Karl says…

Whether you agree with him or not, you gotta love his opinionatedness.

Chanel fashion guru Karl Lagerfeld said it is “childish” to even discuss the issue of wearing fur in a world where eating meat is normal.

Lagerfeld, 75, a contemporary of the late Yves Saint Laurent, told BBC Radio he does not wear fur and is queasy about eating meat. But he defended the practice, saying northern hunters “make a living having learned nothing else than hunting, killing those beasts who would kill us if they could.”

He concluded: “In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish.”

(source: http://www.thestar.com)

Shopping my closet

Various magazines and blogs are saying “shop your closet” as a way to save money AND be more creative with what you already own. So I’m wearing one of my fav dresses that I wore to death in the summer, layered with some random ol’ t-shirt and an Old Navy cardigan. And I dug out a 5-year-old quilted bag.  It must’ve been before the time of oversize bags.  Check out Harper’s Bazaar’s 10 Tips for Shopping Your Closet. One of the tips is to pair your cardigans with everything and anything.

Phoebe Philo coming out of retirement

(from Chloé’s Spring 2002 show under the genius designer Phoebe Philo. I’d totally wear these clothes today.)

According Toronto Star:

In the LVMH stable of luxury brands, Paris fashion house Celine never really got up to speed compared to the conglomerate’s thoroughbreds Dior and Louis Vuitton. The two powerhouse money-makers rose to prominence under the creative guidance of star designers John Galliano and Marc Jacobs, respectively. Employing the same formula, a series of designers came and went quietly at Celine, never managing to make it a fashion darling. But this March, during the Paris shows, the name Celine will be on all fashionistas’ lips as designer Phoebe Philo, above, comes out of retirement to take up design duties. Philo comes with impressive credentials. She was a designer at hip Paris label Chloé and was a favourite of the fashion media. If anyone can bring the dusty Celine into the modern age, it’s Philo.

How are trends born?

(‘Coneheads! Quick, write it down.’)
From the hilarious Rachel Holmes of guardian.co.uk:

Musing on the origins of the latest unlikely trend, Fashion Statement often imagines a trading floor at the stock exchange, full of fashionistas jostling each other with skinny elbows and shouting out random words:

“Purple!”
“No! Tartan!”
“Lace, do you hear me? LACE!”

This vision may not be wholly accurate, but it’s probably more realistic than the idea of top design houses collaborating to decide what next season’s trends should be.

The truth is more prosaic. A trend is born from the chance occurrence of something appearing more than once on the catwalk. It comes from fashion journalists desperately looking for something to write about at the shows. A glittery shoe could catch the eye of a bored writer (not literally – kicking journos in the face is not something we want to encourage). If the same hack spots sequins at another couple of shows, there you have it: a new trend is born.

Nothing could exemplify this randomness more than the shoe-boot. The shootie, as it is also known, is a horrendously ugly item of footwear that only 10% of women have the legs to wear, yet it was this season’s must-have item. The more cynical among us may conclude that trends are created simply to make poor old consumers spend their cash on the latest look …

We say don’t be a slave to trends. We’ll keep you up to date with them; you choose what looks good (and unless you’re a model, that definitely ain’t a shootie).

Winter white

Craving for luxe winter white yet? From NY Times’ Pulse by Karin Nelson, “ON the subject of her love for white tailored shirts, the designer Carolina Herrera once remarked that “a woman always looks well in white.” From her appearance alone, we would have to agree. White clothing imparts a luminosity and air of optimism to the wearer — a sense of the good life, so to speak. And right now, amid all the dark clothes and all-pervading gloom, it looks and feels especially right. Just check out Alexandra and Theodora Richards (left). Wearing winter white dresses at a party last month, the sisters fairly glowed. In fact, standing in a stark white room filled with the artist Terence Koh’s sugar-coated canvases, they appeared like snow angels.

