Prada and Linda are a match made in advertising heaven

This lace is anything but granny-ish and old. Not too sure about the leather bags- the odd embellishments remind me of fins. But the lace replacement of the Fairy bag is gorgeous. Very classic but erotic. Sames goes with the dresses- very peek-a-boo but elegant. I love the shades of blue in the background; it's almost as if Linda is under water. Lace and water...now that's sexy.

Major Doo.Ri sale. Ends tomorrow

Gilt Groupe is having an amazing sale but many of the clothes are sold out so if you've ever craved Doo.Ri, now is your chance. You have until tomorrow at 12 A.M. so get that credit card out!

Here are some of my favorite pieces:

Rosette Pleated Silk Top

You won't find this kind of detail in clothes at the Gap. The floral embellishments, the pleats that cascade down the front and back of the shirt make it so unique and beautiful.

Dolman Sleeve Chiffon Blouse


What really makes this blouse is the bubble hem, the long pleats and the gathered sleeves. It's very elegant and would look great with a pencil skirt but it can also be very casual with cute short shorts.

Draped Sleeveless Jersey Tunic

This mini-dress is all about that bright blue cine and the shoulder drape. Perfect party dress.

Bell Sleeve Jacket with Chiffon Belt

Now this is a special outfit. The drawstring bow tie waist with the pleated hem is so sexy and chic. The chiffon belt takes the jacket from plain to haute-couture.

Origami Pleated Sheath Dress



The front of this dress is so flawlessly clean and free of lines that it looks like no human hands touched it. The back however is masterful. Sharp but subtle pleats make it seem like it came straight from an artist in Japan.

The September covers start rolling in

...and what a disastrous way to start. Seriously? Elle chose Jessica Simpson to be the cover of the best month of the year? She's not even stylish. God. Most of the time she wears ill-fitted maxi dresses paired with tired old cowboy boots. Hardly aspirational.

Also- where did her waist and hips go??

Plus it looks a lot like the Sept. 04 cover. Real creative guys!

Editorial inspiration

Sasha P shot by Craig McDean for French Vogue.
I think the stylist deserve an award for this.
The wild shapes, colours, materials are all so put-together but look undone; so beautiful.




Old lady/pajama chic. Love the loafers and what looks like a cape. This is how I want to dress when I'm in my 70s.

This look is on the fine edge between male and female. The pairing of the crisp shirt with leggings and a long sweater is brilliant.


God, the colours! The hair! The boots! The contrast between the peroxide blond mess of a mane and the refinement and beauty of the coat is a delight to look at.


One word: Feathers.


What Mary Kate Olsen wishes she could pull off.


This is exactly what I would want in my closet. I wish I could pull this look together on my own. It's simple, classic but with a street edge.





It's all about shape and curves.

Wind machines work wonders on dresses. Are those lace leggings??


Beautiful. She looks like a young boy who has left home for an adventure.

Chatelaine looking for style interns

Want to climb up the fashion ladder? An internship at a magazine is a great way to start.
The Canadian mag is look for two part-time interns (unpaid of course) for their style department.

Think you have what it takes?

The style department at Chatelaine is looking for two individuals to oversee a number of tasks in the office, and occasionally on fashion and beauty photo shoots, for four months (September 8, 2008 to January 11, 2009). Tasks include cataloguing product samples, tracking clothing and beauty products for photo shoots, couriering items back to vendors and maintaining contact lists for style editors. Style interns are also responsible for contacting vendors to check pricing, sizing and clothing and cosmetic details to assist the fact-checking and copy-editing processes, and, where opportunity and initiative coincide, potentially write brief style copy. The successful candidate will be available two to three days a week, have a keen interest in the style industry, work well with others, and be highly organized and detail-oriented. Interested candidates should
apply by email, with cover letter and resume, to kathryn.dupuis@chatelaine.rogers.com

The deadline for applications is August 8th, 2008.

Good luck!

How to get fashion magazine sales up

Admittedly it's not just fashion mags that are suffering; women's mags in general are in a slump.

