VFW: AMAZING DESIGNERS, DISAPPOINTING MODELS

I attended Vancouver Fashion Week (VFW) on opening day.  I was excited to see local and international designers. I was impressed with the runway designs. Every collection was creative and unique. Some shows were forecasting Spring/Summer 2013. Usually, we are showing Fall/Winter collections now. However, I didn’t mind seeing the spring fashions again. It had been a very gloomy, rainy day…so it was refreshing to see!

I loved seeing the “fashionistas” of Vancouver come cheer on the talent! However, too many of them wore black on black!

Originally from Toronto, I knew VFW was smaller compared to Toronto Fashion Week. It made me sad to see so few companies helping sponsor VFW and making it something dazzling. The companies that did sponsor did an AMAZING job, I think!!! I have heard this was the best VFW yet. I really hope VFW continues to grow. The talent is there! One nice thing about a smaller production is that you can see the families of the designers cheering them on! Lovely!

My favourite collection was Papillion! I videotaped the entire collection instead of taking photos. I hope to have that video blog posted soon!

My least favourite thing about VFW was the models.  I felt they did not do the clothing justice. I understand that they are not professional. This explains why they didn’t know how to walk a runway, watch their posture or “wear” the garments. Some models didn’t walk to the end of the runway (where the photographers are). With that said, there were a few models that could walk, knew their bodies, watched their posture and made great gestures and motion with the garments!

Another disappointment was the Pandora Jewellery collection. Pandora jewellery is made of silver, gold and semi-precious stones. They are best known for their charm bracelets. All their jewellery is small, but highly detailed and colourful. They usually advertise a woman in one necklace, two bracelets and a pair of earrings. This is good for a promotional photograph…not a runway! The strong harsh lighting washed all the jewellery out. You barely noticed if they had earrings or a bracelet on. All you saw was the little black dresses and the occasional necklace. If I had been the stylist, I would have layered a crazy amount of bracelets and necklaces on!

Overall, I enjoyed supporting and seeing all the local and international talent. I hope to do separate blog posts on my favourite collections soon!!!

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happymarriedpeople:

blu3rsx:

abigaildonaldson:

Hussein Chalayan Fall/Winter 2013

I made ‘Transformer’ noises.

@fashionstoryteller have you seen this! Super cool.

Happymarriedpeople blogged this amazing collection…how inspiring and cool is this? Um, best F/W 2013 collection vote? Who’s with me? Wow.

Also…make sure you check out her blog and check out her Facebook Page!!! Not only is she cool…she is a fantastic photographer with a great eye for detail and capturing feeling in each photograph.

JAPANIC ORGANIC

These hair styles are stunning. Danilo teased, sprayed and combed his way to art! Smooth with interesting focal points, I find these looks to be very inspiring. We can easily take ideas from these four looks to transform our own hair. 

I also like his choice in model, Michelle Violy Harper. She really transformed into a geisha-like being! And the photographer, Max Abadian really captured the mood and feeling of each hair style. 

For more information check out Flare’s report on their shoot!

Happy Friday everyone! I listed a new item in my shop! My beautiful Elbow Length Shirt with an elegant cowl detail! What I love about this shirt is that you can also wear it off the shoulder and it is SOO comfortable!!!

Do you dress for comfort?

The Night We Got Engaged

A lovely friend sent us a couple of photos he had taken the night of our engagement. These are my favourites.

MONDAY:

We started off the adventure a bit late due to a fiance sleeping in and not having everything organized…to leaving and fiance insisting on driving back to get my all-time forgotten (can’t live without) CD…that I truly would have lived without but he really didn’t want me to try ;)

After, officially, leaving…we were enroute to Vancouver! Our first stop was near to Sudbury:

 

 
Canadian Road Trip Style…Roots top, organic linen hat

 
We had a picnic lunch by this lovely river nearby a tourism stop.

We continued riding to Sudbury to see our friends, Serge and Britney…before meeting up with them we stopped by the GIGANTIC, “BIG NICKEL”. Nearby, there was a park and it felt so good to run around and go on a slide…stretch by legs and get my body moving.

We had dinner at, “Cranky Joes”…which is a total spoof of, “Crabby Joes”. Wish I took a picture of the menu logo!!!

It was fun to catch up with high school friends. :) We ended up chatting too late…and didn’t end up in our hotel in Sue sainte Marie until 2am.  Now…that’s a story.

