Last weekend I stepped into one of the most stylish little boutiquesin Vancouver. It was an accident waiting to happen. So inviting…..and so pretty…..
Chock full of fashion-forward brands displayed between luxurious French Provincial furnishings, bouquets of roses and gorgeous extras from Lulu Frost and Tocca. Should I say more?
They offer chic statement pieces and effortless wardrobe staples with a tightly edited collection of the most coveted clothing and accessories from cutting-edge international designers.
And more….
You can bet that you’ll find the next big thing here.
Not to mention the owner, Rebecca Bree is a very nice lady.Where?3680 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver.
A Smashing Smörgåsbord of stylish items at a lower price point
Carine Roitfeld models a few of her designs
When I was in San Francisco a few years ago there was a long lineup around the corner from Union Square, and ever so curious I had to find out what it was about. It was the opening of their first UNIQLO location and unfortunately I did not wait to find out what was in store but people were walking out with big bags and bigger smiles on their faces and said there were some awesome deals and steals.
les manteaux
I’m sure I’ll get my chance again because the Japanese fast-fashion retailer (according to reliable sources) is in the process of securing a significant size space at Vancouver’s Metrotown Metropolis in Burnaby. Two stores are also scheduled to open in Toronto. I don’t usually go out of my way for a quickie fashion fix however….
And now Carine Roitfeld, global fashion director of Harper’s BAZAAR (my favourite fashion magazine) among many other titles (like former Tom Ford collaborator at Gucci) and a fabulous fashionista in her own right, is getting into the design game.
les foulards
Roitfeld partnered with Uniqlo for a 40-piece collection created in collaboration with Naoki Takizawa, design director of the Japanese brand, all for under $200.
les vestesle body – making a comeback?
Roitfeld explains that she started with the idea of clothes she’d want to wear herself and took it from there. From signature pencil skirts to a leopard coat (fake of course) et beaucoup plus….
Find out what’s hitting Uniqlo stores and Uniqlo.com on October 29th
I LOVE FALL BOOTS. It’s one if not the only reason to love Fall.
Adam Katz Sinding
I put on a pair for the first time in a looong time and they felt so uncomfortable following several months of wearing only flip flops and open toe sandals. I graduated to wearing loafers & ballarina flats so my feet would slowly adjust because it’s only a matter of time before high heel shoes for dressing up & feeling sexy(flats can be sexy too)will follow. There used to be a time when high heels were everyday wear but not now. I’m much more boring sensible now.
plain, simple, functional, go-with-anything, stylish – covers all the basics. READ: NEED!
I made a few smart choices (read: sales at the end of last wiinter) so I’m pretty good with my collection this time around. I have everything from sexy suede over the knee high heeled boots (I will have to drive or be driven from door to door in those) to sexy leather low-heeled over the knee boots to bohemian wedge fringed boots to low heeled funky cowboy boots in red no less (I forgot I had them, it’s loveall over again).
Shown here, the best gorgeous Fall Boots for savvy shoppers.
Suede Over The Knee Boots, ASOS $108Analise Bootie, UGG $200 I find these to be not so Uggly after all.Suede Boots, Lord and Taylor $179
We’ve all been there: You finally track down the perfect pair of boots for fall, only to find the price tag is far from realistic. Determined to avoid this fate, we set out to find chic silhouettes for no more than $200 and found a dozen slammin’ styles that have the power to transform your entire fall look.
Fringe Ankle Boots – Zara, $120Snake finish Booties, Mango – $80Snaffle Ankle Boot, Miss Selfridge $70High Heel Boots, Ivanka Trump $169Snake Ankle Boots, Topshop $70Jodhpur Boots, H&M $50Black Over The Knee Boot, River Island $150Matte Chelsea Rain Boot, J.Crew $68Karlia Booties, Calvin Klein $189
Source for boots (narrowed down from a larger selection): Rachel Zoe Report
It’s not just me, it’s her. Rachel is a real stylist so if she claims these as fashionable for Fall, you know it to be true. But I tend to agree.
