All posts filed under: Designers

TMR Collection Fall/Winter 2015

Published by Anita

It’s always fun to watch a debut unfold before you. Tara Rivas unveiled the Fall Winter 2015 collection from her newly minted womenswear line, TMR Collection. Tara began her career altering store bought clothing and after years of that she made the jump into creating custom clothing for herself. This collection is the logical conclusion to those efforts. “I want to create collections that offer women maximum style with minimum effort,” said Tara Rivas, founder and designer. “My desire is to create clothing that makes women look and feel good.” For her first collection, Tara has wisely focused on a tight edit of beautifully made foundation pieces that can easily be integrated into anyone’s wardrobe. She’s taken classic pieces and added a bit of flair which makes her collection both stylish and office appropriate. Pleather inserts and mesh detailing bring the style and sex appeal to the garments. In addition to pleather, Tara uses triacetate crepe, bamboo and rayon. The entire collection is produced in Toronto and uses locally sourced fabrics. Lets take a look …

I want – I got x Eve Gravel Garden Party Challenge

Published by Anita

This is the result of the Eve Gravel Garden Party Challenge style challenge. Eve Gravel sent me a Garden Party kit that included a dress from the SS15 collection and some addition styling items to add to the shoot. I chose the dress but everything else was a surprise. With this box of goodies I was to come up with a Garden Party themed photoshoot. The Red Hat dress is amazing and has some beautiful movement to it. At first I was like, I don’t have a garden! I thought about going to a park but it was cold and brown out there (this was a few weeks ago). I realized that this would be have to be an I want – I got style garden party and that meant my balcony would take centre stage. In the #evegravelgardenparty party kit styling items included a super cute pineapple bracelet from Horace Jewelry, Misslyn nail polish (available at Shopper’s Drug Mart) and a pair of incredibly cool Italia Independent sunglasses (available at Pink Eye Optical). I’m …

I want – I got Loves Poppy Barley

Published by Anita

I’ve been completely spoiled by my custom fitted boots from Poppy Barley. It won’t be possible for me to buy another pair of tall boots off the rack again because nothing is going to fit as well. Poppy Barley is an Edmonton based shoe brand that I first heard about in the summer. They offer custom, handcrafted footwear that is Canadian designed and ethically made in Mexico. Sisters, Kendall and Justine Barber are the brains behind the brand. The idea of Poppy Barley came to Justine when she was on vacation in Bali. She came upon a local shoemaker and was disappointed when a pair of boots she wanted didn’t come in her size. The shoemaker said no problem, measured her feet, processed her address and payment. A few weeks later, her custom made shoes showed up at her door in Edmonton. While this is an affordable option for many shoe buyers in other parts of the world, it isn’t common in Canada. Justine had the idea that she wanted to bring custom made footwear …

My Winter Coat Holy Grail – The Montrealer by FREED

Published by Anita

My down parka boycott began last year. I was sick of wearing the damn things and longed for the days when the wool peacoat ruled. (Does anyone remember that?) I have nostalgia for the stylish look of a wool coat but I really didn’t miss the unfortunate side effect of freezing my ass off in extreme cold weather. How was I going to get the best of both worlds? Last year, I started to wear a down vest from Danier Leather underneath my Philip Sparks pimp coat. This combo did a great job of keeping me out of my down parkas on some really horrible days. It was a good solution but not perfect. The down vest was the purple and really didn’t match the coat. Then spring came and I put all thoughts of winter coats and optimal layering solutions to bed. During the summer, I received an email from Marissa Freed. She’s the President of Freed and Freed International, an outerwear company based in Winnipeg. The company is 95 years old and you …

Live in Levi’s Campaign

Published by Anita

Levi’s contacted me about participating in their Live in Levi’s campaign (#LiveinLevis). Some select bloggers/influencers use the hashtag and their social networks to share their style stories about Levi’s in their day to day lives. Levi’s also sent us one of their ICON pieces to style to go with our stories. I came across this photo of myself in grade 9 recently. I’m wearing a well loved Levi’s 501 jean jacket. The first thing that came to my mind was “Anita, you stupid asshole, why didn’t you keep that jacket. Think about how worn in and cool it would be now.” I honestly don’t even know if I could still fit in my Grade 9 clothes. The other thing that came to me from that photo was the emotion that it conveyed to me: Happiness, confidence and a little bit of style with my funky skater/Michie Mee-ish haircut. Levi’s was the denim brand of my youth; it wasn’t like now where there is an overwhelming amount of choice in the denim market. It was Levi’s …

