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before and after

Number 8 | The Anthology’s Most Ridiculous Moments of 2011

So far there have been two fur-clad gentlemen on The Anthology’s ten most ridiculous moments of 2011 (check out the invisible and not-so-invisible). Which means we have now arrived at…

8. The MC Hammer dance in some MC Hammer pants. I love a good “before and after” and you love a good “before and after”, but let’s face it, the “before” part is often the most ridiculous. Case in point: these printed palazzo pants, a gift challenge from my friend Sonja. She didn’t quite believe I could actually turn those hypnotic slacks into something wearable, but with a little tailoring magic they were transformed. Into what, you ask? These.

P.S. Do the hammer dance with The Anthology on Twitter.

December 24, 2011 by

You said it!

When you filled out The Anthology’s reader survey, you told me loud and clear what you’d like to see on The Anthology: more writing, more photos, more frequent posts, more of my boy Roy (see below). Thanks a million!

You also had some questions, comments and requests, a few of which I thought I’d address right here:

I love the before and after stories! they win hands down for me!
Almost every single one of you said something similar. Which means I’m going to go foraging for more hideous vintage pieces pronto!

Ever need volunteers for anything, or take suggestions from readers?
Yes and yes! Send me a note at KDundon@TheAnthology.ca, mmkay?

I would like to see more behind the scenes coverage on cultural and fashiony things being make in Vancouver
You got it! We’ve got lots planned in the coming weeks and months, including some sneak peeks at December’s Vancouver Fashion Showcase, trips to designers’ studios, plus tons of parties and events.

A few of you wrote poems that were too good to keep to myself (such talent!)
There once was a girl,
Who liked clothes and puppies,
Which is very normal.

and…

if i had your closet
i would be set
i would be so fashiony
and be the writer of the anthology

I’d like a reminder now and then about new content
I post the latest on The Anthology’s Facebook and Twitter feeds. Plus, The Anthology’s now on Google+ too. Subscribe! Or just hit refresh on TheAnthology.ca all day. That works too.

If you ever need a beauty writer, I’m heeeeeeeere!!
Beauty! (Get it?) Send me a note and writing samples if you have ’em to KDundon@TheAnthology.ca

beep boop beep beep brrrrrrrrrrap!
Right back atcha!

All I know is that I don’t know what I would do without your blog (=
And I don’t know what I’d do without you guys! Talk to myself maybe?

P.S. Haven’t given your input yet? Share your thoughts in The Anthology’s reader survey. I’d love to know what you think!

November 10, 2011 by

This dress was ridiculous

It reached the floor and the overlay flapped around wildly with every move I made.

black vintage dress with florals

It seems so much subtler now that I’ve had it shortened. And with the belt, the overlay is much less unruly.

black vintage dress detail

Many of you have told me you love the before and after shots. This, alas, is a lonely “after” with no “before”. But if you want to see my favourite favourite favourite “after”, it’s right here.

March 19, 2009 by

Workspace | Publicist Carine Redmond’s Office Version 2.0

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

Carine Redmond deserves full credit for bringing back The Anthology’s Workspace column. The Vancouver-based publicist’s gummy worm-covered desk was one of my favourite features back in the day. And when that Facebook memory popped up in my feed, I remembered how much I love creeping on people’s creative spaces.

So here we are! In Carine’s stunning new light-filled office. Shot by Vancouver-based photographer Whitney Krutzfeldt, the candy’s much fancier, the Kardashians are much more prominent, plus now there’s a puppy!

The Anthology: Wait. I recognize that globe.

Carine Redmond: It’s the same one! Jillian Harris used it for a shoot (I can’t remember what for) I was working on years ago and afterwards I went to Country Furniture and immediately purchased it like a little copycat. It’s my favourite item on my desk and has made it through many moves.

Working with Etsy, I spend a lot of days perusing product online. The ‘relationship status Avocado’ mug is so funny to me and all of my notebooks, cards, and most of my office accessories are from Etsy.

I still get my photos printed and like to keep recent ones on my desk – I switch them out periodically. I LOVE my white desk chair. An ex boyfriend bought it for me but I can’t part with it so I just tell myself it was a gift from my puppy.

TA: Do you seriously have that candy on your desk all day?

CR: I usually do, mostly because the Sugarfina stuff is so cute. I try to force it on visitors so that I don’t eat it. Often the girls who work for me.

TA: You read good ol’ fashioned printed magazines!

CR: I read books and magazines online like everybody else but still like to have hard copies – so if I really want to read something I buy a non digital version. I peruse magazines for pitch ideas and inspiration and tear sheets out for my vision boards (seriously).

TA: When are you most productive?

CR: I’m most productive work wise in the AM (7am-12pm). I try to do any real writing, editing and creative work before logging onto email. If I do that then I am able to spend the rest of the day in meetings and on calls and answering the flood of emails.

