Expect to hear a lot about this from me, because I have been a fan of Julian Roberts since 2006 and am so hyped that he is bringing his Subtraction Cutting classes to my fashion school – Ryerson University in Toronto – and also across North America!

Julian Roberts Subtraction Cutting Tour. This June, at Ryerson University.

WHO: Julian Roberts
WHAT: North American Subtraction Cutting Tour – New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Portland, Oregon!
WHEN: June 14th & 15th
WHERE: Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario.
WHY: To support the Master of Arts (MA) degree in Fashion commencing Fall 2010

Curious?  Julian’s website is open on Wednesdays, so mark it in your day planner and get a peek of what is coming across the Atlantic.  If you are into playing with techniques and experimenting outside the conventions of traditional fashion design, you will love this.

My face is not a major feature on this blog.  I am more used to being the artist than the subject, and only recently started posting outfit photos occasionally. Imagine my surprise this morning when I discovered that I was drawn by west coast illustrator Corey Lee.

He’s captured me pretty well in this illustration wearing the jacket in this post. I like how his style has an animated quality.  Thanks so much Corey for an unexpected portrait.

Today I received the most wonderful package in the mail: a hand knitted sweater by my marvelous internet friend, Nadia Lewis.  Nadia and I had negotiated an exchange – I created a watercolour fashion figure for her and she created this beautiful garment for me.

It is exactly as I requested – shorter sleeves, longer body, soft yarn.  And well worth the wait – if anything it is perfectly timed as the weather only recently turned wintry here.  Thank you so much Nadia for all your hard work.

Thanks to Final Fashion sponsor LIV by Au Lit, I had a wonderful opportunity to invite 20 of my favourite fashion friends – writers, bloggers and stylists – to celebrate the beginning of the winter holiday season with wine and cupcakes and check out all the goods at LIV.  This is the second sponsored event I’ve done in the intimate, casual spirit of my old series of networking brunches, TFBB.

Here I am looking as festive as I’ll ever get!

Stylist Tricia Campbell meets shopping blogger Eden Spodek.

I love being a connecter of people – I tried to invite a mix of good pals from the TFBB days and newer friends that I’d like to get to know better – and of course people I think would like to meet eachother. I also tried to pick people I knew would love LIV’s chic, friendly style and the vintage-inspired jewelry of featured designers Edmoure Ralph.  All while keeping the event small enough to be intimate.  I’m lucky to have the enviable problem of knowing way too many awesome people so putting together the guest list was a happy challenge.

The girls of Fashion In Motion showing off some ornaments.

Kimberly of The Soul of my Shoes and Ashley Bartlett of She Does the City.  Marta of With Love… was also at the event taking photos for LIV’s blog, I was a bit too absorbed with introductions and conversations to get many good shots so I can’t wait to see Marta’s pics.

LIV’s owner Joanna Goodman and I at the end of a lovely evening.

Thanks everyone who came!  It was so much fun to see you all.  Roll call:

• Briony Smith and Danah Abdulla of blogTO
• Rea McNamara of EYE WEEKLY and Metro
• Emma Yardley of Canadian Living
• Johanne Durocher and Rachel of Fashion In Motion
• Jennifer Campbell of FASHION Magazine
• Gail McInnes
• Anita Clarke of I want – I got
• Jen Tse
• Linda Gaylard
• Nathalie Atkinson and Elyse of National Post
• Ashley Bartlett of She Does the City
• Afiya Francisco of The Style House
• Stefania Yarhi of Textstyles
• Tricia Campbell
• Renee Williams of Yahoo Canada Life
• Eden Spodek of Bargainista
• Kimberly Lyn of The Soul of my Shoes

My internet friend Christy Burton (we “met” on Fashion-Incubator) purchased my Dr. Martens design (yes you can get them shipped to the USA) and sent me this picture showing them off on Twitter.  Love her happy face and she says she loves her new boots too!

These new boots have put me in such a good mood I can barely sit still. I should wear them every day! I feel like a superhero.

You can buy the boots here – and if you do, please send me a picture, it makes me so happy to see them being worn!

