I see fashion as an art form, you know? A way of self-expression. I think that's where many people get confused, 

There are materialistic people out there who buy things for the sake of having/flaunting it, or even for the sake of spending money (I guess this coincides with a sort of status symbol, you know? like 'ooh I have THIS bag, therefore I am better than you' type of thing).

Then there are people out there, who use fashion as a way to express themselves, their feelings and ideas. Just as a painter, writer or musician would. 
Nobody said you had to spend a lot of money for the sake of fashion. You don't even have to necessarily wear what's 'on-trend' or of a certain label/brand/designer. 


I think Yves Saint Laurent made a valid point when he said, “fashions fade, style is eternal.” You can't buy style, you either have it or you don't.

YSL

Quirky, cute and dark all at the same time. I don't undersand how Jeremy Scott does it. Its like he takes your most absurd thoughts, childhood cartoons, clowns, playdoh, doodles and voila, a Jeremy Scott collection is born. Below are a few of my personal favourites from his past collections.

They're basically chic halowween costumes, and I mean that in the good way.

UPDATE: today is a week after the sale. Forgot to finish this post, so I’ll be posting it now.

I am so excited. Why you might ask? Today is May 20th. May 20th equals Holt Renfrew's Last Call Clearance. In less than two hours I will be sorting through racks upon racks of designer clothing discounted to 80% off the last ticketed price. Last year during the sale I spotted a pair of jewel turquoise loose fitting pants by Marc Jacobs, and I decided to put them down. After a while I regretted it so I came back to the sale literally two days later, and all that was left was the aftermath of countless bargain shoppers (like myself) searching for the best steals. What I mean by this is that a whole stores inventory was reduced to a few small racks in the middle of the store, while the sale still had a week left ahead of it. Needless to say, the pants were nowhere to be found. However, this year, I am not going to let anything slip away. I am young, without a job, and I am also going to university next year, which are exactly the reasons that I don't get the chance to shop very often. So when I do get the opportunity to shop, I take it. So this year I decided to go the first day the sale started instead of waiting until the middle when nothing is left. And I’m lucky I did. The store was swarmed with women holding piles of clothes. I really thought I was going to luck out, but the selection was sort of grim. Basically, everything was either too small or too big, or just unrealistic to wear.

My favorite purchase of the day would have to be a mirror brooch by Marc Jacobs with black scratched paint etched on top. Okay, that sounds like a piece of junk, but here is a picture to help you visualize. I just love it.

Also, I bought these One Teaspoon leather shorts, and I wish I hasn't. I actually have nothing to wear with them.

And this DVF top. Which is my new all time favourite. I just love the contrasting textures of matted sequin and velvet and silk panels.

UPDATE FROM LAST WEEK: I am in love with Gaga. She is amazing and I won't have you tell me otherwise. 


Lady Gaga. A polarized opinion based more on arbitrary choice than actual facts; you either love her or you hate her. I personally have been leaning more towards the latter. I don’t know, she just seemed like an easily thought out juxtaposition of things already done (e.g. Madonna, Bjork…), not that everything isn’t already a mash-up of inspirations; but this one just seemed a bit too contrived.  Like, going back to the Madonna thing, didn’t Gaga’s performance at the 2009 Much Music Video Awards sort of remind you of Madonna’s infamous cone bra, except this one was metal and had sparks shooting out the ‘points’ if you will. But recently, I have been warming up to Gaga, I might even go as far as to call myself a little monster. Well, okay, not that far, but nevertheless, she has in fact grown on me.

Previously, I had looked at her fashion choices with much scrutiny. Like, a meat dress, being carried inside a giant egg, or covered head to toe in lace (including her eyes), it all just appeared to be a desperate bid for attention. After awhile her shock factor had worn off, yet her outfits remained the same. This static, unchanging style however, makes me believe that Gaga isn’t dressing for the public, but for herself. Also, she has reportedly dressed this ‘crazy’ even before she was famous, back when she was known by the more humble name of Stefan Germanotta. Like, now if she really wanted to shock the public, she could just walk the streets wearing nothing more than jeans and a white tee, nobody would ever expect that. 

