Not for vegetarians

I can't decide whether to be repulsed or amazed by this editorial for Vogue Hommes International. It's so confrontational; pairing a pantless model romping around dead animals and their blood. A modern Hannibal Lecter? Or a Dexter (minus the dead people?)

The title of the editorial is "Plaisir Solitaire" or "Solitary Pleasure;" a fantasy of death and nudity. Perhaps it is a political stance saying that whether we kill the animals ourselves or not, we're all butchers if we consume meat?

Whatever the message is, I find it very provocative and I can't stop staring at the photos.

Shot by Steven Klein.

Caught in a bad romance

Have you guys heard the new Lady Gaga song "Bad Romance"? I can't get it out of my head. I walk to and from work listening to it over and over.

What's even more awesome is that I'm going to her "Monster Ball" concert when she comes to Toronto at the end of November! Can't wait to dress up and dance to "Poker Face."

And here she is on the December cover of Flare magazine. I love how is is festive without being overtly holiday-ish.

Anything that sparkles on a cover makes me happy. And while I'm not usually a fan of pink, I really like her hair colour here; it's kind of ashy and old but in a good way.

I'm looking forward to the inside spread.

So fresh and so clean

"I don't see why people make such a big fuss about $3 hot pants and $5 shirts" said the man sitting beside me waiting for the Joe Fresh Style show to start. Ah, Canadians can by so cynical about their designers, even when those designers are successful.

Last night I went see the show at LG Fashion Week in Toronto, which moved locations from City Hall to a bigger venue at 1030 King Street West which is great because the streetcar picks me up right in front of my building and takes me straight to the tents. Less walking is a good thing because I was wearing super high heels and I don't think my feet could have taken a lot of walking before all the waiting around I was about to endure.

When I stepped inside the tents all I could see was a sea of black. I swear I was the only one wearing colour (red) aside from a couple of volunteers who were wearing fuschia tights.
Women were wearing boyfriend jackets, leggings, booties, leather jackets and cute purses. Men wore well-cut suits, bow-ties, Oxfords and skinny pants. I felt that the fashionistas had a better turn out style-wise this year than in past seasons.

Here's who I spotted: Heatherette designer Richie Rich chatting up Jeanne Beker; model and Canada's Next Top Model judge Stacey McKenzie; Degrassi: The Next Generation actor Adamo Ruggiero (aka Marco); National Post gossip-hound Shinan Govani, Ben Mulroney and actress Kristin Booth.

The show started about 25 minutes late and my feet were hurting so much that I almost considered turning around and leaving, but thank God I didn't because it was such a fun show.

I knew it would be a cheeky, fun show when Theodora Richards (daughter of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards) came prancing down the runway. Richards stumbled right near the beginning, kicked off her shoe, made a *oops! Oh well, I'm hot!* face and kept on shaking her hips.

The clothes were sexy; butt cheek-skimming mini-dresses, short-shorts, body-con dresses and fishnet knee-length stockings made appearances. You would have to be young (or seriously fit) to wear these.

The theme was underwear as outerwear; with bras sewn on top of blouses, bloomers and high-waisted undies-as-shorts. Sheer blouses also made an appearance.

For those who don't want to show off their backside, there were also boyfriend shirts-as-dresses in white and blue.

The really cute stuff were the pleated knee-length skirts and the blouses with rosettes in shades of lemon yellow and light pink.

The colours for the first half were white, light blue and beige. Then it moved on to yellow and pink.

The men also had some great selections with leather brogues, cardigans, tennis shorts and gingham bloomers and blazers.

Accessories were kept to a minimum but the small saddle bags were very cute. Unfortunately for shoe-lovers, Joseph Mimran pulled a Karl Lagerfeld a la Chanel and used clogs. Clogs are not sexy, not even while wearing Chanel.

It was a young, cool and fun collection and I can't wait to try on the clothes when they hit the shelves.

Me wearing a vintage blazer, a sequined minidress from H&M, cuffs from Forever 21 and tartan shoes from Winners.

Theodora Richards flouncing down the runway after kicking off her shoes

I see London, I see France...
I want this trench coat.





Theodora makes a dramatic exit.


For photos of the complete collection go here

November Vogue and "Nine"

Vogue's November issue features the four women stars of the upcoming movie "Nine."

