The Sunglasses

I want.

It'll happen. And Gargyle will help me do it, all Karen Walker like.

Cha-chiiiiinnnnggggggggaling.

(Source: Image)

Post-Vacation

1. I miss the sun, but I miss my friends more.
2. I've come to realize that, regardless how bored or restless T.O gets me, there's still a couple parts to this city with very redeeming qualities, namely it's energy, open-mindedness and the presence of a handful of people I don't think I could live without.

I'll be back later to document some of my trippage to San Antonio later.

See us Float

A lucky & loved lady, I've been invited out of town until next Wednesday. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend (Happy Memorial Day, Americanites) and see you next week!

Rip & Roll

Australian Fashion

I give style minded Canadians a lot of credit for making up where our Fashion Industry slacks , but we still have nothing on Australians. That's right, because Australian fashion is bananas. And, dedicated Fashion bloggers already felt this one coming.


Mention Australia and you're sure to hear about kangaroos, Mad Max , or a story about a couple crazy Aussie travelers your friends met and partied til dawn with with last summer, blah blah blah. Yet, the deeper you delve into Fashion, the more you'll start to notice that there is more than Crocodile Dundee productions going on down unda.



To the average individual, Australia denotes Kwoala territory, not a burgeoning fashion industry. However, a closer look down under illuminates a flourishing scene of independent designers, a slew of fresh models and some very style minded writers. Think, sass & bide, Lover the Label, and Life with Bird, to name a few. My current (temporary) banner is from the Lover Fall 2009 collection, as seen on Refinery29. Additionally, a few of the most referenced streetstyle enthusiasts, like The Sartorialist, Garance Dore, and Style Sightings, have recently taken measures to document native Australians in their natural habitat.



Lux or vintage, Aussie's know what is up. If they don't, there's always Vogue AUS to direct the word. If you'd like to check out more information, head to Sydney-based Rosemount Fashion Week for a glimpse of things to come.

Would you fly out to Sydney and partake in Australian Fashion? Yay or nay?

(Source: Image, Image)

Veronique Branquinho to Me: Hey, I heard you like boots.

Belgium based Veronique Branquinho made a Thigh High Boot worthy of a Wayne and Garth performance.

That's right, these are Dead On. Dead on amazing. DOA.

However, this doesn't mean I'll give up the search for the lellos. Nope, no siree, not one bit. Consider this like some kind of fashion quest.

(Source: Image)

Wang at Gap

Did anyone happen to notice that Gap is releasing a few garments by Alexander Wang and Vena Cava? I did!

I also happen to notice that the A.Wang Khaki Moto-Trench looks very familiar, 5th Avenue Shoe Repair familiar. Well, that and it's the cheapie version of his lux leather motorcycle jacket. I'm not a frenzied supporter of Wang (overhyped, overpriced), but I do believe the Gap option is a great compromise for the aforementioned 5th & Spy coat.

The Selby + Julia Roitfeld

Julia R.Roitfelds fashion industry credentials are hard to beat. J's mom is Carine Roitfeld, the longtime editor-in-chief of French Vogue; As for her dad, he's clothing entrepreneur Christian Restoin. Raised in Paris, Julia attended the Paris-based affiliate of Parsons before transferring to the school's New York campus. As the offspring of one of fashion's most powerful figures, she was a darling of the New York social set from the moment she stepped off the Air France flight.

During college, Roitfeld interned at Fabien Baron's design firm Baron & Baron and with fashion photographer Craig McDean. After finishing up school, she took a full-time job with Baron's firm, then moved on to Laird & Partners. She has much bigger aspirations, of course. Family friend Tom Ford picked her as the face of Black Orchid, his first fragrance, and in August 2007 she became the face of Eric Villency's new denim line Restoration of the Monarchy.

