I Can See Your Underwear

Dolce & Gabanna Fall RTW 2010

Sometimes I wonder when butt crack will be in style. I genuinely do believe the day is coming. Conservative designers will have sheer fabric across the lower back exposing cracks and the more risky ones like Dolce & Gabbana will do fish net and chains over the cheeks. Perhaps this is why I'm totally cool with what's going on above. I would even wear the dress to the right event.

So I spent the evening drinking wine and watching videos of runway collections and post-show interviews with editors and celebrities who get to call up the designers and shot gun their favorite looks for premieres. Sidenote - I love the way the French pronounce sexuality "sex-OU-al-EE-té". Why must their vowels require such forceful tongue thrusting? So much work for one silly word.

Dolce & Gabanna Fall RTW 2010

Anyways I've come to realize how much I love the way the fashion crowd speaks. It's colorful and wildly imaginative. Everything is described in abstract metamorphical terms. A dress isn't just a dress, it's a whirlwind of fascination. You don't just like the dress you want to make it a candle lit dinner and then make sweet love to it all night long on a sandy white beach (or is that just me?). This is because a dress isn't simply a dress. It is much more. Fashion makes an emotional connection with people.

Dolce & Gabbana Fall RTW 2010

Dolce & Gabanna's show above made attending tough New Yorkers CRY with some behind the scenes footage. I suppose in a cut throat industry a bit of intimacy can be moving like that. This collection is easily in my top 3 this season. It's got a little bit of everything I like in a collection. It's provocative yet lady like, it's full of contradictions and outside the box thinking, the fabrics are very luxe and beautiful, and many up and coming trends are touched upon. Good stuff!

Fish Creek Photoshoot

In The Wild

Styling: Tracey Quo

Photography: Ian Harding

Model: Rayna McKay

My concept for this shoot was to use very soft and wearable garments in a peaceful and picturesque environment. All the clothing had a toned down bohemian vibe and included a fair amount of silk. I had an image in my head of various Greek myths that included nymphs lounging around bodies of water. In Greek mythology nymphs are all nature spirits that appear as beautiful seductive women and can cause various metamorphoses (transformations of shape, usually into plants and animals). They are typically huge teases that torment the gods like Apollo, but they also inspire beautiful poetry and songs. I think Rayna definitely captures that innocent yet devilish motif here.

Ian Harding the photographer for this shoot did an amazing job bringing all the pictures to life. I have never taken a second glance at grass in a photo before, but I definitely do in these shots! You would never know it looking at these photos, but Rayna was eaten alive at this shoot. She emerged looking like a 5 year old with a terrible case of smallpox covered head to toe in bites when we were done. We also got her to lay down on large rocks in very cold water and change into the nude often on a rather public nature trail. Modelling isn't quite as glamorous as it appears so a big thank-you to both Rayna and Ian for their hard work and helping me build my portfolio!

I actually met Ian two hours after I was laid off from my job as a recruiter. It was Alberta Fashion Week (AFW) and I was attending the runway shows that evening so I cabbed from work with all my stuff (a collection of work pumps, my sacred peanut butter I snacked on between e-mails, tooth brushes/paste, weird desk paraphanelia etc...) in my synthetic leather leggings and headed straight to a friends house to down a couple vodka-waters and head to AFW. Within those two hours I somehow came to the conclusion that I should pursue a career in the fashion industry, so I asked Ian for his business card and two months later we hooked up for this wicked shoot (Ian is a photographer for AFW). I think that's what people are referring to when they tell you to take lemons and make lemonade :)

You can check out Ian Harding's work at http://www.ianharding.ca/ and if you wish to contact Rayna McKay you can add/message her on Facebook: facebook.com/rayna.mckay

p.s please click on the photos to view them in a larger size!

Vogue Paris September 2010

Corps d'Elite

Photography: Terry Richardson

Models: Natasha Poly and Jamie Dornan

Styling: Emmanuelle Alt

(Via Fashionising)

Kate Dans La Peau

Photography: Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin

Model: Kate Moss

Styling: Emmanuelle Alt

(Via IconKateMoss)

Oh the French....they are rude and they are crude and I love it.

Paris: 2

US: 0

In the Navy

Okay, so The Satorialist has been killing me lately with all the Italian men in navy garments. I just had to share because Italian men are so friggen impeccable. They make me want to do things....unspeakable things...unmentionable things...terrible, terrible things that can't be forgiven....I'll just leave it at that....

