Giveaway | Tickets to the Vancouver Home and Design Show

These ugly stools are about to get a whole lot less ugly. I hope.

I’m going to DIY my little heart out and rework these babies as part of the Vancouver Home and Design Show’s Upcycle Challenge in support of Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore. Want to see my finished pieces (and Jillian Harris and HGTV’s Bryan Baeumler) in person? The Anthology has teamed up with the show to give away three sets of two tickets to the show, which takes place October 11-14 at BC Place.

The first three people to email me at KDundon@TheAnthology.ca with the subject Vancouver Home and Design Show win!

UPDATE: Congratulations Heather, Stephanie and Dilara — you’re going to the Vancouver Home and Design Show!

P.S. Speaking of giveaways, you could win a MINI Adventure from MINI Richmond! Enter here.

October 3, 2012 by

A-List | Fiction to curl up with

Amanda writes:

I’m such a big fan of your blog! You have amazing style and I look to you for a lot of my own outfit inspiration. I especially love reading about your travels, from your vineyard trips to outings with your adorable doggy. From a recent book post, I decided to take Glamorama and The Beautiful and Damned on my last trip. Thanks for the great suggestions!

Thanks, Amanda! Hope you’re going on another trip soon because Katie Burnett has compiled another reading list, perfect for fall…

Fall is upon us, and that means it’s back to school and work, drudging through the books and other documents that are forced upon us. Since the weather is turning, and the movies won’t be interesting till Oscar season [except for Looper. It’s amazing! — Kelsey], relaxing with some fiction will be just what you need. Here are four great fiction novels to bury your head in.

1. Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion

Joan Didion is a famed essayist, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and altogether legend. Her books of essays never cease to dazzle and engage me, and her novel “Play It As It Lays” is a disturbingly good look at Hollywood in the 1970’s. A best-seller when it came out, it follows the troubled actress Mariah as she recovers from a breakdown. Slowly but surely we learn about her life in Beverly Hills with her husband, a director, and how a life of glamour and glitz isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.

Further reading: Try Didion’s essays like the collection “The White Album” about life in California in the 1970’s, or what is perhaps her most famous work, “The Year of Magical Thinking”, a harrowing and eloquent book about loss.

2. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

This is both a formidable film and novel, and I can assure you even if you’ve seen the film, it’s worth reading the book. From the first page it will possess you and I can assure you, you won’t want to put it down! Part of Cormac McCarthy’s “Border Trilogy” novels, this one takes place along the US-Mexico border and follows three very different men – a sociopathic killer, a sheriff, and a war vet – as their lives intersect after a drug deal has gone awry. It is an engrossing and brilliant novel that is so beautifully written, it’s no wonder the author has won a Pulitzer Prize!

Javier Bardem is still hot as a psycho in a funny wig: Even if you’ve seen the film before, it’s worth a watch after reading the novel – the Cohen brothers, in top form as always, did a phenomenal job of capturing the mood and brilliance of the novel.

3. The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud

Set in New York City, “The Emperor’s Children” is a dazzling novel and social satire focused around a group of friends who haven’t quite achieved all they’ve wanted to by 30, and a troubled college dropout who goes to stay with his uncle in the Big Apple. Naturally, trouble ensues as everyone’s lives intersect, and it’s an incredibly multilayered story that is as captivating as it is troubling.

Fun to note: Noah Baumbach has long been attached to direct a film version of the book!

4. Savages by Don Winslow

You may have seen the Oliver Stone-directed film “Savages” this summer, based on Don Winslow’s book, which had its moments, but the book is phenomenal. Completely engaging, the story follows two best friends in California who grow and sell weed, while also sharing a girlfriend. When the Mexican cartels want a piece of them and they decline, their girlfriend is kidnapped, and they have to go rescue her. The book is written in a prose that is super unique and you won’t be able to put this down. In fact, I picked it up at a bookstore and was so into it, I had to sit and read it all in one go. It’s a fun, fast and entertaining read, and even if you’ve seen the film, I promise you’ll want to read the book for more details and twists, and a very different ending.

