Here is a video of images from the Fall Winter 2010 – 2011 Ad Campaign shot by Raphael Mazzucco and stylist George Antonopoulos. image: courtesy of Danier

i want: Complex Geometries Fall 2010 – 2011

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Fall 2010 – 2011 is now available on complexgeometries.com. I’m really loving the sheer pieces this season. Fawn (my favourite store) has also seen some fall delivers, I wonder if Kasha bought any of the sheer pieces this season. Complex Geometries is getting big. Finally Style.com has decided to mention Clayton’s line in their Spring 2011 preview. Congrats Clayton, I’m so glad to see my favourite designers getting recognition by the top players in the fashion industry. Good luck with your show in NYC. images: complexgeometries.com

Wow! Teddy Bear Sneakers by Jeremy Scott x Adidas

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I don’t think I have to say to much about these. Jeremy Scott has found a way to make Adidas even more crazy.  I guess the wings weren’t enough.  I find them repulsive yet fascinating. I have a feeling the 1994 raving version of me would have wanted these. I could see the whole rave scene going crazy and they becoming the “it” shoe. The men’s version will be beige. Not sure that agrees with me right now. I wonder if they will stock them at the Adidas Originals store here. I think this solidifies the 90s revival for me. images: Sneaker Freaker Magazine

Lanvin x H&M

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You’ve probably heard the news, Lanvin is the next H&M designer collaboration. It’s a men’s and women’s collection by Lanvin’s artistic director Alber Elbaz and menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver. At first I was sad about it and discussed it on twitter a lot. Now I extremely curious as to how this will unfold and what is up H&M’s sleeve. I want to see how they translate this statement “the idea of H&M going luxury rather than Lanvin going public”. Is that some of semantic spin? I think there is a lot of potential for the jewellery in this collaboration.  I’m speculating the clothing will be a lot of the tshirt jersey type pieces, but they may surprise me.  The collection will be released to the world on November 2, 2010 in the form of an online video at www.hm.com. It will then go on sale in North American stores on November 20, 2010 while the rest of the world has to wait until November 23, 2010. “H&M approached us to collaborate and see if we …