Do me a favor and listen to In The Navy whilst perusing this post.

And now I share with you an excerpt from my travel journal while in Rome:

August 6th, 2008 6:30 PM

"There is one thing I should specifically address about night clubbing in Italy: Italian men. During the day Italian men are a wondrous sight. They are beautiful, stylish, sexy etc… everything you could ask for in a piece of ass. They walk around in 34 degree heat in suits looking about 10 degrees cooler than everyone else. If you’re lucky enough one may say Ciao Bella to you as you proceed to watch your ego grow 2 times bigger. Italian men in night clubs, however, are another story. Creepy, hyper-aggressive, stalker-like, crazy etc… are a few words that come to mind. As the night goes on they become even bigger creepers."

(Via The Satorialist)

Awesome Things I Can't Afford Saturdays

Another Saturday, another self depreciating post about my penniless existence. Oh joy.

An old friend of mine just launched an escort service in Vancouver that pretends to be a matchmaking service called Sugar City. It's got very interesting wording like "mutually beneficial relationship" and "Sugar babies" and my favorite "weekly allowance". Anyways I've been following their blog and I find myself becoming more and more accepting of the whole concept when shopping online for these posts. I think to myself "gee golly gosh, if I had a Sugar Daddy paying my rent and depositing me a monthly 4 digit allowance I could totally thug out my knuckles for reals yo." But alas, I will not succumb to a Sugar City kind of existence.

All I could ever think in our time together is how unfortunate it is that someone must take part in such a calculating business transaction to fill their needs. If you're in that sort of arrangement all you should really be thinking about is when the sucker will finish buying you the entire Louis Vuitton luggage collection and why the hell is your champagne taking so god damn long to arrive at your lavished hotel suite at the Hilton DAMMIT!?!

But I digress...

Why hello there metal spikes woven tightly with copper wire. How are your fabulous selves today? Oh, dangerous? Yeah, I noticed you were all hardcore like that hanging out on what is probably a deadly cliff on fingers with chipped nail polished (perfectly polished nails are for the MEEK). How am I? Oh you know....broke and totally can't afford you what-so-ever. I'm selling my shoes to fly out to my friend's wedding next month, but you know...it goes. Thanks, for asking.

You can buy the Spike KnuckleBuster at Luv Aj for $158 USD. Not as cheap as pepper spray, but way way cooler. Also, a note for my fellow poor romantic idealists <3

(photos credited to Luv Aj and A Beautiful Revolution)

Working with Grey

 

Dress: Mexx

Shoes: Aldo

Nylons: American Apparel

Ring & Earrings: Banana Republic

Purse: The Gap

Grey was not one of the bigger fall color trends this summer on the runways, but it still made several appearances, especially in knit wear (Diane Von Furstenburg was a favorite of mine) so I expect to still see grey lingering in stores soon. I've always been really fond of grey because it's neutral yet rather dynamic depending on the fabric and exact shade used. It can be soft like my dress above or edgy like my heels. It's basically moody and that strikes a chord with me being a rather moody girl.

The best thing about grey is all the fun you can have with contrasting it. It serves as the perfect back drop no matter what color you pair it with and you can be as discreet or loud as you want with your pairing. Here lighter shades of grey have been color blocked with pastel colored tops.

Rich and deep colors can add a lot of elegance to a grey article of clothing like Kate Moss' royal blue jacket above and Nicole Richie's ruby red scarf. I would suggest keeping your other accessories neutral rather than juggling several color contrasts with grey, if you want a more sophisticated look.

The greater amount of grey you are wearing the more dramatic the juxtaposition a pop of color will have against it. You can add this color through any accessory imaginable from a pair of gloves to a bow tie and pocket square.

Grey is a particularly beautiful slate to display metallics against. Try stacking your arms in gold bracelets or pile on a few chains around your neck.

If you're crazy enough about grey you can go head-to-toe in it like myself and these two ladies. I've often read it's a no-no to match two tones of the same shade because it looks off or clashes, but if you're mixing different textures as well as tones the clashing works in your favor. Kate above is wearing a blazer that is probably a rayon/polyester blend with jeans and a wool top and the fact that the greys are all different tones still works well.