i want: Sully Wong x Amanda Lew Kee Swalk Hi Sneaker

Published by Anita

I have a saying that I’ve repeated a lot these days, “I need another one of these like I need a hole in the head”. Lately, its been applied to coats, sweaters and shoes. I said it to myself again once I spotted the Sully Wong x Amanda Lew Kee sneaker collaboration. I don’t need another pair of sneakers because my closet is full of them but the Sully Wong x Amanda Lew Kee Swalk Hi sneaker is one incredible shoe. Amanda has incredible style so I had big hopes for the design when I heard about the collaboration initially. She has surpassed anything I could have imagined. The shoe is perfection, I cannot lie. “The SWALK HI collaboration personifies all aspects, both in design and philosophy, which Sully Wong and I share as a team. The design itself is sleek, smart, and constructed with the finest attention to detail and luxury materials. Together we are aiming to give the women’s market a sophisticated limited edition option, in the realm of casual athletic footwear, focusing …

My favourites from the Smythe 10x10 capsule collection

Smythe Jackets 10X10 Flashtagram

Published by Anita

It’s the 10 Anniversary for Toronto’s own Smythe Jackets. To celebrate this amazing milestone, Christie Smythe and Andrea Lenczner created a capsule collection consisting of their 10 most beloved silhouette reinterpreted for 2014. I’ve been a fan of the brand since the beginning of this blog. It seems like it was only yesterday when I wrote my first of many posts on the brand. It was way back in November of 2005 and I have to thank Now Magazine for turning me on to Christie’s and Andrea’s beautiful designs. Man, looking at those early posts are painful 🙂 To celebrate 10 years, Smythe is hosting a Flashtagram Right Now! Upload a photo of yourself in your favourite Smythe Jacket to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using the hashtags #smythejackets #10X10 #flashtagram. The Smythe social media channels will be posting their favourite shots of their fans. You can follow the fun on Smythe’s Twitter and Instagram pages. It was an absolute honour to be asked to take part in the Smythe flashtagram. So much so, that a …

Alana Zimmer wearing Long Leather Skirt by Valentino - The Coveteur

i want – Long Leather Skirt by Valentino

Published by Anita

So, I was browsing The Coveteur earlier this week and came across Alana Zimmer’s profile. I met Alana this year at a party and we had a really nice conversation. At the end of this conversation, she gave me a hug. I was happily stunned and I’ve been a fan girl ever since. I’m looking at photos of Alana’s great New York City apartment and her clothing. There are two photos of her in a leather skirt that automatically catch my eye. Can you guess what got me excited? If you are a long time reader you probably guessed the full leather skirt and you’d be absolutely right. I was drooling over this thing. All the standard questions ran through my head. Who is the designer? Is it real leather? Is it still available and the dreaded how much is this going to cost? Then I remembered that The Coveteur has shopping links and the skirt was clickable. Turns out, the skirt is from Valentino. It’s made from lambskin leather, in an A line cut …

i want: Eye Sandal by Pierre Hardy

Published by Anita

I’m not big on the Evil Eye trend in fashion from an aesthetic point of view. That being said, I’m falling for these Pre Fall 2014 Pierre Hardy Eye Sandal and Pumps. They are obviously influenced by the talisman but I like the quirky and anime like take he’s used in the design of these shoes. I love that the eyes are the most dominate feature on the shoe. The size of the eye and its placement make these shoes look so freaking cute on. In the kitten heel, there is just the perfect amount of toe point showing. It makes me want to squeal with delight. There are a lot of variations on the shoe. You can see there are kitten heel and regular heel sandal varieties. Pierre has also switched up the materials and colour combinations. He mixed leather, pony and suede. I’m particularly taken with the pony hair sandal in dusty pink, it’s absolutely spectacular. I haven’t seen any Canadian retailers with the shoes yet but you can find a variety of …

Boutiques on eBay x Coal Miner’s Daughter Style Challenge

Published by Anita

eBay Canada contacted me this with a Style Challenge request. My mission, should I choose to accept, would be to style an office and nighttime look featuring the Bee Print Bustier by Jordan de Ruiter. A couple of weeks ago on twitter I mentioned how much I liked the Bee Print Bustier so I was happy to take on the challenge. Let’s start with the office look. I pretty much did what I always do when I want to wear something inappropriate to the office, put a blazer on it. This look obviously wouldn’t fly in my financial district office place but many of you work in lest draconian dress code environments. I’m wearing my Junya Watanabe Commes des Garcons blazer (which I picked up at The Room for a steal), H&M high waisted pencil skirt and 3.1 Phillip Lim Chelsea boots. For the night look I ditched the blazer and swapped out the boots for gold sandals from Aldo Shoes. The night look is my World Pride 2014 look for Saturday’s parties! The Bee …