TA: How do you stay organized when you’re juggling a million clients and projects?

CR: By keeping a clean email inbox. I live and die by this rule. Keep what you need to tackle in your inbox and file everything else away. Clutter makes me crazy and that includes digital clutter.

TA: KKW! (I guess that’s more of a statement than a question!)

CR: Kim Kardashian has always done the best nude lip and I spent years trying to copy it and recreate it. Naturally, I had to get her KKW x Kylie Cosmetics nude lip kit. I love the Kardashians and still watch the show, not in an ironic way. Sorry guys!

TA: What’s the hardest thing about working for yourself?

CR: Managing other people, and all the accounting – my least favourite part of running a business.

TA: What are you most excited about right now work-wise?

CR: So much! Summer is fun for us because we have a lot of events. We’re helping Grey Goose with their Sunset Soiree events in Western Canada this August and as you can imagine, those are big and extravagant and include vodka so fun is had by all.

TA: Tell us about Tim Riggins: the man, the myth, the beagle!

CR: Tim Riggins spends his days trying to climb up on my desk and look out the window. Truth be told, it’s hard to get much work done with him around so I keep his social calendar packed during the week!

Carine Redmond handles the Western Canada PR for national and global lifestyle brands like Etsy, Parallel 49 Brewing Company, The Dailey Method, the Bentall Kennedy Group, India Rose Cosmeticary and the Chatters Style Happy tour. When she’s not at work, Carine’s usually watching reruns of Friday Night Lights, catching up on all things Kardashian or photographing her beagle pup Tim Riggins.

[Photos by Whitney Krutzfeldt]

P.S. Know someone (like, say…you!) who needs an excuse to tidy up their super stylish desk? Send a note to KDundon@TheAnthology.ca — we’d love to see your workspace!

July 21, 2017 by

Style | Moderating a Q&A at the Museum of Vancouver

So here’s something I didn’t want to focus on before I moderated a Q&A at the Museum of Vancouver this past weekend: I’ve never moderated a discussion like that before. I’ve presented on live television a trillion times. I lectured at one of Canada’s biggest universities for years. I’ve been on panels. I’ve spoken at events. I’ve given wedding speeches.

I’ve done many things you’d think would prepare me for something like this, but let me tell you: moderating a Q&A is a very different beast.

See, when you’re the one answering the questions, you’re already the subject matter expert (you’d hope). When you’re the one giving a presentation, you already have an idea of where you want to take things. When you’re giving a wedding speech, you just have to heckle the heck out of the bride.

But when you’re moderating a Q&A, chances are, you’re interviewing someone you just met a few minutes before you hit the stage. You don’t know what they’re going to want to talk about, you don’t know what they’d rather not delve into, you don’t know, frankly, how comfortable they’re going to be speaking in front of a live audience.

Since you don’t know where the discussion is going to go, you have to be prepared for it to go anywhere. Which means doing a lot of prep work. So, so much prep work; researching every public component of the interviewee’s life and career (and in my case, showing up with three pages of typed notes).

Thankfully, designer Evan Biddell and stylist Ellen Balsevich are both great interviews. Their collection, created for the 81lb. Challenge for Eco Fashion Week, is fascinating. And the message behind it — the average North American discards 81lb. of clothing and textiles in a year, making fashion the second-most polluting industry after oil — is powerful.

We talked about Evan launching his career on the first season of Project Runway Canada. We discussed the challenging parts of working in a creative field, we talked about Evan’s home/studio in Toronto’s Darling Mansion, and, because the event was part of Eco Fashion Week, we talked about the beauty — and significance — of upcycled clothing (while wearing coordinating upcycled outfits, no less).

It was fun. I learned a ton. And maybe at the next Q&A I moderate, I’ll only need to show up with two pages of notes.

Thanks for having me, Museum of Vancouver and Eco Fashion Week!

[Photos by Larissa Dundon — thanks for your help!]

April 6, 2017 by

Style | Upcycling Q&A at the Museum of Vancouver

I love a good upcycle. In fact, the early days of The Anthology were all about reinventing vintage pieces like this dress, this formerly comical piece, and even the odd piece of furniture, like these stools from Habitat for Humanity for the Vancouver Home and Design Show.

A post shared by Kelsey Dundon (@kelseydundon) on

But designer Evan Biddell (of Project Runway Canada fame) has taken upcycling to a whole new level. For Eco Fashion Week’s 81lbs. Challenge, he has created an entire line using the volume of textiles the average person discards in a year. (I covered last year’s event for Vancouver is Awesome — read up on it here.)

On Sunday, April 2nd, I’ll be moderating a Q&A at the Museum of Vancouver with Evan and stylist Ellen Balsevich. It starts at 2:00; you’ll find all the details here.

