Why is this not more common?

Too few restaurants clear away the tables once you’ve finished eating to open up room for a dance floor. In fact, I can’t think of any in Vancouver that do this. Aside from Calabash.

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Went there for a birthday party this weekend (happy 20-something, Ashley!) and ate delicious, delicious Caribbean food while the DJ blasted Sean Paul from a booth set up in front of a 100-year-old now defunct elevator. (All you Europeans, please don’t laugh. That’s about as old as the architecture gets over here in Vancouver.)

The food was amazing (even the salads are something to write home about) but my highlight would have to be the chef’s own hot sauce, which owner Roger Collins says they plan to bottle and sell. Do it soon, Roger, will you? I would put that stuff on everything.

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My silver, straight-out-of-the-eighties shirt is from F as in Frank. (I bought it after I shot my segment for The Express.)

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My coat? Same story. Just because we’re eating food from the beautiful, sunny Caribbean doesn’t mean we don’t have to bundle up for rainy Vancouver.

[Skylight photo found here.]

P.S. Tweet while you eat.

January 16, 2011 by

As Seen on TV

All right, my friends, I promised you this video (and you promised you wouldn’t laugh too hard at it). So without further ado, this is the segment I filmed with The Express (thanks again, team!). Can you count the number of times I twirl around? I lose track after 624,482.

Thank you, Graeme, for your technical wizardry! And thanks again Melanie Pineda for a fun shoot!

January 12, 2011 by

Colour! Colour everywhere!

It’s makeover season, so I’ve been putting on my Tim “the Toolman” Taylor belt quite a bit lately. My latest project? My dining room.

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It all started with the chairs.

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Because they used to look like this. And the table was the exact same yellowy pine. (Both were hand-me-downs from my in-laws.)

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All they needed was a little paint (high gloss spray paint for the chairs and purply grey house paint for the table). They work. In fact, I’d even argue that they’re kind of funky. Almost as funky as that power carpet, which I found at a church thrift sale. (I don’t know where or when it’s from, but I’m obsessed with it.)

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With all that painting, my colour palette consisted of a dusty rose carpet, glossy black chairs, royal blue painting, and purply grey table. Would “Milk pail green” walls be too much? I started looking at the palettes that artist-turned-designer Julian Schnabel used at the Gramercy Park Hotel, and those that the glamourous Kelly Wearstler uses in everything she does. Which made me realize even a small space can be big on pattern and colour.

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So I pulled out the roller and went for it.

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The result? A room that is just shy of every colour in the rainbow. Dinner party, anyone?

P.S. Don’t be shy — add The Anthology on Facebook.

January 9, 2011 by

Caption that still frame

While I can’t yet treat you to a digital viewing of my segment on The Express (in which I twirled around approximately 8,000,000 in three minutes), I can treat you to this still frame, where I appear to be making eyes at an invisible man wearing a fur coat. Now that’s good television.

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Thank you, Jerome Insorio, for grabbing that shot!

January 6, 2011 by

Last time I appeared on television…

I was dancing my heart out at the Roxy (thank you Jessi Cruickshank for that opportunity). And the time before that? I was on the news — in tears — because Prince William was visiting Vancouver (I was twelve. He waved at me. Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t react the same way.)

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Which means you’re in for a real treat. Because today I return to the airwaves.

Set your PVRs, Vancouverites. My interview/vintage shopping adventure airs on The Express on Channel four at 3:00, 6:00 and 10:00. Fret not, far-off friends, it’ll be up on Youtube in due course.

Thanks again, Melanie Pineda, for a really fun shoot. And many thanks, Erin Shaw, for your words of encouragement!

January 5, 2011 by

Follow the neon lights

A guest post by my sister Larissa Dundon about love at first sight.

