Toronto Fashion week is underway and I attended three shows yesterday. Soia & Kyo’s outwear collection for FW 2012 featured the feminine wool coats with tapered waistlines that I’ve come to associate with the brand, along with a series of Canadian-style parkas and puffy coats with fur lined hoods that fluttered gently under the fans inside the tents. PETA maintained a quiet presence outside the front doors which led to the runway, handing out pamphlets denouncing the use of fur as a fashion statement. “Where’s the red spray paint?” I wondered. I suppose the group’s goal that day was to give pause for thought to the unaware.
Lundstrom featured a pretty yet boring series of retro-inspired womenswear. I am tired of Mad Men and I am weary of a runway show in which the music does not change once. I found myself on the verge of yawning and wondering how a designer could find acceptable a runway show that consists only of models walking down a catwalk wearing designs from the collection. So much opportunity to entertain is squandered in favour of the same old.
Image: Steve Alkok
Even Lucian Matis, who is usually a highlight of Fashion Week for me, toned down the “show” aspect of his fashion showcase, choosing instead to go for a more reserved, albeit breathtaking, approach than we’re used to seeing with the designer. The first few looks drew inspiration from nature which is consistent with past Matis collections, this time featuring lots of animal prints and feathers which combined beautifully for an eye-catching yet softly feminine glow. Evening looks included a show stopper in the form of a deep cut gunmetal glitter floor length gown. Another strapless black number with a gigantic bow for a collar would benefit from more body tape: the model wearing it had the misfortune of baring her nipple for most of her walk.
An audience member near me muttered “oh, the poor girl” and I loved that because we hear so much about women comparing themselves to models and feeling inadequate. In the end, we feel the pain of another girl’s wardrobe malfunction as acutely as if it were our own.
Toronto Fashion Week is coming and Fashion Takes Action is hosting a high-end clothing swap on Friday, March 16 at Fashion Week headquarters. FTA is a non-profit that works with the fashion industry and general public to improve environmental sustainability. For each gently used brand name or designer item you bring in, you will be given one swap token, to a maximum of 20 tokens. Early bird admission tickets are $10 until March 5, $15 by March 15, and $20 at the door. No jewellery is being accepted for this swap.
Clothing will be displayed in a boutique setting for your shopping pleasure. You are encouraged to drop off items ahead of time to the FTA showroom in the Distillery District in Toronto to help you avoid the line on the day of the swap. What a fine opportunity to support sustainable fashion and improve your wardrobe at the same time. I’m a firm believer that re-using is the truest form of sustainable style and also the most pocket-book friendly. Get all the details on the FTA website.
One of my most popular posts was about the push up bikini top marketed by clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch to tween girls (8 to 12 years old). Many mothers and other women wrote in, outraged over the sexualization of teen girls bodies and some girls retaliated that we don’t know what it’s like to be a girl these days; one pagent contestant said her mom gets them for her to give her a competitive edge. Many girls lamented the fact that these body contouring garments are more evidence that girls are increasingly valued for what they look like.
I’m a solution-oriented person so I was pleased to read a comment on the post from Dee, who kindly shared a link to her friend’s website, Zinky Zoo, specializing in bras suitable for tween girls. Featuring a portrait of a grinning little girl with braces on her teeth, the site is a wonderful antidote to the culture’s misguided attempts to make girls grow up too quickly. 10-year-old Roxanne was the inspiration behind the brand because when she and her mom went bra shopping for the first time they were disappointed to find ”flimsy pull-over bras in ultra-thin fabrics… or little push-up bras: women’s bras made in small sizes, complete with padded cups and underwires.”
We wanted fun, functional bras for our tween girls and we didn’t want sexy!
Hallelujah, I say, and I’m going to check these out for my 11-year-old. I encourage you to spread the word about Zinky Zoo to any girls and moms you know who would love to know where to find fun, age-appropriate undergarments.
Here’s an exciting development from Toronto Fashion Week. VAWK by Sunny Fong (former Project Runway Canada winner) is seeking “real” women to walk the runway in March to showcase its new sister line. The Ben Barry Agency whose mission it is to change the face “and body” of fashion by representing a diverse range of models, has partnered with the designer to honour its customer in the following way:
With the launch of our sister label VAWKKIN rapidly approaching, the VAWK team wanted to roll out our new project in an exciting way. VAWKKIN transitions seamlessly from work to the weekend. Since this line was designed with you in mind, we thought: Why not let you be the VAWKKIN woman and the first to wear it on the runway?
What do you think about non-models working the catwalk?
‘All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you.’