Elle is down 7.3 per cent, Marie Claire down 11.7 per cent, Vogue down 15.1 per cent and O (The Oprah Magazine) is down a whopping 16.4 per cent.
On the other hand, titles such as Esquire, Vanity Fair and inexplicably, Ladies' Home Journal are way up.

But many of the losers are fashion mags. How can this be?

Is it really the economy, stupid? Possibly. When I see a model posing in $2,000 Balenciaga boots, a $5000 Louis Vuitton blouse and a $10,000 bag (I'm looking at you, Hermes) it does not make me feel particularly good about myself and my good ol' Coach bag and Aldo copycat shoes. Perhaps in these hard times, women want to read about what they can afford, not what they can only dream of having. We want some of it to be attainable please! If we can't look like Daria Werbowy, then God damnit we should at least be able to buy the clothes she wears and pretend that we are Daria Werbowy.

Maybe it's the boring covers, which really only cause a controversy in the media, and not in buyer's minds. Take the Vogue "King Kong" cover.
The media, and bloggers (myself included) took up arms and called Anna Wintour a racist for making LeBron James look like a large ape. Too bad the cover was boring. Instead of being provocative like they hoped (Oohh! A black man! Yelling!) it was stale and Gisele looked like a mannequin.
And then there was this.
Gwyneth Paltrow on Vogue's May 2008 cover was a joke. The Photoshop people went overboard with their magic wand and made her look like a Bobble Head. Don't get me started on the helmet hair.
Even British Vogue has more provocative photos. But you want to move issues? Get a new photographer who will do something exciting and new. Nudity wouldn't hurt either; I don't think your readers will be offended because at least it would be different.

And of course, the Web 2.0. The bastard. And bloggers like myself! We're more accessible, attainable, personable (thank you, thank you) and not out of touch with reality!

We North Americans want to see more of this! Snatch!

(Magazine photo source: Gawker)

H&M Fall 2008

This Fall it's all about volume and layers. Mix bright colours that pop out against neutrals like beige and black. If you can pull off the baggy look, go for it!



Yes you can still wear heels and not be cold. Pair them with thin, striped socks or leggings.



Orange is the new black.



Forget black leggings- get a pair of brightly-coloured ones.

Love the nerdy glasses.

For your Gossip Girl viewing pleasure

It's been a hot, cruel summer for Serena, Blair, Nate, Dan and Chuck in the Hamptons and I'm posting some previews to whet your appetite for Season 2 which premieres on the CW on Sept. 1.

My favorite moment: Two topless Eastern European chicks saying: "Mr. Chuck? Is there something you need caretaking of?"

Also, it looks like Nate has been very naughty...not with Serena.
It seems that Serena wants to hook up with a lifeguard, Blair lounges about drinking Daiquiris and making witty comments ("a hot lifeguard is like Kleenex. Use one and throw it away," Jenny looks snooty and Dan raises his eyebrows.

Calvin Klein headscarf

A couple days ago I was standing in line to catch a GO bus at Union Station when I noticed a young woman wearing a headscarf. Headscarves are common in Toronto, but that wasn't why I was staring. Her black scarf had CK logs printed all over it. CK as in Calvin Klein. Now, when I think about Calvin Klein, Mark Wahlberg's crotch comes to mind. As does Kate Moss's skinny ass. Muslim modesty does not cross my mind when I think about CK.
I just find it a bit of a paradox for a Muslim woman to be wearing something that stands for totally different ideals: The scarf stands for religious significance and modesty, while CK stands for sex. Love it! (BTW- I found this photo on Google Images. This woman is not the one who I saw. Which means there are more than two Muslim women wearing this scarf!)

Ack! Italian Vogue sold out!

This morning I checked in at my local newstand (it's the only one that I know of that imports Italian Vogue) and the sales clerk informed me that they had sold out! Apparently they got the issues last night and were sold out before the store closed. Last night?! That's not fair! I'm at home during the night! I'm not trolling for magazines at 11 p.m. Sigh. I just might have to resort to Ebay.

Are disabled models really this mean?