I was wandering 4th avenue on my lunch break, lost in thought about spicy tuna rolls and current interest rates, when my eyes were drawn to the glittery neon lights that read ‘Salvation Army’. On a whim, I went in and perused the dress section. In the back of my mind I was searching for a dress suitable for New Year’s, but I was also aware that if I had any expectations I would be disappointed.
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And then it happened…

I pulled this baby off the rack and I just knew. I knew we were meant to be. I crossed my fingers, toes and eyes hoping that this little black number with the outrageously large bow would fit me, yet somehow I knew it would. To my pleasant surprise, it was just a little too big in a way that was going to be very easy to adjust.  This dress spoke to me. Sometimes I think I was supposed to be a 20-something in the 80’s (have you seen my curls?).

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After a little tailoring I am pleased to report that we are really happy together.

Paired with jewel earrings, a silver cuff and extremely glittery nailpolish (conveniently named Sparkle-icious) by OPI, this dress was both a bargain and a hit. Not to mention I will be pulling this out on future party nights.

Thanks a million, Larissa! Such a heartwarming tale of love and commitment. I cannot wait to beg/borrow/steal that dress from you.

P.S. Follow Larissa on Twitter here and The Anthology here.
January 4, 2011 by

Fresh starts

The new year is all about wiping the slate clean and looking ahead. A time when you dream big and convince yourself you’re actually going to complete that cleanse. I made New Decade resolutions at the beginning of 2010, which means I’m covered for another nine years. So I asked a few of my favourite Vancouver bloggers to share their fashionable resolutions with us. (You can find part one here and part two here.) Below, Anya Georgijevic, Melissa Knight and Alicia Quan share their thoughts on mama’s wardrobe, sewing buttons and small closets...

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Anya Georgijevic of I’m the It Girl

Over the Christmas Holidays, I grabbed a whole bunch of my mom’s 80s floral skirts and tops. They feel very Dries Van Noten even though the resemblance is, most likely, accidental. Sewing was her hobby and on her trips to Russia, she would pick up gorgeous hand painted cashmeres and silks. My goal is to take them to my tailor and make the pieces work for me. It’s always tricky because my mom was 5’9″ and probably size 8/10 and I’m 5’6″ and size 4/6 but having something originally created by my mother is so much more valuable to me than buying things off the rack.

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Melissa Knight of Miss Melissa

So my New Year’s fashion resolution is to stop attempting to “fix” items of clothing on my own and finally go to a tailor.

I guess that means I’ll have to admit that my sewing talents end at sewing on a button, won’t it?

Alicia Quan of Alicia Fashionista

My main goal is to keep my closet organized. I’m moving in April and won’t have as much closet space (I know, my heart breaks too).

This includes not as much shopping as I did this year, and that if I am adding something, then something else may have to go.

Thanks ladies! Here’s to a stylin’ 2011!

January 3, 2011 by

Fashionable resolutions

What better time than the new year to reinvent yourself and your wardrobe? And who better to have some inspiring resolutions than some of my favourite style bloggers? (Catch up on part one of this three-part series here.) Below, Lisa Wong, Olivia Lovenmark and Jessica Deitcher wax fashionable on moto boots, YSL bags and closet space…

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Lisa Wong of Solo Lisa

For 2011 I’m going to wear lipstick, pretty patterned blouses, and lace tops more often. Eclectic accessories like patent oxfords, moto boots, quirky earrings, and dramatic necklaces will counterbalance the ladylike vibe and keep outfits from feeling too twee and prim. Oh, and note to self: look to other girls with bangs and long hair—like Zooey Deschanel or the ones on The Sartorialist—for stylish inspiration on how to channel a timeless vibe while looking fresh and contemporary.

P.S. In other non-fashion-related news, I also want to cook more.

Olivia Lovenmark of Style Struck

I’d like to commit to myself a few things:

1. That I will move to a new and bigger city. I’m currently dreaming of Toronto.

2. That I will do a full closet clean out, enough of those teen-year-stragglers, a.k.a.low-rise flared jeans.

3. When I do the laundry and bring a big bag of fresh clean clothes into my apartment, I will put said clothes into the closet, rather than leaving the bag on the floor for later.

4. Ownership of a YSL bag.

nyr-anthology-2Jessica Deitcher of Fashion by Night

Instead of deciding that my uncontrollable shopping habit is actually the problem, I always believe that my lack of closet space is the dilemma. Inevitably, I make countless trips to Ikea to buy yet another shoe rack, use the back of every chair in my apartment as a “coat stand”, and leave clean laundry in the dryer until previously occupied hangers become available. Madness.