Want to come? We’re giving away a few tickets. Email me at KDundon@TheAnthology.ca with subject line: Museum of Vancouver for your chance to win.

March 29, 2017 by

Style | Rising to the 81 lb. Challenge

81 lb. Challenge

Eighty-one pounds doesn’t sound like much – the weight of a seventh-grader, maybe – but 81 pounds is the average weight of clothing a single North American discards in a year.

When you see just how much clothing that is, it’s rather alarming. Especially if you’re one of the fashion students at VCAD who took part in Eco Fashion Week’s 81 lb. Challenge, creating an entire collection out of pieces thrifted from Value Village.

“A few weeks back we were at 15 looks and we weighed them and they were only around 20 pounds,” says Alanis Anne Alindogan, a VCAD student. “We were like ‘61 more to go? How are we supposed to do that?’”

Fringe

A weighty issue

In previous iterations of Eco Fashion Week — it’s now in its 10th season –individual designers like Carlie Wong, Tammy Joe and Kim Cathers took on what used to be the 68 lb. Challenge. But studies indicate North Americans are discarding more clothing than ever, adding to the fashion industry’s already forceful environmental impact, something Eco Fashion Week founder and president Myriam Laroche hopes to change.

“One way for the industry to be eco – because there’s not just one way, there are hundreds of ways – could be reusing zippers or reusing sleeves,” says Laroche. “The 81 lb. Challenge makes me see the reality of what it would take to integrate secondhand clothing into new clothing.”

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April 18, 2016 by

You asked | How do I start writing again?

KD office 750

M writes:

I recently heard you speak and your experiences deeply resonated with where I am in my life. I will be graduating this fall and I feel as if I have been “waiting until I know what I am doing”, which has led me to do nothing. Last year my USB drive was stolen, which contained everything from my most updated resume to all my essays and notes. 

Currently, I am still lost and trying to figure out where my passions lie. However, I do know I can write, and that most of my professors and teaching assistants have always enjoyed my linguistic articulation. I want to start writing again, but for myself, and to rediscover my voice to see where it can take me. Do you have any advice to impart? 

M,

Start where you are. Start something. It doesn’t matter that you’re figuring it out as you go along. Every artist, company, brand, what have you, is adjusting course constantly. The landscape is always shifting so it’s fine to begin without having a fully formed idea of what you want to create, to adjust your approach on the fly. I’d argue it’s better that way because it means you’re adapting. You’ll figure out your focus (or lack thereof) when you’re deeply immersed in it, after you’ve floundered for a bit and realized what feels like a chore and what you find exciting.

Don’t worry about the fact that you lost your resume (I’d recommend creating a Linkedin profile if you haven’t already) and though it’s frustrating that you lost your essays, don’t let that discourage you. I never submitted a single essay to a prospective employer or client because the style is so specific, it’s just not that relevant to any writing job I’ve had in the real world.

The work you do from here on out will be more valuable to you.

I wonder if you, like me, find it easier to write when you have a specific project that’s been assigned to you. I know I prefer when someone else sets the parameters, which I think is actually my fear of setting my own criteria because that would mean I’d have to measure myself against myself and that prospect is frightening. If there’s one thing a literature degree does, it’s make you very, very critical of your own writing.

I have no answer for how to fix that. I just battle through it.

And I read a lot about writing. I loved On Writing by Stephen King when I read it way back when. Recently I found Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert inspiring; the first is more practical, the second is more rah-rah-you-can-do-it. I also love JK Rowling’s Twitter feed. The moral I gleaned from every one of them? Each author has been overcome by self-doubt but they’ve all pushed through it. They’ve collected rejection letters and bad reviews like badges of honour. And they kept on going.

Just start. And then keep going. Your perseverance will get you there, even if you don’t know right now where “there” is.

March 30, 2016 by

Bookmark | The Fresh Exchange

In The Anthology’s Bookmark column we explore some of the most inspiring places on the wild, wild web.

Own_Your_Dreams_01

I’ve said it before (twice) and I’ll say it again: graphic designers have the best blogs. It’s all about the imagery after all — even though I make a living as a writer, I get that — and they have the imagery thing down pat.

London_011

Take The Fresh Exchange for example, a blog by the graphic design duo — husband and wife actually — behind the branding firm Wild Measure. It’s all about their creative process, travel, fashion, you know…all the good things in life.

Wildsam_Field_guides_02

The photos are beautiful, the write-ups heartfelt, the effect inspiring.

Glen_Haven_Dunes_09

So bookmark The Fresh Exchange already and bookmark The Anthology while you’re at it.

[Images from The Fresh Exchange, of course.]

P.S. Beef up your list of favourite links with The Anthology’s Bookmark picks.

November 2, 2015 by