A couple weeks ago I posted about this new reality TV series called "Britain's Missing Top Model." Missing being the operative word.

A clip of the series is on YouTube. Here are the lowlights:

- The 'models' decide not to wake up one of the contestants who is sleeping- before her photo shoot.
- A deaf girl insists on signing in her commercial but the producers make her speak. The results aren't pretty and you feel bad for her.
- A girl has a disability where she can be paralyzed without warning at any time

Watch the wreckage!

Eva Mendes is sexy in CK underwear

This news is a couple days old but I wanted to comment about Eva "It's pronounced Ava" Mendes as the new face of CK Seductive Underwear.

For the past few seasons, Natalia Vodianova (who seems to get thinner each time she has a child,) has been the face and the body of CK underwear. So this season the CK big-wigs thought they would appeal to those of us who are not rail thin by putting Mendes in their ads.

Tom Murry, the president and operating officer of Calvin Klein Inc., noted in a recent press release, "This is a departure from more slender body types that have been typically used in Calvin Klein Underwear ads.

"But this is not so much about a trend of being more curvaceous. This product is made for a curvaceous woman."

Ha! I find it comical that Mendes is considered "curvaceous." Maybe they mean that she has bigger boobs than the waifs they usually feature. The truth is, most of us do not like like Eva Mendes, but by God if buying CK underwear will give me abs, pert boobies and a sexy Latina pout, then I'm whipping out my credit card.

CK Underwear will make your boobs bigger! Just ask Natalia!

See Coco strip

At least, see her strip down to a black leather bodysuit. It's still hot.

Win a copy of the "Black" Italian Vogue!

Haute Concept is having a contest where it is giving away four copies of the sold-out everywhere magazine.
All you have to do is enter here.

Good luck everyone!

I'm seeing purple

Purple is my new favorite colour. For the best, oh, 24 years of my life I have been loyal to orange because all orange candies taste good. But now, so long orange! I am craving all shades of purple- berry, lilac...um...purple. Plus I think brunettes look hot in it (score 1 for brunettes!)

Here are some purple-y items that I am craving right now:

1. Coach Hamptons Carryall in Berry


This bag comes out on Friday and I cannot wait to go check it out. I think my credit card just went and hid itself. I love the deep richness of the colour.

2. Fendi purple ombre sunglasses


I'm not the type of person to have a pair of sunglasses for every day of the week. I have one pair of large black sunnies I bought in France a couple years ago and they are still stylish and classic. However...these purple sunnies are calling my name. Maybe if I found a pair that wasn't several hundred dollars I would consider it.

3. Chanel leather chain bracelet

I am a sucker for Chanel and a sucker for leather. It's tough, it's sexy, it's purple. What's not to love?

Fuck PETA: Carine Roitfeld

The Paris Vogue editor might want to start wearing large sunnies because PETA activists will be chucking pies in her face when they see this editorial in the August issue.
Carine styled a shoot with a fur-covered Raquel Zimmermann giving PETA-like activists the finger.
Normally I find editorials like this fun and cheeky; very refreshing from the usual stale poses. But I am against wearing fur and to blatantly flip off PETA, which stands for a worthy cause, is quite disgusting to me. Grow up, Carine.

Questing for a little magazine known as Italian Vogue

The magazine store clerk on Yonge and St. Clair knows my name. For the past two weeks I drop by the store during my lunch to check to see if the fabled "Black Issue" has hit the stands. Alas, no such luck.
I've only ever bought one issue of Italian Vogue because I find that $45 is a wee bit too much to pay for a magazine but this July issue is not just your typical fashion mag. This is the collector's issue of all collector's issues. Reports say that in New York, the issue sold out across the city on the first day it hit the stands.
The clerk told me that he gets at least a dozen people a day asking him if the mag has come in yet. He gives me a little annoyed look whenever I walk into the store and says "Not yet, not yet."
When I ask him if he knows when the issue will be in, he sighs, shrugs and mumbles "I don't know. This week. Sometime."
So today when I get my lunch, I'm going to stop by the magazine store and take a quick peak to see if it's there.

Update: No luck today either. Sigh.