So you may have noticed my fancy new second sidebar on the far right, constructed with geeky help from geekigirl.  This is a place for me to try some new things out.  Since January, I have been putting a lot more effort into the blog.  It has been bringing me a lot of new energy and traffic and opportunities – a lot of work but totally worth it.

More recently, I surveyed all of you for your thoughts on the blog – you can still take the survey if you feel like contributing your opinions and ideas.  I have been trying to come up with a way for the blog to support itself more directly – and more consistently – than indirectly supporting my business as a fashion illustrator.

From Google Analytics, I know that there are many of you as far as I am concerned – there is usually about 400 unique visitors daily – but as far as advertisers are concerned, those numbers are insignificant.  Final Fashion is just a tiny slice of a giant fashion blog demographic – and from an advertising point of view, not particularly useful.  You are all too smart to click on advertising, and for the most part you are not consumers; you are creators.

The survey results confirmed it – Final Fashion readers are amazing.  Many of you work in the fashion industry or the media, have your own businesses, are going to school, or have your own fashion blogs, and you are all characterized by a sense of curiousity and creativity – and influence.  All of you are the greatest reason for me to put my best efforts into the site.

I have discovered that when I do put energy into the site, it comes back to me in surprising ways.  The fact that I can make a living doing what I love is a credit to all of the good people I have met through this site.  You are all an incredibly supportive community and deserve better than Adsense.  So now that I am trying to come up with a way to use that second sidebar, I’ve decided to try something different.

Sponsorship.  This word implies a lot more than just advertising.  Here’s the deal:

• Developing Final Fashion has helped me build a network and a small business, and I feel that this energy can also benefit other, like-minded businesses in the same way.
• Many of my readers are also entrepreneurs who are looking for inexpensive ways to promote what they are doing to the people who matter, and many of them don’t have the time to develop a blog to this level of engagement.  Final Fashion needs a sponsorship program that is flexible enough for bootstrapping entrepreneurs like myself to get in on it.
• Sponsorship will also be tied in with what I do – all of the sponsor badges will be custom-illustrated by myself.  That’s right – if you’re into being a sponsor, you’ll get your own custom illustration to use online for a very reasonable rate.
• I want to know my sponsors personally – I would like them to be a part of my working life and be a part of the blog.  Sponsors will be selected as carefully as I select my clients.  That sponsorship is going to affect blog content is a given – so I would like to take it further and really open up the blog to those who are willing to invest in it.  Sponsors will get one post a month, in the same spirit as all of my posts – candid, personal and direct.  Up front, sponsors will also get some preferential treatment when it comes to referrals and posts – quid pro quo.  Sponsors will also be expected to put some of their own effort and ideas into the site to get the most out of the program.
• When explaining what I am trying to do with sponsorship on Final Fashion, I want people to think of it more like PR than advertising – just more direct, more authentic… and cheaper.

Any time you try something for the first time, it is a risk.  This whole sponsorship deal might work out the way I envision it, or it may turn into something different.  I feel incredibly lucky that Fashion Crimes has agreed to be a test case for sponsorship.  They are a Queen Street West institution full of pretty dresses, a great client – and gutsy enough to take a risk on an untested idea here.  My main contact there, manager Crystal Rickard, has agreed to let me take the lid off of the inaugural sponsorship so everyone can get a chance to see what it is and how it works out.

If you have any questions or suggestions for the sponsorship program, please drop me a comment here.  If you want to see the sponsorship rate card and ask questions about how it works, please email me here.

Since no one else is asking the question, I’ll ask it myself.  Honestly, it bums me out a little that no one else is asking the question.  I guess that no one is missing this funny fashion story as much as I am.

What happened was: my partner-in-crime, Carolyn Rohaly, had her condo flood, and she got a second job, and Rags and Mags kind of fell by the wayside.  Carolyn is responsible for the lovely writing and a lot of the story ideas, and really, I can’t carry on the site on my own.

I guess if we had a bunch of raging fans writing us angry emails I would feel like this was a real disappointment to all of you – but really it seems that it is just my pet project and had at the very least, a handful of very polite, understanding fans.  We had a whole story arc planned to reach an apex this week and conclude properly.  Carolyn wants to do it too but I suppose that if it finishes, it will finish asynchronously.

