Busy here, seems like the short posts are all I can manage right now. I have all sorts of work to do that keeps me away from Final Fashion.

Rags and Mags is hopping back on track. How did Max’s audition go… what does Sandee have up her sleeve… will Lucinda overcome her television troubles? And who will find Lady Miss Angora? New to Rags and Mags? It is a tongue-in-cheek fashion fairy tale – start from the beginning, introduce yourself to the characters. If you enjoy it as much as we do, please subscribe.

The Clothing Show is back in September. They are looking for some eyecatching outfits to create a fashion show and are inviting designers to submit. If you’re looking to showcase your designs on a runway, contact Sarah for details.

Videos…

The Making of Guerlain Homme … rawr!

Vogue Models a New Reality Series … casting calls on candid camera?

Handmade Portraits – Built by Wendy … she reminds me of some of some of the designers I know.

Antonio Lopez 1983 … his studio is amazing!

Mad Men … tight dresses, smoky rooms, crunchy literary references, great show.

Project Runway Season 5 - lots of characters this season… but after 6o designers, how many can be memorable?

Illustration Links…

Fashion-Incubator reviews books on drawing vector technicals.

The Association of Illustrators – a UK counterpart to the GAG in the US and CAPIC in Canada. All three advocate for the rights of illustrators and provide resources to help illustrators do business.

Illustration Mundo – where illustrators get all the love.

Pourquois Pas? – The Glamour issue is out!

That is all for a while… I hope to be back in another week or so with things to say and stuff to show. Thanks for reading!

We are back from the road trip.  It was good for me to relax in the passenger seat after last week, but the trip had bittersweet moments.  Uncertainty is in the distance, and objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

Never mind, it is Thursday.  I have been enjoying Gala Darling’s Things I Love Thursday posts for a while now, and her gratitude never fails to inspire some of my own.  Today, I’ll share three with you.

• Fresh herbs.  Such fragrance and flavour!  I love picking them, chopping them, and of course eating them.
• Riding in Ray’s new car.  Its small and fits the two of us perfectly.  I always feel safe beside him.
• Trees.  Their shade is cooler than any man-made shade.

Try TILT, it feels good.

Via The Sub Adult Years… Inspired by the YSL Exhibit in Montreal. Why not fill it in yourself?

What is your chief characteristic?
Thinking

What is your main fault?
Blunt

What are your favourite qualities in a man?
Skill

And in a woman?
Skill

Who is your favourite historical figure?
Elizabeth 1

Who are your favourite heroes in real life?
My mom and dad.

If not yourself, who would you be?
I don’t know.

What is your idea of happiness?
Freedom, food and love

What is your idea of misery?
Prison

Where would you like to live?
In a nice studio.

What talent do you wish you were gifted in?
Tact

For what fault have you the most tolerance?
Over-enthusiasm

Who is your favourite painter?
David Downton

And composer?
Joni Mitchell

What is your favourite colour?
Blue

What do you hate most?
Phonies

Do you have a motto?
No

What would you like to do right now?
Drink coffee

The irregular roundup of internet ephemera. Select the ones that strike your fancy.

But first… thanks to everyone who voted for my boot. I am just about to make it into the top 50! You can vote again every 24 hours… so please keep voting daily.

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Gossip Girl! This show is the greatest. The characters are all vivid and funny, the story is suitably ridiculous, and the clothes are a huge part of the show. Wow, I never knew that a television show could be so amazing.

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This article on Style.com, about all the style cliques of New York, is a lot of fun to look at. I wonder what Style Cliques we have in Toronto… I wonder which one I belong to.

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It takes a bit longer to trickle down to the fashion blog level, but it seems like the economy is a point of conversation even we can’t avoid forever. Slate gives us the overview of where fashion goes when the going gets tough.

Zoe at Verbal Croquis, one of my all-time favourite fashion bloggers, is in the process of launching her very first season under her own label. She posts this insight on the economy from the position of a fashion entrepreneur.

Once, when I was little, the adults were talking one day about the economy “looking good”. I asked my dad what a “good” economy looked like. He said it looked like a diamond–a small percentage of rich people on one the top, a small percentage of poor people on the bottom, with a great many people in the middle. That image has always stayed with me.

When the economy “looked good”, diffusion or bridge lines cropped up everywhere. CK, D&G, DKNY. Contemporary pricepoints with a designer’s mark. Now, the economy doesn’t look so good. The middle class has shrunk and the diamond is now about as rectangular as the emaciated androgynous models that have taken over the runways. Now it’s all about designers striking deals with discounters like Target. O by Oscar is flatlining, but everyone is buzzing about Comme des Garcons for H&M, or whatever the pairing du jour may be.

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One other economy link. My eyes glaze over when I read about the sub-prime mortgage crisis or whatever it is – it is never explained in a way that sustains my interest. This American Life opened my ears – The Giant Pool of Money is a brilliant piece of radio and worth more than one listen.