Also, it’s not like she searches high and low to find the most shocking piece of clothing, but actually wears real runway pieces. You know, like actual runway pieces; those crazy fairytale designs seen on the catwalk before they are altered down for everyday wear and retail sell –ability. Well, she appreciates and understands the work and imagination behind these pieces and wears them for their full effect and whimsy, straight from the runway, right to her stage. Alexander McQueen also left her with a portion of his collection after his death in February 2010, as they were reported as being close friends and enjoying each other’s work. 

Gaga isn’t a product. She really understands fashion, whether it’s wearing McQueen’s infamous armadillo heels or walking in Mugler’s Autumn/Winter 2011 collection in Paris. And I guess I now sort of have this new found respect for her. She really believes in her vision, and sticks to it. Like, did you know that a large portion of what she earns goes back to the production of her shows and music videos? She never ceases to give us nothing short of spectacular. Some of it may not be my taste, but there is an obvious art to what she does.  

Lady Gaga at Mugler's Autumn/Winter 2011 show

My Charcoal/Pencil cartoon tribute to my new found love of all things Gaga

...I need these Proenza Schouler pants.

Evan Biddell. Yes, I did just use his name to form one sentence, or statement, whichever. Point is, saying that he is the definition of awesome would be an understatement. And, I'm not just saying that because he is a fellow Canadian (and not to mention Torontonian!). Well that may be part of the reason, on accounts of nothing reputable ever seems to come out of Canada, example being Nickelback. Some of you may remember him as the winner of Project Runway Canada Season 1 in 2007, but where did he go after that? Well just recently he showed his Spring 2011 collection at Toronto's LG Fashion Week.

Here are a few of my personal favourites. I especially like the way he managed to to mix soft and edgy elements into one collection, without having it look out of place per se (florals with stud detailing).

I don't mean to sound like a creep but, I have these memories that I always revisit, and well, they're memories of strangers. Like, absolute strangers. Like this one time, when I was 12 (give or take..) and I was in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. Long story short, I was alone (you see, cereal isn't the most popular of grocery store foods...)and I knocked over a box of Lucky Charms, or come to think of it, it may have been Count Chocula, anyways, the type of cereal isn't relevant to the story. So, I reach for this box of cereal and well, sort of drop it. Well, not sort of, I did drop it, and on accounts of thinking I was alone I exclaimed 'such an idiot'. Now, that might not sound like much but in order to understand the significance of that one line, you must know that I had said it in a very Napoleon Dynamite-esque way. Basically, talking to yourself is kind of loser-ish to begin with, but talking to yourself in movie quotes near cereal is even worse. But it didn't really matter because I was alone in that aisle, with nobody within earshot, right? WRONG. Lo and behold I had embarrassed myself yet again. Passing behind me was a smiley boy around my age, and seeing as I was 12 and very awkward and self-conscious, made me feel, well, embarrassed at the fact that yes, I had been caught. You might be thinking 'well, how do you know he heard you?' or 'he probably didn't hear you' or 'he doesn't exist at all!' . JUST BEAR WITH ME. As he passes behind me (and my god, was my face turning red) he too whispers a Napoleon Dynamite quote, which well, made me feel like less of a loser and momentarily in 'like' if you will, even though the whole span of this entire story was probably around 5 seconds, no joke.

I'm just going to end this post right about here.
Not very fashion related or remotley interesting but hey, you know me a little better now, not that it's of any use...

sometimes I paint. 

I personally commend Dior for dropping John Galliano from their line prior to their 2011 runway showing at Paris Fashion Week. For those of you have yet to catch wind of what happened earlier last week, a less than respectable video of Galliano, head designer and creative genius behind Dior, surfaced on the internet where Galliano flat out states that ‘He loves Hitler’ to a couple in a bar. Whoa, not exactly the smartest move to make on accounts of:

a) Natalie Portman, who had just signed an endorsement deal for Dior’s perfume Cherie, is Jewish, and stated that she was “deeply shocked and disgusted by the video.” and “as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way.”

b) Dior owns Galliano’s self named line, which, mind you, is financially backed by 92% from Dior; and it won’t be long before they pull out.

c) Racism is wrong. Enough said.

He followed up this statement with "People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f---ing gassed." Ouch. May I please point out that the couple he was saying this to was not even Jewish? If he can’t handle his alcohol without losing control, he shouldn’t be drinking in public.