The stylist Jessica de Ruiter believes that even touches of white can freshen a winter wardrobe. “White jeans look cool and effortless, and not one bit out of place with a great sweater, classic coat and a favorite pair of boots,” she said, noting that she likes to pair the denim with plaids and checks. “So chic! Like ’80s Ralph Lauren!” Now that’s the good life.”

Lurex tweed zipped jacket, $2,440, and puff skirt, $1,559, at Louis Vuitton.

Limi Feu knit sweater, $890, and hat, $890, both to order at Yohji Yamamoto, 103 Grand Street; (212) 966-9066.

(Source: nytimes.com)

Pretentious fashion speak decoded

(Victoria Beckham, queen of the ‘recessionista bag’, with child shaped accessory.)
What do those catchphrases, ya know such as “Investment purchase”, “Recessionista bags”, “vintage”, etc. really mean? Read Fashion Statement: Lost in translation in the Guardian:

“Glossy fashion magazines aren’t exactly famed for their down-to-earth approach to shopping – as our own Hadley Freeman pointed out recently, they exist to sell a dream, not a how-to guide. Which makes it all the more amusing when they attempt to identify with current events by blathering on about investment buys and credit crunch chic. We’ve dug out some of our favourite turns of phrase – with our own translations …

Investment purchase: Exactly the same purchases that last year the magazines were labelling as a “splurge”, but somehow now, mysteriously, you will get more return from them than a savings account. Which, to be fair, is probably true.

Recessionista bags: Still absurdly overpriced but now slightly more practical. That’s practical as defined by “has a strap rather than a leather fringe that needs more grooming than a pedigree Afghan hound”. As demonstrated by Victoria Beckham, who remains unaffected by the credit crunch and actually has a revolving door policy on recessionista bags.

Vintage: Anything older than last season. Witness “vintage Stella McCartney” – a woman who has had her own label since ye olden days of 2001. Vintage shopping, in fashionworld, is always an investment.

Crisis chic: Alas, not what you wear to a meeting with your bank manager or mortgage advisor. No, this is an outfit you pull together for that oh-so-crucial “united front” photo after the tabloid affair revelations. But we’re hoping to see the phrase transfer to the former usage.”

Keep on peacocking

Crazy Cyber Monday sales are going on everywhere, but if you are exhausted from shopping, take a break and check out this interesting slide show from NYMag’s 40th-Anniversary issue, The Never-Ending Parade, Forty years of open-air peacocking. “We’ve always dressed for an audience. Rarely hidden behind steering wheels, anxious to escape our tiny homes, we’ve strutted and pranced and collided—the mainstream bumping into the subversive, the Birkin bag next to the B-boy—since before there were sidewalks. In the past 40 years, we’ve gone from long hair to big hair to flat hair, from giant shoulder pads to visible thongs, from blue jeans to … blue jeans, perpetually, as always, on parade.”
Some of my favorite looks….

1968 The era of the really, really mini.

Mid-Eighties Heavily accessorized and worn with jeans, the familiar tweed jacket became young again.

2001 Marc Jacobs’s finely tuned secondary line mainstreamed vintage-eclectic mixing. 2000s Trend OD: Murakami Vuitton bag, trucker hat, way too much pink. (center) 2001 Real sex columnists don’t wear tutus. (right)

2006 Birkin and Chanel, just two of the status bag’s expanding universe. Now Skinny jeans, quirky hats, and … the era of the really, really mini again. (right)

(Source: nymag.com)

I want to be an ice princess

“The romance of winter is brief. After a couple of months, even the most dedicated Canadian ice princess grows weary of the cold. But for those first few days, the hus and sparkle of the snowfall are magic, and piling on velvets, shearlings, hats and scarves is a “Lara’s Theme” pleasure. Enjoy it now. Say it with us: “Once upon a time…”.’

(From Canada’s FASHION magazine December issue)

Serious girl crush on the mother-daughter team!