After you’re done: Don Winslow has recently released a prequel, “The Kings of Cool.”

P.S. Catch up on Katie Burnett’s earlier dispatches, like her recent recommended reads and add to your “When I’m in London” list: Sundays on Brick Lane, Saturdays in Camden Town, Friday nights at the theatre, and East Coast nostalgia.

October 1, 2012 by

Workspace | Alicia Quan of Alicia Fashionista

The Anthology’s Workspace column takes us inside the creative spaces of some very creative people.

Her last name isn’t actually Fashionista, but if you follow Alicia’s blog Alicia Fashionista, that’s probably how you know her. And it’s no wonder — with her love of all things sartorial, and a site that chronicles that love affair, she’s known for her personal style.

In her own words Alicia Quan takes us through her workspace — suitcases, third wheels and all…

1. I work from home, but was forced to improvise an office setting in our one bedroom apartment.  I turned an antique vanity into a desk in our living room and spruced it up with a printed place mat.

2. Since my work could technically be 24/7, I’m always glued to a computer screen!  I’d say my time is split between my giant Acer PC and my trusty iPad.  It’s a running joke in this apartment that my iPad is the third member in our relationship, as it often gets all my attention.

3. Call me old fashioned, but I still write my to-do lists and scribbles in a lined notebook.  I simply love writing out notes and then crossing off completed tasks!


4. My favourite Anthropologie mug.  There is always a cup of coffee near my workspace.

5. I get all my business cards printed at Moo.com, and always have some handy at events.  I also hold onto all the cards I collect while networking, all kept in this simple card holder.


6. Another favourite antique find was this mustard yellow suitcase.  I’ve turned it into a mini display of things that make me smile, and a spot for current documents and/or product samples.

P.S. Click your way to Alicia Fashionista to see the fruits of her workspace.

P.P.S. Check out the first post in the Workspace column and find out how Niki Blasina of A Haute Mess smells when she blogs. Click through the second post to find out where Anya Georgijevic of I’m the It Girl started her footwear obsession. Find out how Kumiko Ide of Tribal DDB keeps her workspace fresh to death. Take a look at jewelry designer Justine Brooks’ works in progress and her favourite places to work very, very remotely. Take a look at Lisa Wong of Solo Lisa’s cat-decorated desk and Anna Cohen’s converted stable in Denmark.

September 28, 2012 by

Pinstagram | Bright Lights and Big Skies

The Anthology’s Pinstagram column marries the dream (Pinterest) and the reality (Instagram).

Pretty in… The RACHEL Rachel Roy dress I wore to interview the designer + a pink bow I’d wear everywhere.

Red squared. A model getting made up before the LOULOU Magazine event at Metropolis at Metrotown + a pair of red shoes that almost perfectly match her hair colour.

Natural beauty. An arrangement from a wedding (congratulations Matt and Megs!) + a place I’d fall in love with.

Graceful greys. Joe Fresh’s moody fall palette + a moody evening sky.

Bright lights. Martha Sturdy’s illuminated orb sculptures (available at Provide) + an illuminated model.

Sunny side up. Sunflowers for a September baby (happy birthday, Elisa!) + a not-so-sunny cat.

Crown jewels. A vintage varsity sweater that would be a gem if it weren’t from a rival high school + some paper gems.

Big sky. Life under the open sky in my MINI Roadster convertible (which you can win, by the way!) + life in the even more open sky.

P.S. Follow Kelsey Dundon on Pinterest and Instagram, or if you prefer a more traditional route, add The Anthology on Facebook and Twitter.

September 27, 2012 by

Style | The Name is Rachel. Rachel Roy.

If you had 15 minutes to ask Rachel Roy anything you wanted, what would you ask? When I sat down with the New York-based designer before her appearance at The Bay in honour of her fall collection, I asked her about Oprah, interning and time travel…

You have described RACHEL Rachel Roy as the younger sister of your designer line. What do you love most about designing it?