We were both exhausted by the time we arrived at Days Inn…and it was the creepiest 3 star hotel I had ever seen…it was completely boarded up (sans the door we magically found to get inside) and as we entered I kept thinking…this reminds me of a creepy movie. Adhiran couldn’t wait to go to the bathroom so we stopped at some near the entrance. These were also boarded up but still, some what, in use…as I was waiting for Adhiran a man suddenly appeared out of no where and welcomed me to the hotel. Adhiran came out and the man took us up to sign in…Obviously, the building was under construction and he turned out to be such a sweet man. When we arrived in our hotel room…I was shocked. It looked fabulous: clean, beautiful furniture, etc. etc. Nice…don’t judge a hotel by it’s entrance or hallways :P

TUESDAY:

En route to Thunder Bay to see Casey and Clay!!! A long drive, a few breaks, little signal strength…we arrived to a DELICIOUS “family BBQ”. Clay even made us chocolate cake (mud style) and had a lovely sign he wrote on the front door for us. I loved the grilled veggies especially there. Mmm :) We hung out with Clay and he gave us a tour of his home. Casey read us all a few bed time stories, Clay went to bed and we stayed up late talking to Casey! It was great to get to know him better since I only have met him a few times at Family get-togethers. Casey is my awesome and gorgeous cousin Jenna’s husband. :) he told us about this cool Native Myth about the, “Sleeping Giant”. I love a good myth. Casey (and Jenna who was away) let us stay at their home (gorgeous…wish I had pictures…so creative) for the night…


WEDNESDAY:…and we woke up the next day to delicious “apple pie” breakfast (apples and chicken with cinnamon, etc.) and were on route to Manitoba! We popped by the Terry Fox Memorial too!
“The Sleeping Giant”





We finally made it out of Ontario and made a couple stops to share a sub or use the washroom. In one of the washroom stalls at a subway stop, many girls had traveled with friends or significant others and I signed our names and where we were going to and coming from there. It was a cute thing to do. We also saw a Baby bear! And avoided moose!





Stopping at another nice hotel in Winnipeg…we quickly showered and met up with Adhrian’s friend, Alex. He took us out to a thai cuisine meal and later showed us, “The Forks”.  It was gorgeous…and had a bar right inside the park! Many of the Native People leave here and it was lovely to see many statues, etc. representing their heritage.



Adhiran opened a bottle of Crown Royale once we were back at the hotel and hebecame a happy tipsy fiance and took me for a midnight walk. He was so cute and loveable.

THURSDAY: We left around noon (and finally managed to find a MANITOBA PIN for my travel jacket) to head off to Saskatchewan, Redvers to see my fabulous friend, Kristine who had gotten a Manager position at a local town newspaper called, The Optimist. I loved the small town feel of Redvers…it was soo tiny and adorable. Everyone was friendly and sweet. We went to a local town diner and chatted with Kristine…and later stopped by her home and ended up chatting late into the evening. She is a fabulous person to talk about life with.

Saskatchewan had such a welcoming tourism center. The lady was so lovely to talk to and I got my Saskatchewan pin there!

Because of the late night…we ended up at the GORGEOUS REGINA hotel that I booked via Adhiran’s cell. Man, I am good at booking hotels. We were upgraded to a business suite and the hotel it’s self was stunning. 4 star hotel, great price, awesome surprise deal for no extra cost. The man at the main desk really loved Adhrian. Alas, I took no pictures!

Everyone warned me of how “boring” the prairies are. That was not the case for me…I couldn’t get over the view of the sky…all the clouds…you could see for miles and miles. It was beautiful. You could almost pretend that you live in the sky!







FRIDAY: Another long drive and we made it to…ALBERTA…CALGARY!!! Adhiran surprised me with a stay at the Fairmont hotel…it was a stunning hotel. We arrived around 10pm there…and showered, got dressed-up…but ended not finding anywhere to eat by the time we were ready to go out…so we went for an even walk around the drunken Calgary night life…and made it back to the hotel and ordered delicious pizza. I fell in-love with the mini fridge of food but we didn’t buy anything until near the end…the jar of jelly bellies! (see end picture).  







Frap Break! 





SATURDAY:

We decided to spend another day and night in Calgary. Adhiran did a co-op here a few years ago and we had such fun the last time. We had a day of shopping (Adhiran got himself a lovely Versace perfume, no tax!), walking, laughing, afternoon wine, and having fun relaxing. We later met up with my cousin, Beth and her husband, Ryan for dinner. A lovely time!



Deville Lattes









We went swimming in the evening and went to bed around 10pm…woke up at..

SUNDAY:…2am and were enroute, finally, to British Columbia…BC!!! We made a couple stops along the way at Lake Louise (GORGEOUS, I hope to go back), Subway for brunch, The Enchanted Forest (totally my cup of tea…stumbled upon it and we had to turn back to check it out!) By this time…we were both impatient and cranky…haha!

**more pictures of Lake Louise to come BTW




















And soon…we finally made it to Vancouver!!!!!

Roots outlet, film studio, amazing scenery, 3 min walk to Skytrain, Lush Cosmetics, Starbucks, Bubble Teas all nearby…my kind of home already!!! The apartment was slightly smaller than I was hoping but lovely all the same. Excited to make it our home. I’ll post pictures of my new home soon!

Yesterday, we enjoyed a Monday sleeping in, working out our u-Box, shopping at Lush (we got a bubble bar-the comforter, dragon’s egg bath bomb and the mask of magaminty) and Adhiran surprised me, when we got home later, and he secretly bought me a Pandora tiny teapot charm! We had went into Pandora and I suspected he might have because i saw what looked to be a payment going on, but…he said he was just adding some of the charms i liked to a list he could go back to…he is too sweet and kind!!!! He helped me style my Pandora charm bracelet to make the design look more fun by matching colours, etc.

That night, he went to bed early…and I enjoyed a bubble bar bath with my Comforter bubble bar.





No place like home. So happy to have this time with him, for us, for our careers. This next chapter is just beginning!

(in picture: Candle Emilie gave me, Fairmont jelly bellies)












 

What a truly creative, fabulous and successful day. I am blessed to know such creative and talented individuals. I cannot wait to see the pictures once edited! Here’s a sneak peak:

 

Thank you   Chance Nguyen, Adhiran Thirmal, Emilie Margareth Joan, Kara Van Muyen, Patricia Lico, Lauren V. Reid, Becky Littleton, Nhan Vo, Brianne, and awesome model whom I forget how to spell her name!!!

Well, I’m a fashion graduate (but the ceremony isn’t until November and since I am moving to Vancouver shortly I am still debating whether or not to actually go. I felt the fashion show it’s self was truly the ceremony…it was everything I had worked up to).

And for the past 2 months I have worked with a wonderful friend and highly talented photographer, Chance Nyguen on various fittings and photo shoots for my two previous school projects: “Confession of Self” (the scarlet letter inspired evening wear gown” and “Bionic Rapture” (my final line).

Find him here: 

http://chancenguyen.tumblr.com/ 
http://www.facebook.com/chancenguyenCREATIVES 

Confession of Self was a wonderful creative experience for me. It was amazing to work with someone who was equally passionate about the inspiration, the design and my take on the classic story. Our model (who MADE the dress complete), Cassandra Langmuir was actually discovered by my mother at a theater production in Toronto. Cassandra’s mother works with my mom and we ended up networking. Cassandra was a JOY to work with. Passionate about her craft, she wore the dress effortlessly and showed it off beautifully…stunningly. I am very impressed by her level of skill. When you first meet her, she has a delicate and sweet disposition, but underneath what a strong, fierce, confident individual. She will go far, I am sure!

The photos were shot in such an interesting building…from the outside it looks like a forgotten, run down building…the work of place homeless people sleep inside or horror movies are filled. Once inside, with the maze like atmosphere, it continued to feel that way until we went up a couple flights of stairs and entered into a dance studio/photo studio. It was perfect.

Chance was a genius and so fun to work with. What I loved most was our equal passion to make the dress and shots look perfect.

Adhiran…my FIANCE as of June 12, 2012 :) helped a ton too with set design, take down and he mastered the fog!!!

It was a very personal and intimate experience working with 4 talented and helpful friends.

Here are some pictures!








 

 

 


Yesterday, we shot the lovely Patrica Lico in my Bionic Rapture maxi dress and brocade skirt and elbow length top. Patricia couldn’t make it to the shoot scheduled this Saturday and since we only could see her in the pink dress…we had to book her earlier! I cannot wait till the actual shoot tomorrow. The hair and make-up stylist we hired couldn’t make it on Thursday so I did the hair and make-up myself…it looked pretty good. But I’m no where near a make-up artist, hahaha.















 

The last couple of weeks have been a COMPLETE WHIRLWIND of every kind of emotion you could imagine. As always..since I am always too busy to write lately: my last couple of weeks in pictures:

(PS: I am in the middle of moving home for 2 months…followed by moving to Vancouver and job hunting…which means..much more better blogs, YAY!)

Also…mm chocolate chips and tea!!!

RUNWAY MUSIC RUNWAY VIDEO MY FATHER TOOK

THE LOVELY ELITE TORONTO MODELS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

NICOLE MARGOT OLIVIA KATE S BEA ROSE  

RUNWAY LOOK ONE!!!

Brocade Cropped Jacket with piping accents, mandarin collar, asymmetrical details
Organic Cotton Jersey Tank
Cotton Twill Stretch Pant with Brocade accents and piping, fly front zipper, back welt pocket

RUNWAY LOOK TWO:

cotton lycra top with mandarin collar, keyhole closure at back, asymmetrical seaming
cotton twill Pencil Skirt

RUNWAY LOOK THREE:

Cotton Lycra Top with asymmetrical cowl and seaming details
Brocade skirt with piping accents, hip pockets

RUNWAY LOOK FOUR:

By far the biggest hit of my collection!

Organic cotton jersey maxi dress with cowl/hood/off shoulder(s) design

RUNWAY LOOK FIVE:

Brocade/cotton twill reversible detachable vest
Cotton Twill dress

Followed by a 10 minute celebratory drink, “WONDERLAB (wgsn macrotrend)…and back to work!!!







Our models sans crazy make-up and outfits!







Can you spot me? ^^




My Magazine Shoot: