I know what you’re thinking: Hot damn! She looks good!
I don’t know what to tell you — some of us just have it.
For real, though, this dress is one of my favourite vintage store finds. A few nips and tucks and it’ll turn into a flowy masterpiece. (Just not quite as flowy as it is in these pictures.)
Stay tuned for the “After” shots!
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Change may be good, but I like that some things stay the same. Take the Converse All Star, for example. It’s an icon, a rock ‘n roll staple, a shoe I find myself wearing almost every weekend.
The other night, I stopped by the Converse spring preview at the stunningly beautiful Warehouse Studio in Gastown. My favourite of the new looks? As cool as the DC Comic collaborations are (just look at this kids’ shoe!), I’d have to choose the Chuck Taylor Dainty for its slimmed-down take on the classic silhouette. It’s kind of the same, and kind of changed.
P.S. Tweet like an all star. Follow @TheAnthology!
Ah…photographers. I LOVE them! I wish I could be of them, but I most definitely am not (I haven’t even taken my new DSLR out of the box because it terrifies me).
Instead, I collaborate with them every chance I get. In this case, with Vancouver-based wedding and portrait photographer — and all-round sweetheart — Sherry Lu. She’s a superstar, no?
We shot a garden party-themed series in Queen Elizabeth Park this past weekend. The sun was out (hence the flare!) and you’d never guess this was taken in the parking lot, would ya? You’d also never guess my vintage blouse used to look like this, would ya?
I’ll share more photos as soon as I get them. Thanks a million, Sherry!
P.S. You know what else I love? Your face on Facebook! So like The Anthology!
Northill has been quite the adventure (take a peek at this post for more on that). Between the writing and styling and consulting is photo shoot creative direction, which just might be one of my favourite aspects of my biz. You saw the behind-the-scenes peek at the campaign shoot for Sterling Shoes and the gorgeous photos we captured, right?
Well, I didn’t take any behind-the-scenes shots at the Freedman Shoes SS/12 campaign shoot, but I thought I’d share my very favourite photo. Quite possibly of all time.
Shot at Liberty in Vancouver, the dog on the left is made of rolled-up newspaper (such a quirky home accessory!) and the dog on the right belongs to photographer Barry Gnyp. The fact that the two pups looked virtually identical was serendipitous so I thought I’d see what would happen if we posed them both in the shot. Now, it’s worth mentioning that the friendly little yorkshire terrier cross is not talent per se, so getting her to stay still for the photo was a feat and the fact that she looked in that direction for a brief second was…I don’t know — maybe there was food just out of frame.
The result is a shot I adore so much I’d like to hang it on my wall. Instead, it’s hanging on Freedman’s.
[Shoes from Freedman, dress from H&M]
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Wowee! This is one hot little number. Then again, “Before” shots in The Anthology’s Before and After column always are.
This bright, colourful blouse has big, bold shoulder pads, leading me to believe it’s from the ’80s. But the shoulder pads really aren’t what’s making this blouse so ridiculous. It’s the shapelessness. It’s meant to fit a size small and yet there’s so much extra fabric I could fit another person in there.
It might even be worse from the back — a giant square so big it looks like an oversized jacket.
I’m making some tweaks to this piece so it will be wearable, perhaps even stylish. Stay tuned for the “After” shot! (Imagine if I presented these as “After” photos. Would you guys be polite and say you liked it? Or would you tell me how you really feel?)
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I don’t normally gravitate toward pastels — I’m more of a jewel tone kind of gal. Maybe it’s because soft pinks and baby blues turn my complexion the colour of the walking dead, but I tend to avoid them.
I can’t this spring, though. They’re e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e (pastels, not zombies).
So I might as well embrace them. These images are so gorgeous, so unique, so warm and soft, they remind me how much I love pastels in design and art work. A little girly girl, maybe. But a lot ’50s, too.
And I love the thought of wearing pastels on my nails. If I had a six-year-old niece she’d totally give me a manicure like this.
Have you been watching Garance Dore’s Pardon My French series? It makes me fall even harder for the blogette. She’s such a fun-loving talent who seems full of energy, it’s equally exhausting and inspiring to follow her adventures.
Three out of four of these pastel-y images are from French blogs, by the way. And I didn’t even do that on purpose — it was my Francophillic subconscious. Le sigh.
[Images from Pandora, Ensuite, Tales of Endearment, and Garance Dore.]
Thank you, WE Vancouver, for featuring my tangerine-wearing face in your Out After Dark column (holler, May Globus!) with Sam Shamash, head of marketing for AG Hair (they’re from Vancouver, did y’all know that?).
This pic was taken at the Social Feed x The Anthology event and there’re plenty more riiiiiiiiiiight here.