Thanks to The Selby, the public knows J lives in both the London Terrace building in Chelsea, England, and New York City. However, after all that information about someone so interesting, did anyone else realize that the innards of admin desk cabinet would be more interesting than J.R.Roitfields Selby portait? I'm thinking that they censord a lot of personal touches, opting to flash the audience with Louis.

In a nut shell, baby pictures and luxury products. Pretty photo's, but Carine's place is more to my style.

Garance Doré

I love Garance, but then again, everyone does, including The Sartorialist. There is something about this picture that resonates strength and proves that anything you can do I can do better [in heels]. I had to post.

I've been slowly acquiring images for outfit inspiration and I really, really, really need to present you with a pretty little collage to showcase my findings. In coming inspiration board!

This week is proving to be expensive and hectic. I am way, way, way over my budget friendly budget shopping for everyday expenses, gifts, etc. and there aren't any breaks until the end of the month. I've been in save mode for the last little while, so every purchase is a guilt trip. So, what do you do when your favorite/only flats are on their last life and everything in your summer wardrobe is winter wear? Make friends with the retail industry or just a 2nd job.

(Source: Image)

The Trench Mob

The Mackinaw Coat

In 2004, college friends Johannes Mahmood, Matteo Gottardi, and Michael Leen founded Operations, a shop in New York's SoHo district that sold authentic global work wear. Inspired by these garments, the trio began reinterpreting styles and fits, designing with the stylish New Yorker in mind. Their men's and women's collections still feature details and silhouettes reminiscent of the old uniforms but with a contemporary aesthetic in mind. Indeed, I immediately thought of military commander fashion (Thanks, Victoria Beckham). Operations Men's is a webpage pulled out of the Sartorialists photographic romps in Europe - you know, like elderly Italian men in Cafe's playing Chess and discussing politics and grumbling about the mid day traffic.

This is the type of Trench I should have purchased. It just goes to show that there will always be another pair of shoes, another ring, or another jacket that one "can't live without."

Cropping the Possibilities

The Crop Top played peek-a-boo with fashion late last Summer, but is now making waves in 2009. If you've followed the last handful of runway seasons, it's been painfully obvious that fashion-at-large is moving from its fixation on the extravagant 1980's to an the anti-pop theme, and honing in on grunge. After peeping Hannah MacGibbon's Chloe Spring 2009, which was also the designers 1st, I made a mental note to try the blazer and crop.

Fashion is what you make it. I don't consider myself loyal to one look, but more or less my own feel for the day ahead. Sometimes, all you want to do is wear sweatpants and eat cookies all day. Other times, it's all about cuteboots, unglamourous glamourous parties and cocktails. The common factor is your personality. As long as you can make a style true to you then I truly do believe you can rock what you like.

If I can muster the confidence to show a little skin, I'll use these two photo's from Knightcat and Sea of Shoes as inspiration. I'm in love with the editorial take on the crop, but the ruffles in Jane's bandeaux top from UO is very much me.



BBL, class!

5th Ave. Shoe Repair

Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair created the perfect mini trench for a little Spring season street creepage.

Last year, I purchased a very prim and proper Mackage trench in a warm shade of beige. I was very taken by its 1940's Judy Garland appeal (think ultra feminine and retro) and thought it would be a perfect addition to my workwear wardrobe. The seasons change and so does life, so as I head back to school this year, my Judy G. trench is too far over the rainbow to pull off during grad lectures, etc. I'm consider something like cigarette pants, some cubicle shades, perhaps some non-descript black riding boots, and we're ready to rock the undercoverlover role. Errr, eager studious pupil.

Note: I am FIENDING for black ankle boots, which would be perfect for this get up. I've been on the look out since I spied last Fall's Acne block boots with no luck. In the photo below, Hanneli Mustaparta is shown wearing the black croc's, but I'm all for run-of-the-mill suede.


(Source: Image1, Image2)

Holt Renfrew and the Great Canadian Fashion Correspondent Contest

Holt Renfrew, Canada’s premier department store source for luxury fashion, is looking for a few good fashion correspondents and there is nothing like a little PR hype to circulate the web and get the search started.