Because I was that girl growing up, I have a very kindred spirit to her. I really respect her. I understand that just because she might not be able to pay $500 for a dress she wants fashion and she wants what she sees in Vogue or the magazines that she reads. She wants better options so it’s really important to me to respect that and give the options that I am able to give within a certain price point.

What if you could speak to yourself when you were “That girl?” If you could travel back in time to give yourself a piece of advice when you began your career as an intern at Rocawear, what would you say?

I would say, “Good choice. I’m proud of you. You’re confident enough, thankful enough and capable enough to work for free simply to be in an industry that you’ve been dying to be in.”

Advice I would give to myself would be to have a point of view and stick to it. I definitely do that now and I think I’ve done that since my 30s but sometimes in your 20s you learn it if you’re not taught it right away. Having a point of view that you truly believe in – and sticking to it no matter who’s doing what in your personal life or your professional life – the world at large will have more respect for you if you actually have a story that you live.

In addition to your success as a designer, you’ve become a staple in pop culture with appearances on Oprah and Project Runway and celebrity clients like the first lady. What is it that most amazes you about what you’ve accomplished?

I’m just doing what I’m good at. I’m not good at a lot of things, but I think that everyone is good at something. When you’re good in the arts, it’s not something that – when you go through the public school system in the United States at least — it’s not something that you’re taught. So you can think “What the hell am I good at? What’s my gift?” And a lot of times you don’t learn that until you’re much older.

For me, that was knowing my gift was being able to take my surroundings and make them, to the best of my ability, visually as stimulating or comforting or pleasing as possible. That would be even with homes – I would go into friends’ places and help them shift stuff. In college I would be the girl that my friends would ask to come clean out their closets. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I say that to say we’re all good at something and when you can figure that out great, and it really doesn’t matter what you’re getting paid because your soul is happy.

[My dress c/o RACHEL Rachel Roy, my purse and necklace are both vintage.]

September 25, 2012 by

Diary | Behind the Scenes of LOULOU Magazine’s Shop Till You Drop Event

Hurry up and wait. That’s show shop business. Along with the team from LOULOU Magazine and my lovely assistants Katie Burnett and Amy Podrasky, I styled the Shop Till You Drop trend presentation at Metropolis at Metrotown last night.

Which meant plenty of backstage beauty touchups.

And pulling $1000 worth of Forever 21 accessories. (Do you know how many $6 rings and $8 necklaces that is?)

Certainly enough to accessorize our models, who wore (from left) True Religion, BCBG, and Forever 21, with shoes from BCBG. Cute, huh?

P.S. For as-they-happen photos follow The Anthology on Facebook and Twitter.

September 21, 2012 by

Trippin’ | Disneyland for Grownups

You know how everything these days seems to be described as “Disneyland for grownups?” Well what if you go to Disneyland as a grownup, and not as a chaperone for small children? In this guest post, my sister Larissa does just that…

On a recent trip to California we were flying through LAX and I thought, why not stop in Anaheim for the day and have a date at the happiest place on earth? Would Disneyland actually be as happy as I remembered?

I hadn’t been to the mother of all theme parks since I was a small child. Turns out Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain are just as exciting as I remembered, though Space Mountain was even more terrifying. You know what’s changed though? The lines. Sometime between my childhood and now, they introduced the FastPass which means you can choose to skip certain lineups by inserting your ticket, getting a new one, and coming back later.

Kids these days really do have it all.  Then again, so do grownups.

September 21, 2012 by

Giveaway | Win the MINI of Your Dreams for a Year(!) from MINI Richmond

A sponsored post. 

I never thought I’d feel this way about a car. But this isn’t just a car. It’s a MINI. And a convertible at that. Have you driven a convertible? Have you driven a MINI?

MINI Richmond gave me a MINI Roadster to drive for the next two months. And you know what? They want to give you one for a whole year(!). Click here to enter to win a MINI for a year plus a supersized MINI adventure, and up your chances by sharing your entry on Facebook and Twitter @MINIRichmond (#Miniadventure). You must be a resident of British Columbia to win so if you’re not, this is the perfect reason to move here.

Good luck! And thanks again, MINI Richmond!

September 18, 2012 by