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You know how far away from Queen West I am? I just finally discovered Shark Vs Bear. These days, you have not lived your 20s unless there are at least a dozen compromising photos of you on the internet. Its a bit embarrassing but also a modern rite of passage… such as it is.

You know what else is a rite of passage for us 21st century types? Cognitive dissonance. For instance, I often insist I am not an artist. I call myself an illustrator. And when people call me an artist I cringe because it makes me feel pretentious. Sometimes I even waste my breath explaining why I am not technically an artist. Now that is pretentious.

Hipsters, don’t scoff.

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Ali Michael reveals she is battling an eating disorder in Teen Vogue. The story is fascinating and disturbing; even as we applaud Ali for coming out, we also admire her on her cover shoot and on the runway where she is sick.

Meanwhile Tyra Banks awards Whitney (a size 10ish) the title of America’s Next Top Model, amidst speculation that the whole thing had to be manufactured to be acceptable.

Sometimes it feels like the modern fashionable ideal is just as restricting and phony as any corset, yet it is completely internalized.

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I have been enjoying Teen Vogue! Sonja gave me a copy and encouraged me to indulge, and I totally love the styling. Sophisticated fashion content and not boy crazy.

Teen Vogue just started a new fashion blog… Truc is one of the contributers so I am subscribing for sure… I miss Deeply Superficial.

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A lot of us in fashion blogland became concerned when Agathe from Style Bytes stopped posting abruptly and without warning. Her final post suggests that she is staying in a sketchy hostel in Stockholm so like many readers and fans I worry.

The Coveted has found signs that Agathe is still online, it is a relief, but it still seems like all might not be okay. It seems so strange that she has abandoned Style Bytes for a month.

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The Toronto Week of Style is coming up next week. The fashion shows are free to the public and feature clothing that is currently available in stores.

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Fash Biz Bits…

Kira Plastina – she has her own fashion empire, her own shade of pink, and she is not even sixteen yet.

Martha Stewart – paints her Louboutin soles black with Sharpies.

Project Runway – now has new producers.

Australian Fashion Bloggers – are at Australian Fashion Week. World takeover complete.

Stylista – Another fashion reality show… one of the contestants is even a fashion blogger.

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Without further ado, Fashion Blog Karma… a list of links to fashion blogs I discovered via incoming link, comments, or kismet. Thanks everyone!

Any One Girl

Mishka’s Blog

Wall Street by Day: Hardcore Crafter by Night

Pretty in Prints

The Style Observer

Experiments in the Lab

Blossom Clothing

Katharine Hepburn’s Me is another autobiography I have read over and over again.

Something about her story, like Lillian Hellman‘s, I find fascinating. A style icon whose attitude inspires more than her trousers do. I seem to find more nuances with every re-reading, as I change myself I feel like I uncover a fraction of understanding, as Hepburn puts it, life. Life!

Like Hellman, Hepburn is the very essence of herself, and embodies contradictions. Being both terribly self conscious yet instinctively outspoken. Somehow feeling both womanly and boyish. Independent and dependent at the same time. Veering awkwardly between being unaware and too aware. Being drawn to something, a calling. I identify with all of this. A troublesome need to be myself, to find myself, to do something I am compelled to do by feeling and not reason.

At the end of the book I am left with is a sense that I am still so young, there is so much ahead of me and so much I don’t understand. That it is important to forge ahead through the fear, survive the inevitable failures, and reap the rewards of risk. Her story about “The Lake” strikes close to the bone. The mistakes made from pride, the despair of failure – and yet finding the will to persevere and recover, the lasting lessons learned and never forgotten. Yes, even movie legends have flaws, and so do I. Yes, I can learn, and I will try.

She cites one of her father’s favourite quotes, from George Bernard Shaw. I’ve copied the bit that sticks with me here.

This is the true joy in life … the being a force of nature instead of … complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

Paddle your own canoe. Life. Life!

I am going to be away until Wednesday, up in the country helping my Mom with the garden.  They don’t have internet there so all my email replies and many potential blog posts will have to wait.  Thanks for your patience!

That past week just flew by, and I forgot to blog! Is it obvious? Yet somehow I still managed to collect all these clicks.

Remember the FASHION magazine blogger search I posted about? They’ve sweetened the deal and are now offering $50 per approved post for one year (a minimum of 24 posts for $1200) for the top ten finalists. Check the Rules for details.

I would like to see some talented bloggers from smaller towns blog about living a fashionable life away from fashion cities. I hope it is not all about shopping. In a lot of small towns in Canada, the only good shopping is at Value Village or your parent’s closet. Fashion can happen anywhere, even Belleville Ontario.

I loved the Jay McCarroll documentary Eleven Minutes. It is the best fashion documentary since Unzipped – and for a lot of the same reasons. There are some pertinent lessons to be learned as well. I want to watch Unzipped again so I can get a sense of the difference 15 years make.

Unzipped led me to Isaac Mizrahi’s new website… which is full of these little segments called web-I-sodes which are a bit addictive. There are cooking bits, style bits, and these adorable bits where he answers viewer email. Isaac is a bit hyperactive and seems both sure and unsure but in this way which is totally endearing. Many laugh out loud moments.