There has been a bit of a hubbub over the overuse of Photoshop on the cover. I don't really know what the fuss is about; there have been way worse cases than this. But I actually like the cover; I like the soft lighting, the deep reds, the romanticism. It's pretty.


Style.com has released behind-the-scenes video of the shoot. It's fun to watch the women joke around with each other. And Penelope Cruz is so naturally gorgeous it's insane.

If you can't go to the movies

This editorial caught my eye in two ways: a) It's Jamie Dornan and b) it reminds me of a movie. I'm obsessed with movies. If I didn't have to work, I would probably spend most of my time watching movies. That and drinking wine, reading comics and dancing around my apartment with the music turned up really high.

I like to think of editorials as mini-movies; there's a narrative, characters and each photo captures a part of the action; a sliver of time.

I really like this editorial because it has nice movement; even though it's frozen you can picture Jamie Dornan kicking off his stress in the dirty water; the weariness in his pose when he leans into the rake; the playfulness when he half-grins and the dreaminess when he sneaks away for a cigarette in a barn.

There's a thoughtfulness in these photos.










(photos: Vogue Hommes International)

Under the sea

Who were those off-world sea creatures at Alexander McQueen S/S 2010?

Yesterday's collection set the standard for the future of fashion. The event was live-streamed on Nick Knight's SHOWstudio.com although the video lagged a lot and was choppy, and thanks to Lady Gaga's tweet, crashed the site so many people weren't able to see the video.

I was stunned by what I did see: The models walked to the sounds of drums, airy flutes and breathing in a sort of space jungle trance.

The first thing I noticed were the shoes. At first I thought they had a very alien-like appearance, tall stilettos with a wide front, but then from the side they looked like elegant hooves in reptile skins. Whatever they were; they looked literally out of this world. And kudos to the models for being able to walk in them and make it look effortless; almost as if they were floating in water.







And then there were the dresses. In 3D, computer graphics, laser-cut glory. Nipped waists on dresses with very short hemlines, emphasis on hips and shoulders, liquid leather dresses, outfits that were half-suit half dress, shimmering pants, sheer tops, flowing and bubble skirts and string-like gauze blouses. Colours started off with a mix of reptilian yellow, jade and bright yellow, and then dirty brown (like you would find under the sea,) and stunning blues (which reminded me of the upcoming movie "Avatar") and some midnight black.

This is a collection I will be looking at over and over to try to digest what it means. But what I do know is that McQueen has changed the way I will look at fashion. Here's to forward thinking!

Update: You can watch the show here









(Photos: style.com, @mcQueenWorld)

Lindsay Lohan and Ungaro

There has been quite a big hubbub over "artistic advisor" Lindsay Lohan and designer Estrella Archs' collection for Emanuel Ungaro; most of the critics panning the collection.

Style.com called it a "disappointing debut" and "a bad joke of a fashion show;" WWD said the clothes looked "cheesy and dated" and the New York Times said the collection looked "as if a McDonald’s fry cook had been installed as the chef of a three-star Michelin restaurant."

Ouch.

I read all this before I actually saw the collection so when I took a deep breath and plunged right into the photos, I tried not to let the reviews colour my opinion of it.

The first dress, a skintight fuscia mini dress with patches of light pink I actually liked. I could see young Hollywood wearing it; however I felt that I had seen it done before (at Balmain and countless others) and better. It reminded me of something GUESS would design.
But after that first dress, it all went downhill. The second look was another fushia dress with an bias-cut neckline and a twisted belt. However the dress fit awkwardly on the model.

Most of the colours used were hot pink, neon orange, white and black. And while in the hands of an able designer, the colours could have been stunning, here, they were disastrously paired together, for example a look that had tulip pink drop-crotch balloon pants, dark red bra and a neon pink bolero looked like it came out of the dumpster of a bad '80s TV soap. The colours clashed!

And I'm sure by now you've heard about the hearts. Specifically, the heart pasties. I didn't find those offensive as much as the hearts hastily pasted onto the models' foreheads.

This whole offensive spectacle reeked of greed. CEO Mounir Moufarrige, clearly looking to the success of celebrity American lines such as Justin Timberlake's William Rast and Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B., is hoping to cash in on Lindsay's name; not because she is a good designer, but because she is an actress who makes more headlines throwing hissy fits than for her movies.

It's offensive that this collection was thrown by a French fashion house during the world's most prestigious Fashion Week. It's a slap in the face to all the other real designers.





(Photos: style.com)