Month: October 2010

Mary Katrantzou Spring Summer 2011

Mary Katrantzou said, “With this collection, I wanted to put the room on the woman, rather than the woman in the room.” She used images from old Architectural Digest and World of Interiors issues for her surreal-like prints. To finish off the look she added trompe l’oeil details to fool the eye even more. The collection just makes me giddy. It’s so inventive and fun. I can’t help but smile. I want to be the person to walk into a room wearing a Mary Katrantzou. You become a walking piece of art. The shoes are cute too. The full Mary Katrantzou Spring 2011 fashion show video is up. Everything looks so good in motion. images: style.com

Lanvin Spring Summer 2011

It seems almost impossible to dislike anything Alber Elbaz touches. The Lanvin woman is a bit softer from spring 2011. The Klingon warrior women from fall 2010 is taking the season off. I’m not salivating over the shoes and jewellery like I normally do. I guess I’m not feeling the butterfly theme. I really like the bags though. They are those small to medium structured handbags that are all over the runways right now. I’m pretty much a sucker for full skirts that billow when you walk. I’m all over anything with movement. It’s dramatic and explains my love of this collection. There isn’t any full fashion show videos out yet, but here are a couple to give you a taste images: style.com

Christopher Kane Spring Summer 2011

Christopher Kane created totally obnoxious dresses. Not because of cut or design as those were rather plain. He used bright neon fabrics and I will forever love him for that. I have a bit of an obsession with neon. I know what you are thinking. Would I really wear a neon dress from Christopher Kane? Take a look at the Christopher Kane archives on this site. That will give you the answer if you don’t already know. Here is some video from the collection from Elle. It’s not the full show but gives you a good look at the exits. images: style.com

Haider Ackermann Spring Summer 2011

Haider Ackermann Spring Summer 2011 was japanese meets le smoking paired with Ackermann leather. He expanded on the silk pajama theme of the 2011 resort collection. There is lot of exposed flesh in the collection. I love the off the shoulder and bare back looks the most. I love the Obi style belts.  Everything in this collection seems so opulent. I guess that’s what being draped in silk and leather does. images: style.com

Junya Watanabe Spring Summer 2011

Stripes are turning into a big trend for spring 2011. I really enjoyed Junya Watanabe’s spring summer 2011 collection. It was an explosion of Breton stripes and nautical imagery. Some clothing shapes resembled early swimwear from the 1920s. There is also a vintage tennis vibe happening. The trench coats that incorporated sheer fabrics were my favourite pieces.  I also love the two billowing white dresses that uses a twists fabric together to give added dimension. The boots do look a bit clunky and kinda clown-like. However, the brogues are perfect . images: style.com

Danier Design Challenge 2011

Danier Design Challenge DANIER, Canada’s premier leather retailer, is teaming up with Ryerson School of Fashion to reach out to young fashion influencers in the second year of this exciting design initiative. The DANIER Design Challenge will give 3rd year design students the opportunity to showcase their fashion chops by creating an original women’s leather garment design. That’s where YOU come in. The Canadian public along with a panel of expert judges will choose the winners. Last year, John Hillifer was the winning designer – his jacket is in select Danier stores NOW! YOU will get to vote on danier.com from October 5th to December 22th . Your votes along with those of an industry expert panel — including Robert Ott, Chair of Ryerson School of Fashion, Olga Koel, DANIER’s Chief Merchandising Officer, fashion icon and television host Jeanne Beker, fashion stylist George Antonopoulos and Tiyana Grulovic, a fashion style reporter and stylist — will decide who becomes the winner of the DANIER Design Challenge. Three winners will be awarded a cash prize and the …

Prada Spring Summer 2011

I haven’t talked about the Spring Summer 20111 collections much yet. TIFF really threw me off and a lot of shows haven’t wowed me. Things started to pick up in Milan and I got a bit more interested. Expect some more posts about the collections I enjoyed for Spring Summer 2011. Miuccia Prada described the Prada Spring Summer 2011 collection as “minimal Baroque” and “exaggerated simplicity.” Tim Blanks saw references from hospital scrubs and Josephine Baker. I liked a lot of the bold colour, stripes and prints. The shoes were a little suspect, but another indicator of the 90s revival in fashion. The sunglasses are growing on me. My initial reaction was WTF but now I’m thinking I need a pair of sunglasses that make my neon yellow Prada Postcard look tame. I like the two looks: nerdy and girly. I’m loving the handbags.  The satchel shape is great for bright colour and bold stripes. The full video is out. It’s the same location as the men’s show. images: style.com

Balenciaga Paris Flagship Store

Balenciaga recently changed up the Paris flagship store’s design. I like it. Ghesquière and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, the contemporary artist with whom he collaborates on store design managed to marry original, classical elements such as black-and-white French chateau floors — and an ornate banister retrieved from the Balenciaga archives — with Starship Enterprise-worthy lighting and fractal fixtures reminiscent of the Fortress of Solitude in “Superman.” The 1,940-square-foot boutique, slated to open Saturday, was also slightly refigured to claim additional ground-level space for selling, allowing Guichot to increase ready-to-wear stockkeeping units by 50 percent, and to better showcase a range of product categories, from footwear and sunglasses to fragrances. There’s even trolley-style luggage, tucked between two gold chairs and next to an interplanetary mural. images: WWD.com

Kinect for Xbox 360 Experience Centre

I raved about the Kinect for Xbox 360 when I played it at the X’10 Canada: Xbox 360 Holiday Preview Event. Now the public can experience the Kinect at the new Kinect for Xbox 360 Experience Centre on Yonge Street. I was invited to the private launch party where I got to drink beers and play Kinect for 4 hours. IT WAS AMAZING! I really can’t think of a better way to spend an evening. I predict lots of drinking and Dance Central parties once I get my hands on the Kinect for my place. I brought my friend Mark Rabo ( who runs Gamercamp with Jaime Woo) along. I think we played pretty much every game available to us. We were sweating like crazy as the Kinect isn’t a passive gaming experience. You are moving around and if you are crazy like me you’re flaying around too. Thank god for the beer. I love the Volleyball game. It brought back memories of big air and spikes on the high school volleyball team. Le Sigh. …

ECCO Styled – October 2010

During October ECCO will have a traveling installation called “ECCO styled” that will stop at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Sherway Gardens and the Toronto Eaton Centre. You can look at it like a little dress up installation. There will be a a wall of ECCO shoes and wardrobe options. Stylists will provide personal consultations utilizing the Fall 2010 ECCO line. You can get hair and make-up touch-ups so that you look great for the photographer that is there to capture the moment. I’ve been asked to participate in this installation and I’ll be at the Eaton Centre on October 15, 2010. You can join in on the fun on twitter by using the #ECCOStyled hashtag. Post your ECCOStyled self. In the spring I attended the Fall 2010 preview for Ecco and I was very, very skeptical.  I didn’t think there would be anything I liked.  At this point I hadn’t ever seen a shoe at this store I liked during the rare and random times I stepped foot in the store.  I was wrong and ECCO …