Now there is this void of fashion fiction in my life.  I’ve been toying around with other ideas in my head that I can accomplish by myself.  I am sure whatever I launch it will be fun and creatively satisfying, but not as much fun as working together with a friend.

Photo by Stu Vickars.

The shortest days of the year are often the fullest – and it is a time best spent among the people you love enjoying good food and good company.  I will be taking a short break and will be back next week before the new year.

Thank you very much for reading, linking, and commenting on Final Fashion, I am so grateful to be able to share this tiny corner of the internet with such lovely friends.  Wishing you a Merry Christmas, and have a wonderful week everyone!

Yesterday’s Black Sunday [Toronto Fashion Bloggers] Brunch was a happy reunion with some of the regulars and a welcome opportunity to introduce new faces.  To recap, I’m going to list the attendees and let you know what they are up to.

• Ottawa Street Style – Danah just moved to Toronto last month, and started a new position at the WOM marketing outfit Matchstick.  She’s still managing her Ottawa blog as well as posting about the events she’s attending in Toronto and the new people she’s met in the city.
• Audit Your Closet – Jas is an entrepreneur based in Mississauga.  She is developing a service offering professional tailoring to executive women.  This has been her first year of business – she is learning a lot and is transforming her own style in the process.
• I Want – I Got – Anita runs Toronto’s premiere shopping blog.  She spent the weekend working the One of a Kind show for jewelry designer Moonrox – and apparently uncovered a hidden talent for selling too.
• Modern Guilt – S and her boyfriend G are the dream team – S has an inventive style and writes thoughtful, positive posts and G takes care of the professional photography – they post daily and have built impressive traffic in less than a year.
• Worn Journal – Serah-Marie’s alternative fashion journal just released issue #7 with a slow dance party the night before – and despite a lack of sleep she showed up with magazines to share. Her take on fashion skews towards the academic, with a focus on personal experiences and the art and science of textiles.  The next issue is all about shoes.
• The Style Box – Gail just officially launched herself as an independent fashion professional.  Among her many pursuits she is the managing editor of the TFI news – the most complete aggregate of Canadian fashion stories there is.
• Rags and Mags – Carolyn is taking Lucinda McRuvy on a mysterious adventure with the fashion mafia – if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s time to get reading!  Carolyn’s ongoing story blog is a delicious mix of drama, satire, fashion and gossip that makes me laugh out loud.  Full disclosure – I draw the pictures and contribute story ideas too.
• Bargainista – Eden has been taking on the internet beyond her shopping blog – she’s doing podcasts on online communities and just got nominated as one of Canada’s most influential women in social media!
• I was there too.

Thank you everyone for coming!  We had one cancellation – Jacquieshambles was sick and couldn’t come.  Feel better soon Jacquie!

What did we talk about?  All sorts of stuff!  The explosion of Twitter and how we use it, personal style blogging and narcissism, academic fashion conferences, avoiding Black Friday sales, marketing and PR with a personal touch, and so much more.

Does this mean that I have revived the monthly brunches?  I don’t think so, though I will be organizing more TFBBs in the future, expect them to be irregular with very limited seating.  If you would like to come to the next one, I would suggest subscribing to my blog to be notified – check the right sidebar =>

The size and infrequency of the brunches will mean that not everyone who wants to come will be able to – so I would also like to encourage other fashion bloggers in Toronto (and elsewhere) to initiate their own brunches.  I wrote a post on it a while ago, and you’re welcome to ask me any questions if you would like to organize your own fashion bloggers brunch.

After last month’s post-fashion week brunch, I was urged by the TFBB regulars to consider reviving the fashion bloggers brunch.  This Sunday marks the weekend of “Black Friday” sales and “Buy Nothing Day” and as such seems like an appropriate date to talk fashion, blogging, and shopping (or not shopping).

There are 10 seats only at this brunch; an RSVP is mandatory and attendance will be taken =) Fashion bloggers only please!

Register here.