The formidable French fashion royal Carine Roitfeld and Julia Restoin Roitfeld at unveiling of Chanel’s traveling museum, the Mobile Art pavilion, in Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield. I wonder anyone in their presence felt the compulsion to bow down before them.

(Source: http://parkavepeerage.com/)

Food or Makeup?

In this credit crunch, everyday women like us definitely are forced to make choices in the fashion department. But are you willing to cut down on your food to save money and continue splurge on your makeup and clothing? I was reading this article in the Telegraph, Credit crisis appeals to women, talking about there are a lot of women who will not compromise on their cosmetics but are willing to cut back on the food, even go hungry, to continue to be able to afford their expensive makeup. And the article kind of called them insane.

“According to the beauty website www.feelunique.com, nearly three quarters of us regard cosmetics as everyday essentials while food, apparently, falls into the distinctly frivolous department.

At first glance, this tells us three things of equal obviousness: women have skewed priorities; are outlandishly superficial – and yes, we are indeed on the verge of a recession. What’s far more telling about the survey’s results is that something women have been quietly mourning for years has just been brought back into play: choice.

“The odds are that the women trading in their spaghetti bolognese for L’Oreal bronzer are not on the bread-line, so any cut-backs they do make will, at this stage, be both minimal and illogical. And yet it is with the verve of wartime landgirls that they rise to the challenge, seeking out the positives in the economic downturn, not least the possibility that leaner times may mean leaner physiques.

“The way I see it I can lose a bit of weight and still buy the products I want to buy,” says PA Alice Williams, who describes herself as being “from the Joan Collins school of make-up”.

“It’s given me the excuse I needed to cut down on food, and I’d much rather that than start buying cheaper make-up brands and face products. Generally, I spend about a tenner a week on cosmetics, and have done since I was a teenager.” Fashion PR boss Caroline Shapiro adds: “I’m happy to exist on a tin of baked beans if it means saving money for clothes and make-up”.”

Do you fall in that category of women? I think if it ever comes down to starving for a lipstick, then your finances are definitely in dire condition and you have more to worry about than just a lipstick. I’m not that extreme in the fact that I would live on a can of beans just so I could still buy a new tube of Diorshow mascara. I can definitely cut back on both food and fashion. I’m not going to start eating cheap processed foods and giving up the fresh nutrition-rich vegetables and meats. But I can definitely cut back on the times that I go out to eat or get takeout. As for beauty products, I can cut back on most makeup items (not lipgloss with SPF though), but it’s the skincare products I would have a harder time to cut back on. A fabulous cleanser, exfoliant, moisturizer, and sunscreen are a MUST routine for me which I will compromise on. Luckily there are many great options both in high-end department stores and drugstores.

OMG that girl and that dress!

I was so happy to see one of my girl crushes, Mila Kunis (I religiously watched That 70s Show solely because of her), in Ocean Drive Magazine. She looks absolutely stunning beyond words in this Bill Blass dress. The ruffles are to die! And I always envied her big doll-like eyes. Mila rocks the strong eyebrows + smoky eyes + nude lips look fabulously.

(Source: Ocean Drive Magazine)

What Coco Rocha’s wearing

I absolutely adore my fellow Canadian, one of the hottest models of the moment, Coco Rocha’s out of this world good looks, and more importantly her sense of style. I saw this picture of her in NY Time’s Pulse in which she styled herself with inspirations from the Last Tudor. (By the way, anyone watching “The Tudors” on CBC? It’s fantastic. I love me a good period drama). It is absolutely adorable and do-able. And she shops at Aldo! Love her!

The Last Tudor

COCO ROCHA, model.

WHAT I’M WEARING NOW The jacket is from the late 1800s. I got it at Cheap Jack’s. I’ve been waiting until the Paris shows to wear it. Everyone gets decked out there, whereas in New York, people are a bit more laid back. The pants are Rag & Bone — I wear a lot of their stuff — and the shoes are from Aldo.