Here’s a reason to get excited about Toronto Fashion Week: Soia & Kyo is scheduled to show its collection. I’m the proud owner of three of the outerwear label’s coats: one for fall, one for winter and a trench for Spring! My favourite details about the Soia & Kyo coats is the fitted tailoring (very feminine and you don’t get lost in the coat when you’re thin like me), and large, whimsical collars that combine beauty with practicality (they keep you very warm).
Brand designer, Ilan Elfassy, claims to be inspired by “the ‘hipster urban traveler’, someone who is effortlessly fashionable and stands out in the crowd. I also believe in practicality, and that’s why I create styles that can be worn across the globe anywhere and anytime.” Everytime I wear my Soia & Kyo coats I get compliments and I loved telling the New Yorkers who coveted my trench that it was a Canadian label. One of them went online to buy it making me feel like quite the national ambassador.
Edina and Patsy from Ab Fab are the new faces of Alexis Bittar! I used to love watching Absolutely Fabulous starring Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders, which poked fun at the fashion conscious. My favourite line was when fashion editor Patsy was to interview a sports personalty. “Sports personality?” she said, “isn’t that an oxymoron?”
I’ve been reading about Glossybox on other blogs, and now the unique subscription service has arrived in Canada. I was thrilled to receive my first pink Glossybox in the mail which includes five sample beauty products: my favourite nail polish brand, Essie (because it doesn’t chip) in my coveted nail colour, pale pink; a tube of Oscar de la Renta body lotion; Prevage anti-aging night cream; Elizabeth Grant moisturizing stick for lips; and Ahava mineral hand cream.
For the accessible rate of $15, Glossybox will surprise you each month with a new selection of beauty and skin care products. You can go online and create a personal beauty profile to get items tailored to meet your individual needs. Besides providing a practical way to test drive new products without plunging too deeply into you wallet, Glossybox gives us the opportunity to marvel each month and wonder what’s in store while we open our decorative pink box, a precious thing in our sometimes overly ordered lives.
Source: Cashmerejeans.blogspot.com
When we think about ethical fashion, we’re usually referring to clothes, but jewellery is another way we can make a statement about our values. Pippa Small, a Canadian born, London-based artist, anthropologist, and designer, just launched her Spring 2012 collection of ethical jewellery. Already embraced by fans like Rachel McAdams and Julia Roberts, Pippa’s pieces incorporate stones, shells, minerals, beads and other found objects for truly organic treasures.
Pippa furthers her interest in human rights advocacy while practising her art by reviving old traditional jewelry methods and working in Bolivia with the world’s first registered fair-trade gold mine. In 2008, Pippa Small became an ambassador for Survival, the movement for tribal people and the only organization working for tribal peoples’ rights worldwide.
I’ve come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am. Daily Good: I Believe in Tim Tebow
What if there were a way to change bad habits without willpower, and with almost no effort at all? No Meat Athlete: The Simplest, Most Important Key to Changing Anything
Changing your life might appear to be a heavy task…But really it all starts with a small step in the right direction. It’s All About Women: Top Ten Life-Changing Tips
The problem is, we go too fast to hear its cues and/or we’ve been brainwashed not to trust our bodies. Weightless: Finding Peace With Food and Our Bodies
Fashionista: Diane von Furstenberg Sides With Christian Louboutin at Louboutin vs. YSL Court Hearing
Right now, 88% of women in India resort to using dirty rags, newspapers, dried leaves, and even ashes during their periods, because they just can’t afford sanitary napkins. Daily Good: The Inventor Who Disrupted the Period Industry
A fashion story, kind of a love letter if you will, inspired by Dolly Parton’s early days when style was big and hair was even bigger! Piewacket: Unlikely Angel (via IFB)
One professor is exploring how Beyoncé has altered America’s views on race, sex and gender. S2S Magazine: Rutgers Offers Course on Beyonce
As you can see, they’re all pretending to be different sizes. Fussy: This is Why I Cannot Shop Online (via Already Pretty)
When I heard about Fit-to-Flick I was intrigued – not because I’d never heard of a hat you can push your ponytail through…(I have one of those). What’s interesting about Fit-to-Flick is that if you choose to wear it when you aren’t sporting a ponytail you don’t see a huge gaping hole at the back of your head. My ponytail hat was terrfic when I wore a ponytail but when my hair was down it was useless. Also the hole insisted that I wear my ponytail at only one height, not low or high but somewhere in the middle. Very limiting.
Today I received my Fit-to-Flick hat via post and the intelligent design allows for a ponytail by way of a slit which virtually disappears when not in use. Also, the size of the slit allows you to wear your ponytail at pretty much any height you desire. Freedom! Besides its practicality, the hat is fashioned from all natural fibres which are soft, breathable, warm and silky-feeling.
I love the girl power behind this brand and the way its genesis arose from a personal need. Says founder Hannah Bomze:
