Prada Spring/Summer 2011 Video Campaign

London Day 3

 Looking back on what I did today I am happy to say that I was able to check off 3 " must see" from my list.

First off I explored a bit more of the Clerkenwell Design exhibits then made my way down to the Tate Modern. On my way I stopped in at the Globe Theater and bought the next available ticket, which happened to be for 2pm.

At this point it was around 11 so I decided to have lunch at the Tate. On the 7th floor they have a great restaurant with a lovely view of the city. Unfortunately it was a bit of a gray day but still a great view. After lunch I walked around the Tate which is actually a very cool building. My favorite room was the Mark Rothko room and seeing a piece of Roy Lichtenstein pop art. Simply because I had studied his and many others works so hard last semester in my History of Design class that seeing the work in real life was somewhat gratifying. 

By this point I was having to hurry over to the Globe so not to miss my show. 

When I bought the ticket I really did not pay attention to what show I was buying it for. The show i ended up seeing was Much Ado About Nothing. It was actually very well done and entertaining. Especially when it started to rain and the actors just embraced it and the old lady sitting next to me and I just thought it was so funny. After that I was freezing from sitting outside so I decided to get reorganized and warmed up at Starbucks ( It was the first cafe outside the theater) 

From there I decided to make my way down to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the Yohji Yamamoto exhibition. The V&A is super nice and I definitely need to spend more time there but I was on a one track mind at this point. I bought my ticket just in time and made it into the exhibit. It was in a fairly large room all painted white with extremely bright tube lighting highlighting the middle of the room. Along the walls was the time line were videos of his shows, and pictures of important events were posted. Most of the space was taken up of mannequins all wearing different important garments, including some of his mens wear. This show is first to ever display his mens wear work.

photo from: http://www.nicelyturnedout.com/index.php/2011/04/japanese-and-vintage-yohji-yamamoto-at-the-va/

By now the rain was pouring and me being a "fashion over function" girl did not wear a jacket. I did have my umbrella but  I was not interested in getting a cold so I decided to mission it 5 blocks over to Harrods in search of a jacket. No luck in the jacket department but in my wanderings around Harrods I stumbled upon their Veuve Clicquot champagne bar. It was like finding a hidden treasure. I immediately went over ordered myself a glass and a chocolate desert. Not sure what I was thinking with the desert since it was only 6pm but that was what I had for dinner :)

Tomorrow is focused on shopping and exploring the London night life!!

Closures

When my lovely sister left for university in France this September I proceeded to take any clothing from her closet that she left behind. One thing that I found was this great sloppy, gray, mens, Buckler sweater. It was the perfect comfy sweater for a Canadian winter. 

However this sweater had no way of being done up and was designed to be worn open. I don't mind this style at all but since it was a mens sweater its pretty big and felt too sloppy to be worn undown. So I put my thinking cap on and decided that a large safty pin would do the trick. I dug into the back of my closet where my old high school kilt was hiding and proceded to use the kilt pin as the closure to my new sweater. 

I quickly feel in love with this sweater and probably wore it at least twice a week this winter. My favorite part was the kilt pin. It was adjustable and was the perfect functional accessory. Since then I always take notice to the use of safety pins and as it has made its way into fashion trends I decided to collect a couple images of how they have been used.

Me and my Buckler sweater

At the Met gala

Definitely stealing this look <3 it

Images from Style.com and GQ.com

Layered dream

 A couple weeks ago I had an inspiring dream. I was sitting in this dark dinning room which looked like it would be from a Tim Burton film. I was sitting at the dinner table watching this gentleman who was sitting at the head of the table getting his jacket taken off by a butler standing behind him. All I was seeing was from his waist up and occasionally  would switch views to see it from the butlers perspective. However when it appeared as if a jacket was being taken off it turned out to be a dress shirt and the gentlemen was wearing multiple dress shirts and the butler just kept taking one off after another. Its always hard to explain a dream to others but the bottom line was that I find this layering of dress shirts to be so fascinating!

I didn't think too much about this dream until a couple days after when I was looking through Bullett magazine there was an image where the model was wearing multiple dress shirts! This layering idea has got me hooked.

I posted the spread below as well as other layering outfits that gave me a similar feeling as to the one from my dream.

Images from Bullett magazine and GQ.com

Clerkenwell Design Week 2011-LONDON

Yesterday marked the first day of my Europe/Middle East adventure that I have planned for my summer. The story of how this trip came about and the amount of work that has gone into it is another story but for now ill fill you in on what I have been up to since my arrival in London. 

Yesterday was a bit of a right off other then walking down to the Tate Modern and while I was sitting outside was photographed because the photographer liked my lipstick. ( trade mark orange lips) and I picked up my week long Tube pass. Anyways after not sleeping for about 24 hours i decided to call it a early night. 

However prior to this I had noticed signs around the area I am staying advertising the Clerkenwell Design Week so i decided to get some  information on it. It turned out to be a interior and furniture design show. This being right up my ally was really exciting to read considering it was only on for 3 days, its right outside my front door, and its free! I registered right away and went to bed in order to spend all day today going to events and gallerys.

Now I am not the best at getting up in the morning so my day started a little later then planned but non-the-less I had an amazing day going to all the events the day had. 

If I had to compare it to anything in Toronto it would be a mix of the Interior Design Show in the sense that everything is on display, the designers are around, very interactive, and friendly. And Contact in the sense that it is a open event around different stores, galleys, show rooms in the area.

The main building for the event is in Farmiloe Building. I dont really know what it is used for normally but its a super cool old warehouse and a bunch of different furniture designers were on display throughout the whole thing. I happened to go in just in time to catch a presentation by Tony Brook on the work of Wim Crouwel which has a exhibit on at the Design Museum right now that I was planning on going to. He explained the grid system that Crouwel worked by and gave great background information on the designer. 

The coolest part of the Farmiloe Building was that since Jaguar is the sponsor of this event they had a bunch of really nice cars on display. The one I have pictures of below was sooooo cool. I didn't catch all the facts but its an electric car and something in it is what is used in airplanes? hahah sorry that's all I got.  

Anyways the whole event was so enjoyable and each exhibit had the most amazing catalogs and "take aways" I wanted to take them all simply because they were all made so nicely. I had to remind myself that I would have to be carrying them around for my whole trip. The pictures below are from the Clerkenwell events and London in general enjoy :)

http://www.clerkenwelldesignweek.com/london-fieldworks/

Photographers eye

Last weekend I had a photo shoot for a couple of my dresses. They will soon be up on my website but these are just some "behind the scenes" pictures

 All photos by Sisi Jiang

Rock it How ever you Want- tuques

I know this is the strangest post since we are all starting to enjoy the sun and thoughts of days on the beach but I had the inspiration today and couldn't help but post it.

I love Tuques! 

  I love them primarily on guys but girls can defiantly pull off the look. 

Here are some different ways of wearing a tuque

nice and snug

just a little cap

with hair and ears in- personal fav

popping off

Straight up

just couldn't resist posting another picture of Sean O'pry

sloppy and lots of colour!

with Swagga/ off to the side

this is just a really nice tuque

with some hair showing

with more hair showing but more sloppy

with no hair

on a girl  :)

There are many different ways but I just love them right now.
Every guy should own a Tuque.
Rock it how ever you want!

images via http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/F2011RTW-BOUT  &   http://www.gq.com/about/street-style

OSSINGTON - Must visit when in Toronto

Whether you are visiting Toronto or live here Ossington  is a place that you MUST go check out. And  again.. and again... and again.

** note** " Ossington" is on Ossington Avenue between Dundas and Queen street and a bit of the surrounding area.

I have lived in the area my whole life and there are still places that I haven't checked out. It feels like there is something new going on every week. 

It is a street full of vintage clothing stores, new clothing stores,music stores,cafes, art gallery's, restaurants, bars, after hours, bakery's, yoga studios, theater schools, you name it. You probably wouldn't believe me if i told you it takes about 7 min to walk along the whole strip (without stopping to one of the many attractions). 

Anyways once I finished exams this semester I decided to treat myself to lunch, desert, and shopping along Ossington. These images HARDLY give it justice but its a place you need to visit irregardless of the quality and quantity of images you see.