Clear eyes full hearts can't lose

Girls: Rob Pattinson has nothing on Taylor Kitsch.

I'm not sure if any of you guys have heard of a little show called Friday Night Lights. Well let me tell you; it's my favourite show right now, only second to Battlestar Galactica aka the Greatest TV Show Ever. And part of the reason why the show is so great, is thanks to hot Canadian actor, Taylor Kitsch.
What does this have to do with fashion? Well, Taylor used to be a model for IMG and has modelled for Diesel and Abercrombie & Fitch. And P.S. have you seen those abs??

I've only heard of Taylor Kitsch through Lainey Gossip because Lainey is obsessed with him and the show. And then he appeared as Gambit on Wolverine: Origins. So last weekend I was in Best Buy and saw Friday Night Lights on DVD and like the impulse shopper I am, bought the first two seasons. So now I'm hooked. Not just on Taylor but on the show. Guys, it's an amazing show and I'm surprised why hardly anyone knows about it. It's not focused on football. It's about relationships, family and friendship. And the acting is amazing, especially Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, but the whole cast is superb.

And then there's Taylor. He plays the brooding, conflicted and ususally drunk Panthers running back, Tim Riggins. I think his long hair is my favourite part of him.

So if you want to see great TV and a hot guy who can actually act, watch Friday Night Lights!

R.I.P. Michael Jackson: Style Icon

I'm not going to talk about the Michael Jackson of the last two decades that has overshadowed his brilliant music career. I want to pay tribute to his lasting influence in fashion, which although can't be compared to his musical influence, is nonetheless still felt in the fashion industry today. Jackson died today at the age of 50.

Like I said in the title, he is a style icon. He turned a sparkling glove into a worldwide symbol. And now decades after he began his career, his style is still influence designers today.
In the Spring 2009 show, Balmain showcased Jackson-inspired military jackets. Funnily enough, Jackson was recently photographed wearing Balmain clothes that look like they could have been Jackson's from the 70s and 80s.

His style was showstopping and his upcoming tour "This Is It" promised to be a spectacle. WWD reports:

"The pop icon had costumes created specially for him by Crystallized Swarovski Elements. Along with the sets, the ensembles would have featured more than 300,000 crystals in 43 sizes and 27 colors. As Nadja Swarovski, vice president of international communications for Swarovski, told WWD Wednesday: “As the King of Pop, it is only natural for him to be crowned in crystal.”

Farewell, King of Pop.

The September Issue

I just watched the trailer for The September Issue and I am trembling with excitement. I can tell that the documentary is probably going to rival Valentino: The Last Emperor as one of my favourite fashion docs.

My favourite bits include:

- Anna telling Oscar de la Renta to take out a look she dislikes from his upcoming collection. "I personally would not put this in the show."
- "This type looks so large and pretentious. It looks like it's going to blind people."
- Grace Coddington telling a minion to mention an "amazing" photo, because Anna has "killed half of it."
- Anna's reaction to a minion telling her that "he didn't do the Coliseum dress" in a photo shoot.
- Anna's minions nervously mumbling after she asks them "is this really the message we want to put in the September issue?"

Check it out here

The highlight of my day

It's been a pretty boring day at work and I am feeling really tired (mostly from staying up late packing for my move on Saturday.) So when I saw the photos of my favourite male model, Jamie Dornan, starring in the Calvin Klein ads with Eva Mendes, I woke right up.

Boy is hot. A bit too greasy, but sexy.




And for some reason, the media is in an "uproar" over the CK ad that features a bunch of half-naked people. Boring! We've seen it all before. I don't see what the big deal is just because there is a little bit of nakedness going on. It's not as bad as all the violence we see on TV. The photos are pretty tame compared to all the nudity you can find in fashion magazines like French Vogue. But it's great publicity for Calvin Klein.

A little bit funny

How to make an Hermes crocodile Birkin.

Take this: (picture courtesy of Perez Hilton)



And you get this!

I don't know about you but real exotic bags scare me a little. Something about the scales and the fact that the actual creature can eat you.

The dark side of modeling

To the casual observer fashion and sex go hand-in-hand. The industry is built upon sexualized images to sell their product. And increasingly, the women selling fashion are getting younger and younger. Most of the time they aren't women at all but very young girls, as young as 13 years old.

The problem is that the sexual imagery in fashion photography has a lurid background behind the camera.

Sara Ziff, a model, has made a documentary called Picture Me about young models who will do anything to get to the top of the industry, and the price they pay for it.

This includes everything from respected photographers feeling up a model, to a 14-year-old model being asked to "twist" a photographer's penis, to 20-hour work days without any rest or food.

Here are some quotes from The Guardian's piece on the doc:

What alarms Ziff is that there's an expectation that models are comfortable using their sexuality. Often they can feel under pressure to conform, not least because they're being paid a great deal of money. On occasion, Ziff says, she has earned as much as $150,000 a day. "I've done shoots naked, totally naked. They sell it to you as: 'Here's this great artist and he wants to take your portrait.' I had to switch off the voice in my head that said: 'Do you really want to do this?' When you're being paid a lot of money and you want to appear cool you really don't want to show any resistance to going with it.
"But at the end of the day I used to wonder: what's the difference between doing a shoot in your underwear for Calvin Klein and being a stripper? Obviously you are compromising yourself. How far am I willing to go? How much am I willing to show for a big fat cheque?"


"We had to go in one by one. The photographer said he wanted to see me without my shirt on. Then he told me that it was still hard to imagine me for the story so could I take my trousers off. I was standing there in a pair of Mickey Mouse knickers and a sports bra. I didn't even have breasts yet. 'We might need to see you without your bra,' he told me. It was like he was a shark circling me, walking around and around, looking me up and down without saying anything. I did what he told me to. I was just eager to be liked and get the job. I didn't know any better."

"The images came out and they were practically pornographic. What the photographer saw was not what I felt. It had nothing to do with that 14-year-old and what she was feeling and everything to do with what the person behind the camera projected onto her."


The documentary also brings up the idea of creating a union for models, something which I've briefly talked about before. Modeling is a real job so why shouldn't they have a union with the chance to have days off, fair wages and most importantly, protection from abuse.

I'm glad to see that a working model is speaking out about the issue; there are so many faceless models out there too scared to talk about it.

Click here to watch the trailer.

Style Bazaar magazine interviews me!

A couple of weeks ago, Style Bazaar asked if they could feature me as one of their favourite bloggers in their online magazine. Needless to say I was very flattered and thrilled!

Check out the interview here and flip to page 30 to see my interview. And please check out the rest of the issue! There are other amazing bloggers featured, a great fashion editorial and features on my style icons Lady GaGa and Rihanna.
The site also has an online shop where you can buy great vintage, and a blog so check it out!

I must thank the lovely Tallulah for thinking of me and asking me great questions that really made me think about why I like blogging about fashion.

Thanks again Style Bazaar!

Le smoking

There is something undeniably sexy about smoking. It's the moment between taking a drag and letting the smoke seep out. The cig resting lighting between your fingertips; your mouth parted just a little bit, and the ecstasy of feeling more relaxed; the world is right again.

Most people know that almost everyone involved in the fashion industry smokes. And I'm not talking about having a quick cig with champagne, I'm talking about all the time. In between shows, in between fittings, on photo shoot breaks, hell, on any kind of break. But hey, it's stressful job.

I'm talking about smoking because a friend of mine (same friend who went to the Ford Supermodel of the World open call last week) told me this weekend that she wants to try to quit the habit. She's not addicted to smoking but she likes the feeling she gets when she smokes. She told me that when she cosmetology in school, her teacher told the class to smoke with their left hands, so that when they were applying makeup to clients, they wouldn't be able to smell the smoke on their fingers. That's how much smoking is a part of the fashion culture.

Smoking in the media has been debated for a while now: Does seeing a celebrity or hot model smoking on TV or in magazines encourage people to smoke?
The media certainly glamourizes the act of smoking. There are countless famous movies where the protagonists are seen lighting up in a very sexy way. Does that make me want to smoke? No, but I do enjoy watching a person light up; especially if it's a sensual scene.

Fashion magazines are notorious for having photos of smoking models and there are two classic poses they use: Smoke floating out of a pouty, open mouth, or the cigarette is held like a cigar in an open, pouty mouth. It's hot, but is it wrong to promote smoking?

I don't have the answer to this, but please weigh in! Should fashion magazines be featuring models smoking?

And while you think about it, here are some hot photos of models smoking.