There’s so many styles to have FUN with and keep fairly comfortable at the same time.
While many shows have remarkable casts, for models both new and established, Prada remains the ultimate “get.” The prestige and visibility that come from being on the Prada runway is incomparable—whether you’re a newcomer having your first big moment or a star returning after a lengthy hiatus. As a result, Prada’s castings have become the barometer by which other shows are judged, as well as an arbiter of industry beauty norms. If you want to get a feel for the current modeling look du jour, a glance at Prada’s run of show is all that’s needed.
Getty Images – Prada spring 2016
The Actors
While models make up the majority of Prada’s runway, the brand’s menswear advertising has long relied on art house actors, enlisting everyone from conventional cuties Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ben Whishaw to acting luminaries like Gary Oldman, Harvey Keitel, and Christoph Waltz. At the fittingly theatrical Fall 2012 show, worlds collided when Oldman, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, and Jamie Bell unexpectedly took to the runway alongside male models like Arthur Gosse and VictorNylander.
Jamie Bell, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Prada Fall 2012 Photo: Monica Feudi / Feudiguaineri.com
The Exclusives
Prada consistently launches careers, and though not every model selected for a Prada exclusive contract goes on to greatness, the brand’s success rate is enviable. Those chosen to open the show, walk in it exclusively, or debut via a Prada campaign are essentially winners of modeling’s golden ticket, and many now-famous names got their first break via Prada. Miuccia Prada gave a contract to a leggy Czech named Karolina Kurkova before she turned 16, and enlisted her to walk Prada and its sister brand, Miu Miu. In 2005, Prada opened with Sasha Pivovarova, a then-unknown Russian art student who would go on to represent the brand for six consecutive seasons. Long before she was omnipresent in ads for Céline, Daria Werbowywas successful when opening Prada’s Spring 2004 show and landed a contract. Models like Suvi Koponen, Katlin Aas, Lindsey Wixson, Arizona Muse,Vanessa Axente,Maartje Verhoef, and Amanda Murphy all came into their own with appearances at Prada. Even this season’s key catwalkers, like Lineisy Montero and Willow Hand, began with—you guessed it—Prada.
WATCH the Prada Spring 2016 ready-to-wear show Note:(if you’re receiving this post via e-mail please click on the title at the very top of this page & scroll down to view):
Just an assortment of practical shoes that caught my eye
These shoes brought a twinkle to my eyesFeathers & Fringe are in and we’re going steady with some Studs Love these Valentino Rock StarStud heels and flatsThese would be warm comfortable walking shoes furever. They put the fun back in FENDI.I’m gettin my spark back – suddenly I feel like disco dancingI would not be running very far, only fashionably on foot wearing theseWhile you make up your mind relax, sit back and have a cocktail or two…then let your credit card do the restWhere there’s shoes, there’s bags. The Fringe Festival is on.
The Somali Supermodel with a story goes to prove that real style has no age. She turned sixty in July and looks as good as ever. What do we know about IMAN besides the obvious fact that she’s beautiful with perfect bone structure? This is where style meets substance.
For me personally, the more I find out about her the more I like her. A friend of mine was invited to an event at her and David Bowie’s house in New York going back a few years now and of course I asked “what was she like?” The short answer was “very gracious” as she escorted my friend around their home.
She was born Iman Abdulmajid, the daughter of a diplomat and left her native Somalia as a refugee.
When she was a student at Nairobi University, fashion photographer Peter Beard approached her to ask about taking her picture. She had never even seen a fashion magazine before.
She soon left Kenya, to make her first print appearance in Vogue. She dealt with racism in the modelling industry at the time.She soon became a familiar face on runways around the world and one of the first black supermodels. Iman paved the wave for all African-born beauties wanting to break into the high-fashion world.
Iman officially retired from modeling in 1989, but she has continued to influence the industry.
Her eponymous cosmetics line caters to women with skin colors that are underserved by mainstream makeup.
She is an actor, the author of two books and an outspoken activist for human rights causes.