Eat your heart out, Anna Wintour. You’re not the only one to rock oversized sunglasses in the front row. I unleashed my inner critic this weekend and sat on the judging panel at the Art Institute of Vancouver’s Walt Street. ‘Twas a fun show. Like, really fun. Each design was inspired by a Disney character and a pop culture personality. Which is why my sunglasses were a bit goofy. Or should I say…Goofy? (Ha!)
Above, Snow White meets Nicki Minaj (designed by Yan Yan), the Little Mermaid meets Katy Perry (by Lisa Truong and Aaron Li) and Wall-E meets Lady Gaga (by Tina Forouzandeh and Cynthia Poulin). My fellow judges Angela Huang of Vancouver Fashion Showcase (pictured with a friend), Georgia Heraty of Social Experiment, yours truly, my girlfriend Laura (just back from New York) and organizer Erika Renfrew (who you might recognize).
It wasn’t easy to judge and I it certainly wasn’t easy to design — the looks were outrageous.
Which is even more impressive when you consider the fact that Walt Street was a no-sew competition. Designers like Christel Hayne had to be pretty darned resourceful to create detailing like this on her Belle-meets-J-Lo look.
I can’t even imagine how Amy Schilbe and Elizabeth Eburne pulled off (or pulled on, for that matter) hot pants like this on their look inspired by Minnie Mouse and Ke$ha.
In the end, they all lived happily ever after. Yan Yan’s Snow White won for best construction (it was made of paper), Diane Dizon, Beril Kaleli and Mandy Dhillon’s Aladdin-meets-Michael-Jackson design was deemed most outrageous, and Christel Hayne’s Belle earned best use of materials (Duct tape, I believe).
Congratulations all! Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go watch Cinderella for the umpteenth time.
[I’m wearing a vintage top and J.Crew denim]
P.S. In case you missed it, catch my view from the Brooklyn Bridge in the Vancouver Sun.
Gabrielle Rose has appeared on the silver screen, the small screen and the stage. But she’d never walked the runway until last night. The actress was one of a handful of Canadian women, including Gene Simmons’ wife Shannon Tweed (in Arthur Mendonça) and my favourite redhead Jessi Cruickshank (in Adrian Wu), who rocked crimson at the Heart Truth Fashion Show in Toronto.
Before she left for T.O., I attended the final fitting of Rose’s off-shoulder, origami-influenced gown.
“When I put it on today and it was almost finished, I burst into tears. I think it makes me look stunning, like a screen siren,” she said.
The dress was designed by Heather Lewis and Jija Park of Something Blue, who were the only Vancouver-based designers to participate in this year’s show.
“Red represents passion and strength and we were looking for a gown that mirrored that feeling,” said Lewis.
While they’re best known for designing bridal gowns, Something Blue launched an eveningwear line in January (it’s all but sold out) and will be expanding into a line of resort wear (honeymoon wear!) once they move from their Yaletown shop to a studio near Granville Island this spring.
Will they recreate Rose’s Heart Truth gown for the masses? Nope. It is a one-of-a-kind piece designed just for the actress’ walk down the runway in support of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The cause is very personal for Rose: she lost both her parents to heart disease.
“I lost my mother to a stroke two years ago and I started to think — were there risk factors that we should have been aware of?” she said. “I began to investigate and the statistics are frightening; heart disease takes more women than any other illness out there, including cancer. I was shocked by that. There’s a misperception that heart attacks are something that men have.”
You’ll find more information about heart disease (and tips for reducing your risk, ladies) right here.
If you missed the Heart Truth fashion show, take a look at the photos and video here. If you’re in Vancouver, catch Rose in the Arts Club Theatre’s presentation of Scar Tissue April 5-28.
[Photos in the first collage by George Pimentel]
If you’ve worked on a photo shoot you know the really fun part isn’t the shoot itself (though they are a blast). The best part is after all the location scouting and lighting tweaking, after all the prepping and primping — it’s seeing the photos themselves.
Like this shot from the Sterling Shoes spring/summer campaign I worked on a few weeks ago. We shot on location at the Waldorf Hotel thinking we’d spend most of our time in the tiki-tastic lounges. And we did. But we took over one of the hotel’s revamped rooms for a few minutes toward the end of the day and this was one of the magic moments we captured.
She looks like a movie star, doesn’t she?
Then there are the quirky, wonderful shots you get when the model (Christie B.) is a bundle of personality. Seriously, this girl is a riot. The bags she’s holding and the shoes she’s wearing are all at Sterling.
Our photo shoot dream team: photographer Evaan Kheraj, stylist Luisa Rino, hair and makeup artist Melanie Neufeld, graphic designer Jenny Kim and the peeps at Sterling (thanks, Lisa!).
P.S. For more behind-the-scenes photos follow @TheAnthology.