Some may argue that the remarks he chooses to make in his free time, has no correlation with business. This, however, I find to be a bit discerning. There’s overlap in everything. He has the image of Dior to uphold, one of the biggest fashion houses in the world that still creates actual haute-couture. He should have been honoured for the position he was in, instead of (forgive me for lack of a better word) pissing on his title. Bottom line is he was the face of Dior; and every second of his day should have reflected that.

Galliano still has yet to go to trial, where if convicted, can face up to six months in jail for his anti-Semitic slurs.


I will leave you with some recent photos of Dior's showing at Paris Fashion Week:

Basically, earlier this year, I purchased these very obnoxious glasses with crystal clear frames. Yes, they did look like safety glasses. and yes, my mom begged me not to buy them. I had no recollection that the infamous kid blogger Tavi Gevinson has nearly the same ones. Look, I don't hate her or anything, props to her for her success, passion and hard work, but I do not want to have the same glasses as her. I don't know what it is, there's just something about her that irks me, just really gets on my nerves. Now, whenever I look in the mirror, all I see is Tavi....maybe that was a little bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. I clearly bought these glasses as a joke, just something to wear occasionally for fun. I feel like I'm being mocked and she doesn't even know me. Or maybe I'm mocking her because she had them first. I'm just going to stop now.

She's just creepy.

So, I just recently completed watching Prada's Spring/Summer 2011 runway collection., specifically the show they had in Beijing. Firstly, can I just express my love for the actual runway that this collection was staged on? The whole thing was SILVER. Well, maybe more metal than silver; metallic perhaps? Yes, let's go with metallic. Anyways, let's steer away from identifying elements on the periodic table and get back to my point. The stage had a very post-modern/industrial feel to it, as did this collection. What really caught my eye was this sweater in particular. I couldn't really find the best quality photo, but if you look closely- wait, is that Curious George I see? That's so totally bananas (long slur of really bad jokes, sorry you had to witness that) Anyways, you can see two cheeky monkeys enjoying each others company.

very cute of you Prada, very cute indeed.

Please, let me be the first to announce that Christopher Bailey is a god. I just finished watching Burberry's runway show for their Autumn/Winter 2011 collection and I am seriously dying over it. Really, my jaw actually just hit the floor; that's how much I love it. So, everyone (at least I hope) knows that Burberry is iconic for their take on the classic trench, but this season they chose to go a bit edgier; studs and metallic galore. I was pretty much on cloud nine when I saw this gorgeous piece come down the runway:

(Please try not to drool all over your keyboard, thank-you)

To be completely honest, I thought that the whole 'biker-leather-chic' look was sort of 2010, and that high-street had sort of overproduced the look. Like, once something is on the racks of Giant Tiger, it's pretty much over. But kudos to Christopher for reviving the label's approach to the classic British jacket and successfully carrying out the studded look into 2011! I'd wear this any day.

Louis Vuitton's Book of Art, Fashion, and Architecture, need I say more? Not only does this book include stills of Takashi Murakami's short film Superflat Monogram, but also tons of essays regarding Louis-V's influence and history in the fashion world, and not to mention hundreds upon hundreds of full page photos of well, art, fashion, and architecture- I'm a sucker for all three.

Basically, this book is sex. I have been lusting over this forever and can now finally hold it between my hands. (I am such a pervert)

SALE.

- A woman's best friend.

It is February, and you know what that means! We are in between seasons, the low time where winter is beginning to diminish, and spring is about to be sprung ( not actually though). It's sort of like when Christmas is over and the next day you go to the dollar store and the Valentines decorations are up, even though it's only like December 26th, and Valentines is a month away. The same goes for retail, these next few months are when major clearance is going to take place, to make room for spring inventory, even though spring is nowhere in sight. I never really understood that, like who actually starts buying skirts and tanks when it's blizzarding outside?

Anyways, if you have a good eye, these clearances are the best time to find heavily discounted designer deals (try saying that 10 times fast). Like, just recently I purchased a Versace cocktail ring for $25. I know, you don't have to say it, but yes, I am an amazing shopper.

Here's a picture of it if you don't belive me (but you should, really. There there, no need to applaud.)

Just a short stop-motion I made last year of one of my fave pairs of shoes. Enjoy!