She’s a keeper. She has been married to David Bowie for two decades.
Photographed by Bruce Weber, Vogue, 1995
In 2010, she received the Fashion Icon award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
She continues to inspire
A tiny portion of her story:
On living as the daughter of the Somali ambassador to Saudi Arabia: I studied in Italian when I was in boarding school, so overnight when we moved to Saudi Arabia we were taught in English. I speak five languages besides mine. I went to school in Egypt because girls weren’t allowed to go to school in Saudi Arabia. It’s very restricting, especially for girls, we’re not allowed to go anywhere.
On becoming a refugee from Saudi Arabia: Imagine: we have our own chauffeur, our own car, we’re going everywhere with security, as [the family of the] ambassador. Then Somalia had a revolution and it became a military regime. All embassies were closed, and all of a sudden people my father worked with disappeared. So my mom decided, ‘Why would we wait for that to happen?’ So, in the middle of the night, she gets a van, puts us in with nothing but the clothes on our backs and we drove to the border of Kenya and crossed on foot. I literally have two pictures of myself growing up. I am the face of the refugee. The refugees are, 99% of the time, people who have left their countries for fear for their lives. It’s not people who want to come to other countries and be pariahs. That’s not what a refugee is.
On being discovered by Peter Beard: I was walking to [my job as a] waitress and Peter Beard appeared and started talking to me and asked my name and I thought he was trying to pick me up. He followed me and asked, have you ever been photographed? And I’d never seen a magazine in my life—except my brothers were teenagers and they had Playboy. And I said, “I’m not that kind of girl.” He talked about his profession and I didn’t pay attention and then he said, “I’ll pay you,” and then I stopped. He said, “How much?” I said, “$8000.” (That was two year’s tuition.) And he said, “OK.” I brought two girlfriends, he took the pictures, I thought, “That was an easy job, $8,000.” He wrote me a check, I cashed it immediately.
On her age: We all have friends and loved ones who say 60’s the new 30. No. Sixty’s the new 60.
Source for her story: taken from her interview “Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis”
Let’s see…what kind of a lawyer would I be if I were to go to law school? I’m having a legally blond moment and I’m not even a true blond. Did you know that you can now get a fashion law degree? Yes, you heard it right! I too thought it was a joke at first.
The program is backed and partially financed by Diane von Furstenberg, who has been a longtime advocate for legal reform in the industry. She’s kind of the ideal proponent for Fordham’s new program. I met her many years ago in New York when I was club hopping as part of my DJ training program well really I just sat with her and her friends and drank a lot of the champagne at their table. Her gentleman friends invited me to sit with them. I’m hoping sure she would not remember me.
If I could turn back time I would have approached her to become an intern at DVF (now a global luxury lifestyle brand and one of the premier names in American fashion). After all I did try to re-create her wrap dress in a sewing workshop and managed to do a pretty good job of botching it up. That’s why I have a lot of respect for designers. Some of the most popular designs look so simple but are actually tricky to make, or at least make correctly. I’m afraid I might make a better lawyer than fashion designer (which is pretty scary to think about). Again, slightly off topic…
The curriculum will cover topics like fashion financing, Modeling law, fashion licensing, and sustainability.
So, this could mean greater security and stricter regulation within the fashion industry which is a good thing these days.
I have heard it said that women dress for other women. Unless you are dressing
specifically for yourman (wink wink), Ithink for the most part that may be true, but I dress for myself and the occasion. I like to feel good about the way I look even if I’m at home alone and no one else sees me. Even if I’m wearing pajamas, they must be somewhat stylish. Even when I’m glamping…I tend to look like this photo (in my dreams). In my recurring dream I’m stepping out of a rolls in NYC wearing a low cut LBD and pillbox hat. Uh huh!While men may be appreciative of a woman’s overall style, women tend to make more of an effort for other women and there is nothing wrong with another woman appreciating the way you look and paying you a compliment. I do it all the time. Women like to look good for their girlfriends because we tend to pay attention to all the little details. Some men too, but those men are rare or gay. Sometimes it feels more special when another woman pays you a compliment because she is saying nothing more than “I like the way you look in that outfit.” The overall context of this short film is that we should be able to openly celebrate, look and appreciate one another.