On the subject of fashion designer documentaries, here are two very different ones I would like to see about the iconic designer Yves St Laurent.

Carolyn is away travelling so right now I occasionally dip my toe into the outline she has given me… for instance, here are Lucinda’s thoughts on New Labels.

The ultimate girlfriends trip to NYC. Much unlike my own solo sojourns, better pictures, more drinking and less fashion shows.

Fashion Verbatim gives us a list of what not to say. Best -

Couture/Couturier- We’ve bastardized it. Only use when referring to designs approved by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.

________-Chic – Used as a suffix. Also see: Eco-chic, Aviator-chic, and Sailor-chic. Especially obnoxious when applied to actual ecologists, aviators, and sailors.

I might add…

_____-ista. ____-aholic. _____-ster. None of these are real suffixes. Don’t tack them on to just any old word.

Original. If it really is original, you won’t need to say so. Also: Unique.

Sometimes really good stuff on the internet eludes you mysteriously for a long time. Gala Darling, Keri Smith, and Nubby Twiglet are three such wonderful characters with well established web presences. Odd that I was unaware of them, because they are all incredible artists who are into stuff that fascinates me too.

From the comments…

what did you think of the Elle show?

Comment by sophie — April 29, 2008 @ 6:59 pm

I only got to see a small portion of the Elle Show before New Labels, so I can’t really say for sure. Ali at Chick Advisor checked it out and recommended it.

Toronto Star fashion editor retires, freelances: Mentions blogs, espouses old fashioned journalistic values

Toronto Star fashion columnist now accepts freebie trips: Maria Sharapova wears featherweight pro sports watch by TAG Heuer

Fashion blog karma time… thanks as always to all the incoming linkers, commenters, and readers! Newly notable…

Tell Me KC

Urban Updater

Lady Marks a Lot (Leith from You Know You Love It returns!)

Audit Your Closet – a fashion entrepreneur audits hers

Urban Native Girl Stuff

A Side Order of Style

Desireable.co.uk

Still Better and Worse

Schmashion

art.tinuum.net

Le Procrastinator

Rebekah at Stylist Stuff tagged me to share 6 unimportant items about myself… here they are in the order of least unimportance…

1. I didn’t get my ears pierced until I was 21. It wasn’t as life-changing as I anticipated.
2. Recently I watched the entire series of The Hills while doing paperwork. Oddly enjoyable – but not enough fashion content for my taste.
3. I watched all nine seasons of ANTM in one month. This is not recommended.
4. I occasionally enjoy eating at venerable establishments with the Grumpy Owl.
5. My favourite radio shows are This American Life, The Splendid Table, and The Age of Persuasion.
6. My cat Mac will bite you. You probably should not pet him.

Its harder than it seems to tell if something is important or not. If you want, tag yourself and find out.

I thought of tagging Auntie Fashion… just because Auntie is one of those anonymous bloggers that I keep trying to identify and I need all the clues I can get, no matter how unimportant. Then I thought better of it.

All I can glean is that Auntie probably lives in Toronto but is originally from another province, has a CV similar to Lucinda McRuvy‘s that includes both television hosting and writing. She hates Marc Jacobs and Tyra Banks. She loves Tom Ford and Simon Doonan. She is a good blogger – Auntie Fashion is a fun read.

Any guesses? I’ve got one. But even though I loathe anonymity on the internet, I am hesitant to post my guess. I like the work of the person I think it is.

Anita and I are going to go watch Eleven Minutes at Hot Docs on Friday night. Watch the trailer to see the amazingness. Jay McCarroll‘s back and the stakes are higher! Instead of Tim Gunn, there is Kelly Cutrone! But mostly, a hundred and two minutes of Jay and the incredible New York City fashion contraption in action.

Tickets are cheap but the show time is really late.

Oh, and if you prefer Tim Gunn to Kelly Cutrone, he’s at the Elle Show on Sunday.

After returning from New York I have a number of deadlines and projects that I have taken on, plus unrelated complications of city living. So I have been burning the candle at both ends for a bit.

I have no shortage of things I want to post about. I am happy but also a bit stressed out and exhausted.   Thanks for visiting and reading and understanding.

Its okay – the plane made it back to Toronto just fine thanks to Stephanie.  I came back to a pile of correspondence and a couple deadlines, that is why a follow-up post is so long overdue.

Since the last post, I went to see Double Feature at the New York City Ballet.  It was amazing!  My generous hostess Joi brought me along and I am so glad she did.

Went to the Fashion Week Daily penthouse lounge with Steph, it was like walking into an apartment-sized gift bag.

I lingered at Arthur Mendonca and observed at Reem Acra.

After dinner with fashion school friends, we danced and drank it up at the Twinkle after party.

The last show I saw was Rad Hourani, a designer from Montreal with a strong point of view.  After that I flew back here.

If you want to see real pictures and commentary, check out The Fashion Spot and Coutorture.

Four days later I am still tired and still busy.