The fashion industry is wrought by the pitiable state of the global economy. One after the other, fashion retailers are closing up shop and media publications are folding to economic pressure. Public Relations representatives are forced to now work in double overtime in order to produce cheap, but effective marketing strategies to help keep their clients afloat.

The latest trend in PR is not to create another flashy celebrity-obsessed campaign blitz, but a return to the budget friendly grass roots approach and tap into consumer circles. Instead of creating the wants of the consumer, the brand is now taking note of what their customers need. And, what better way to research your subject than taking a quick trip to the blogosphere?

"I feel like there aren't a lot of younger voices out there covering the shows in person. The spirit and camaraderie don't come across from just looking at a snapshot on a runway site, and I want to share that energy with my readers."
-Julia Frakes, Bunny Bisous

A quick trip through the fashion blogosphere can relate a quick sense of the who’s who and what’s what of the community. The most sacred of stylists can quickly be found on the pages of Bloglovin, Lookbook.NU, and now even mainstream media sources, like Elle and Vogue magazine. For instance, Paper Mag tapped into the online musings of infamous blogger Bunny Bisous, otherwise known as Julia Frakes, to document her fashion filled life on their website. Lane Crawford signed a contract with street style aficionado and JakandJil writer Tommy Ton, a Toronto-native, to photograph its upcoming campaign. It was only kosher for Canadian luxury retailer Holt Renfrew Contemporary would jump on board the “little people” revolution and search for their own digital correspondent.

Yes, that’s right. Holt Renfrew and its Contemporary department are a mission to track down a Canadian muse (See: “PYT”) to document the latest happenings in Canadian fashion. If successful, this new face will cultivate a following of younger Canadian style junkies and bring added meaning to the Holt’s identity.

Today, Generation X, Y and even Z, can tell the difference between an authentic opinion and paid advertising. Enter the blogosphere. The new wave of digitized social media found a niche with fashion fanatics and gave a strong voice to popular web muses like Jane Alderidge, Rumi Neely, and Camille R. More and more, bloggers are being tapped by agencies to loan their credibility to advertising campaigns and marketing strategies in the hope that these new faces will reach a slew of soul to sell a brand’s current merchandise.

"The fact that bloggers are real girls with normal clothing budgets is probably more inspiring than looking at pictures of celebrities with seemingly endless resources."
-Rumi Neely, Fashion Toast

Taking a step further out the box, designers, media and retailers are now using these real live Mona Lisa’s to market more than their new line of hand bags with a smile. Try marketing an ideology. For example, Emmanuel Ungaro’s creative director Esteban Cortazar proclaimed Fashion Toast writer, Neely, as his muse of Fall/Winter 2009 and featured her as a special guest at both the runway showing and after party. Fashion houses were once in the business of creating personal style, but are now interesting in branding personal style.

Perhaps Holt’s PR noticed that, for the number of amateur models, photographers and writers saturating the web with their latest TopShop purchases and “What I Wore Today” photo’s, Canadian stylefiles lack any significant online presence within the blogosphere. Although our streets are full of stylish creatures toying with new trends and rocking the latest fads, Canadian fashion bloggers suffer from a lack of writers documenting these unique grasps of personal style.

At best, the Holt Renfrew fashion correspondent scheme contest can act as a catalyst to incite pride in local culture and design. The contest offers an opportunity to produce the right mix of stylish intellectuals who can eloquently report on the happenings of sartorial Canadians and their favorite past-times. At worst, we have yet another luxury retail contest to forward to friends interested in the chance of winning a $1000 gift certificate and their 15 minutes if fame.

SO, will the retail industry help to manufacture yet another blogger celebrity? Get your entries in by May 28, 2009 and we have a greater chance of finding out.

(Source: Contest, Article/Image, Quotes)