The Way we Dress – “Notes on the Gaze” by Chelsea McMullan
*Short Film (if you are receiving this post via e-mail and cannot see the video please click on the blue title above:
Chelsea McMullan is a filmmaker whose works have premiered at Sundance, The Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Photography Festival. Her award-winning shorts have been featured by Nowness, Dazed Digital, Vice, and Vogue Italia. Whenever possible Chelsea inhabits the space between documentary and fiction filmmaking. She is a member of the artists’ co-operative What Matters Most and a secret but fervent topiary enthusiast.
I thought I could make it through summer without a pair of plain clean (they must be clean) white sneakers but that is proving to be not the case.
You would think that with the variety of ballet flats, wedge sandals, flip flops, gladiators, deck shoes and other colourful walking sneakers there would be no need.
I think white sneakers (not running shoes) are a necessary addition to a summer wardrobe. Here’s why:
I’ve always been attracted to Charlotte Rampling but not in that way…
Photo: Philip Sinden
…because she embodies that “wow factor“ in the same admirable fashion that Cate Blanchett does and Katherine Hepburn did. Very attractive but not in a conventional sense, in a much more interesting manner, smart, confident, a talented actor and so very chic – her own stylishness. Her stage play Neck of the Woods just wrapped at HOME, Manchester, as part of the Manchester International Festival on July 18.
Rampling on…
Words with Charlotte Rampling – on working with wolves, the power of the audience and what she means when she calls herself an artist.
Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? We all are, it seems.
Charlotte Rampling on the WOLF…
“I think humans have a very profound relationship with animals. Wild creatures are more mysterious to us – we can’t actually approach them so that makes them enigmatic, that’s why we study them and do art pieces around them. There is a lot that goes in people’s imagination about wolves, starting from the basic stories we hear all the time. There is a particular fascination – from the thought that one must be scared or wary of them, to the cultural idea of ‘the big bad wolf’. They have a strange character, they are mysterious, maybe more so than other animals.”
Charlotte Rampling on the power of the AUDIENCE…
“The study of an audience is very important. We are doing it for them so we want to get the best possible angle for them, and to bring them in. You feel when an audience is getting distracted or not quite following, and then you have to really start to understand why they are not with you. Yes, I think that is what live performance is about; you are facing an audience and you are saying it to them. It is not like you are in a play and playing to the people you are playing with; here you are playing to the audience so you must have them with you at all times. If you don’t – well, they are like a pack of wolves and they will take the play away from you if you are not careful. They will turn it into something other. If you let the audience go, you have lost the moment, and essentially you have lost the play.”
Charlotte Rampling on being an ARTIST… “All my life I have followed the thought that if I have already done something, why would I then want to do it again?” So unless the film is really intriguing then to me, it is just another film. I have always gone off the track and have looked at things that I can do that will allow me to see the world in a different way. It is just a basic form of curiosity on my part, to want to discover something and find another way of doing things. What I found is that as you get older your mind actually doesn’t get any older, you just get older physically and you obviously have more experience. Now that I am working with a lot of younger artists, it is very intriguing, as I am able to bring my life with me to the stage. There is a young French artist I am working with called Loris Gréaud. We did a film together with David Lynch called The Snorks, which was an extraordinary project based around animals that live so far underneath the sea that no one has ever seen them and they let out energy through electrics. The relationships that you have with other artists after you have done all these projects brings you into another world, and to me that is what living creatively is all about. I am not an artist per se even though I would love to be, I don’t do sculptures or the like as that is not my profession but I know that I can infiltrate what I have into the works of others.”
ous French Provincial furnishings, bouquets of roses and gorgeous extras from Lulu Frost and Tocca. Should I say more?
Where? 3680 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver.
Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION. 
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