ALDO? REALLY? I was in a frenzy there the other day. They had all these cute new styles. The salesgirls were like, “You’re Coco!” I was like, “Shhh, I’m not really buying all these shoes.” But I believe if you see something you like and it’s cheap, by all means get it. Just don’t do it head to toe. Carry an expensive bag.

RECENT PURCHASES I bought a lot of good things at Cheap Jack’s: a long black coat with gold trim and these cute 1950s polka-dot jumpsuits. They’re very va-va-voom. But I don’t really shop that much. Models get clothes for free.

RECENT FREEBIES A pair of Louboutin shoes with spikes all over them.

STYLE INSPIRATION The Tudors — that kind of Old World look. I’ve been into it for the past couple seasons. Riding boots, britches, high-collared blouses … But you wear just one piece, and pair it with simple black pants and nice shoes. Or, you know, Aldo.

Cuisine as a Centerpiece

Now the weather’s cooling down and the leaves are turning colors, a lot of fall weddings are taking place. It’s truly a beautiful season to get married in. I was looking through the Weddings/Celebrations slide shows on NY Times. How refreshingly beautiful are these pictures?

Prim and Proper is in

(The Office’s straitlaced Angela, played by Angela Kinsey, ditches flash Gap for doll-like fashions.)

One interesting article in Toronto Star, Prim and proper, about women are investing in ladylike dresses and feminine accessories thanks to the shaky economy.  I’m personally glad to see the return of the Prim and Proper trend.   Trish Ewanika has watched the passing parade from her College St. boutique, Ewanika, for the past decade. “This year things have been very different. You know young girls with the raging hormones trying to meet boys? In the summertime, they’re usually half-naked. This year, though, I’ve noticed the theme is proper dresses, cinched waists, little collars, puff sleeves. These are 18-, 19-, 20-year-old girls and they’re wearing what we would have called housedresses in the ’50s and ’60s.”  “The idea is the sleeves will be looser, the overall look less fitted and strict, but very feminine and flowing,” she says. “Think of classic, casual American sportswear.”  The New Prim dominates the collections, from Dolce & Gabbana, which has traded its signature hot-mama looks for bow blouses and cardigans this season, to Prada, a bastion of sexy secretary, which this season delves into, of all things, lace. Like the doilies. And the dresses are not just done up to the collar but have a second collar for good measure.”

“Eight signs of the new prim

1. The Rules rule again: Ellen Fein, co-author of The Rules: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right, just got married again.

2. Girls are for pearls: Global pearl sales are projected to reach $3 billion (U.S.) by 2010. Carrie Bradshaw traded in her famous nameplate necklace for a strand of pearls in the Sex and the City movie.

3. The pretty scarf is a key accessory: Sales at Hermès jumped 12 per cent. Nothing, except perhaps pearls, says “lady” like the Hermès silk square.

4. Prim is a character on TV: Angela, the “nice girl” on the The Office, says clothes at the Gap are too flashy. She shops online at American Girl stores.

5. We’re wearing pyjamas: Juicy Couture launched a line of sleepwear called Choose Sleep, abandoning sexy for dorm-worthy flannel bottoms and comfy T-shirts.

6. Angelina Jolie is a mother of six: That’s six, not sex.

7. Kate Middleton made the annual international best-dressed list: Prince William’s girlfriend is a poster girl for sensible skirts, useful blazers and low heels – much like the early Diana.

8. We watched Britney Spears lose her mind: Now she’s resurrecting her career by appearing on the sweetest sitcom on TV. She’s guested on How I Met Your Mother, the cutest show since Mad About You.”

Read the complete article here.

(Source: thestar.com)

Lydia Hearst

So this is what a 21-inch waist looks like. So jealous. Socialite/Model Lydia Hearst, in her new campaign for British lingerie company Myla, is not your average Paris Hilton socialite: “I am a supermodel and have the award to prove it. Paris Hilton is a celebrity. There’s no comparison.” She’s gorgeous.

(Source: nypost.com/pagesixmag)