I believe in New Year’s resolutions, once opting not to eat hamburgers for a year, another to stop biting my nails. But this year I am taking a more fashion-conscious pledge that will hopefully curb the cited problem above. “For every item I buy, I discard one I own.” That will definitely solve the lack-of-space predicament, and alternatively keep my wardrobe up to date. I am not sure how it will control my shopping tendencies… but that wasn’t the resolution anyway…

Thanks friends! You’ve inspired me to sort out my closet. Tomorrow, three more bloggers share their plans for 2011.

January 2, 2011 by

The ball has dropped

The hangovers have hit and somewhere someone has already broken their New Year’s resolution. Me? I made New Decade resolutions at the beginning of 2010. So this year, I asked some of my favourite Vancouver-based style bloggers about their fashionable resolutions. And here’s what Niki Blasina, Alexandra Suhner Isenberg and Erin Gee had to say about green couches, amazing presents and jet-setting…

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Niki Blasina of A Haute Mess

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My style-related New Year’s resolution is slightly ridiculous. Remember how back in the ’90s everyone’s parents had hunter green and dusty rose living rooms (and maybe even that terrible matching floral wallpaper)? Yeahhhh you do. The token 90s living room is about as indicative of the decade as snap bracelets and Screaming Saucers.

Anyway. I’ve been lucky enough to inherit an amazing set of hunter green leather couches straight outta the late 20th century. The leather is great and they’re so comfortable and I love them because I’ve probably spent a good amount of time over the past 15 years or so making my ass groove juuuust right. The only problem with them is their dated colour. And so my style-related New Years resolution is to redecorate my living room around these jolly green giants and make them look good. And current. Wish me luck!

Alexandra Suhner Isenberg of Searching for Style

hermes_kelly_chocolate_brown I don’t usually make New Years resolutions, if I decide to do something, I do it, whether it is January or not. But this year I do have a goal, and although it might seem silly, it is quite important to me. I received an Hermès Kelly bag for Christmas, which was a very pleasant surprise. But right now it is tucked away in a box (in a box), awaiting insurance coverage.

My resolution is to actually wear and use the bag, as that is what it was made for and it will be completely wasted if it spends most of its life sitting in a dustbag. It is so easy to be overly precious with items like this, and then they end up going to waste. Hermès bags are built to last, and it would be ridiculous if I don’t get some wear out of mine. So next time you see me around, hopefully I will be making the most out of this fantastic present.

Erin Gee of Define Magazine

I’m going to try to save up to make some great purchases in Europe in the Spring – the last time I was there was for a three-month backpacking trip, not the ideal situation for shopping!

Thanks team! Here’s to an amazing year! Tomorrow three more local style bloggers share what they (hope t0) have in store for 2011. Thank you, Kim Zatlyn, for that first beautiful photo!

January 1, 2011 by

Let the countdown begin!

Time to pop the champagne, friends! New Year’s Eve is upon us. Which means that number one on The Anthology’s top ten most ridiculous of 2010 is also upon us. After the wedding dresses, stylin’ curlers, late discoveries, wonderful WIZERDZ, cheese-loving graffiti artists, Joshua Tree impressions, heartwarming outpourings of support, pants that would make MC Hammer jealous, and gorgeous gentlemen, allow me to present The Anthology’s single most ridiculous moment of 2010…

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1. Picture this: you’re at Coachella(!), the desert sun is setting over the mountains, Phoenix is playing (and you love them). The evening could not be more perfect. That is, until the guy beside you vomits. Right beside you. You jump back to avoid the splash. And after a moment of chaos, the vomiter shakes his head, collects himself and keeps rocking out. So you keep rocking out too.

Then you tweet about the experience. And that gets you written up in LA Weekly. Which makes you realize that almost getting barfed on at Coachella is definitely ridiculous. But also kind of hilarious.

So I’m already planning my trip to Coachella 2011. You coming?

December 31, 2010 by