Spring!!!

Spring happens every year. Without fail the sun comes out more often, the temperature climbs from the negative and into the positive in increments of five and then ten degrees. Leaves, flowers, weeds and all manner of living thing unfurls itself and proudly proclaims that it is Alive. Today I saw a bumble bee floating by me as I drank my coffee on the deck as if it was just as entitled to life as I was.
This happens every year and people always act like it is an entirely new discovery. Like vampires clawing their way out from under the dead soil they don their gay apparel and race out to ENJOY themselves. Women put on bikinis and short skirts and men shorts and flip flops (the gay men and the straight college type guys become identical now), and they go out to parks to play volleyball or have a picnic. Sucking down the sun and drinking in the warmth as soon as possible as if squeezing every drop of pleasure out of this newly discovered spring is entirely vital to their survival, they clog Queen Street and fill every park flaunting their tanning-bed pre-tans and beaming smiles so bright they compete with the sun. And they make you feel guilty if you are not doing the same. “Can’t wait to get outside!” they say on Facebook, “Who’s up for some fun in the sun?” they Twitter.
Relax guys. Nineteen degrees in early May does not make it summer, and there is much more warm days and sun ahead of us.

Portrait of a Marriage

What an amazing book!
Vita Sackville-West was so far ahead of her time, a creative and edgy visionairy the likes of which we need around now (LinLo could take some tips).
The book is one half Vita's diaries and one half her son, Nigel Nicolson, writing about his parents, which makes for an interesting format. He disputes some of what his mother says, backs some of it up and generally fills in the details one would not think to put in their diary.
Highly recomend this!

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Some Photos from MassEx

I love this dress and the sorta hip Woolf look

This one is soo cool

Hellishly Wonderful

I want these shorts!

Amazing take on the jumpsuit!

Bride from Hell!

Mass Exodus

Notes taken during Mass Exodus Ryerson fashion show.

Sweet Addiction; House of cards, Alice in Wonderland, theatrical, odd.
Cloven ; lovely, simple. Grey nightgown that could be a ball gown.
Chassandre Lavictoire ; Victoriana, amazing details! Corsets with tulle skirts, great hats!
Exhibition ; Bjork on acid with some alien influence.
Nicki Giesbrecht ; Unremarkable underwear with drapey stuff.
Virere ; lovely bridal, not groundbreaking but beautiful fit and detail.
JMC; Nice 40s / 50s Galliano influence, but wearable.
I “Do” Bridal; Gorgeous white gown, ruffle on bust of others questionable.
Nip & Tuck; Fantastic, witty dresses made from bandages and casts.
Sarah Jane; Iffy and a little cheep looking, but really nice yellow dress.
Laura Shaddick; odd dress made of plastic bags I think.
RissKiss; Who wants swimwear with ruffles on the tummy?
Jools; Fantastic detailed corsets and great, wearable p.j. suits.
Atreyu; Great colours, sequins layered under mesh, Balenciaga.
Estrella; interesting baby doll shapes, nice bell skirt.
2 Hearts; Nice, wearable party dresses.
Amanda Rose; Great, Virginia Woolf with some glam, amazing long dress with jacket.
Mixed State; Men’s Wear, a little dull but nice long suit jacket.
SewHo; Simple, nice details, great pastels.
TCW; Good but incongruous, very Thom Brown plaid suit.
Olympk; Odd warm up suit, nice one piece bathing suit.
Beautiful Ordinary; Pretty navy sailor girls.
Lynnefield; perfectly adorable kids.
Paper Plane; Amazing skirt and hoodie, Japanese, clean, elegant.
Laura George; Odd train on skirt but nice, refreshingly modern bridal.
Romantic Flower; Pretty, if a little “what the hell?”
Ashley Boutcher; Hit and miss swimwear, nice cuts but too much happening.
Mykonos Extravaganza; Great, fresh, Riviera.
Walking Tall; Amazing! Gothic Edward Gorey on stilts.
Enclosure; Clean and great, Calvin Klien meets Jil Sander. Hot jumpsuit.
Paria Lambina; If Dita Von Teese went to work in an office this is what she’d wear. Hot!
Conkrete Jungle; Awesome neon graffiti streetwear, really cute body suit.
Minutes to Midnight; Men’s, I want a pair of the metallic shorts! Clean and classy street.
Meghan Roche; wonderful & superfun, great colour blocking, grownup circus!
Muttonhead; Winter camping for hipsters, looks like vintage.
Service Electro; Military costume rentals.
Everyones Too Busy Watching; nice, simple, nice print
Michelle Ahn, Classy with a twist men’s wear.
Matthew Donnelly; Awesome super hot Grace Jones!
Felicia Burke; Nice electro circus with geometric designs.
Ja Liu; Sophisticated, no mess no bull shit.
Yvonne Ching; don’t like velvet suit, do like purple coat.
Alan Auctor; Otherworldly giant dress that lights up and body suit like burned skin. I like
PoyBos; I like the black feathered skirt with corset top.
Diamond Tooth; Gorgeous gold gown and two cyber goth strippers.
Torne; Great pants, though a little close to Biddel.
Litis; Very futuristic, great white leather top kinda Chalayan.
Brackish; Nice concept with metal mesh as clothes, but I feel like I could make that.
Clue; AMAZING! Westwood Victorian pirates dead set on killing you!
Dystropolis; Totally ripping off Plastikwrap and adding some shoulder pads.
Revalation; Heavan and Hell, giant dress, opera costumes, show stopping, literally.

Fab's Fashion

Understandably Fab Magazine’s primary focus is not to be a fashion mag, but a lifestyle publication; however Max MacDonald’s coverage of LG Fashion Week really left a lot to be desired.
Firstly his article “Plastic Bitch Invades Canada” was poorly thought out in my opinion, being a fashion writer myself. Yes, of course, Barbie is not Canadian, but David Dixon is and it is an honour for him to be chosen as the only Canadian designer to create a collection for the doll. If it is an honour for Michelle Obama to wear Canadian, why not Barbie? Dixon joins the ranks of Bob Mackie, Dolce and Gabbana, Versace, Vera Wang, Cynthia Rowley, Diane Von Furstenberg and Jeremy Scott not all of whom are American but who have all been inspired by one of pop culture’s most recognizable icons. Also in the Bitch article MacDonald asserts that Canadian designers were ignored in favour of Barbie, though I am not sure of whom he is speaking. The FDCC has tirelessly worked to support Canadian talent and lifted designers to the international spotlight who would have been virtually unknown were it not for them. No fashion week in the world could afford to show every emerging designer in it’s city without some corporate clout.
Then there is MacDonald’s breakdown of the shows, or actually he only bothered to write about the shows that had shirtless men in them. That in and of itself is a problem as Fab, as far as I’m aware is not read exclusively by men, and not only that but a lot of gay men are interested in women’s fashion too. Its part of fashion week.
For the Gsus show, which took his number one spot while many other fashion writers ignored it (also, it ‘aint Canadian either), MacDonald claimed we’d be seeing a lot of plaid this fall, which is pretty much like every other fall we’ve seen in the last decade. Of Travis Taddeo he said “Blue is the last colour a man wants to look down and see…” and I really haven’t the foggiest idea what he means or how that’s relevant in a runway review. He mentions Zegna, Ed Hardy and CK Underwear, none of which are Canadian, but all, he assures us, had hot models in the shows. And in my favorite review, of the Carlton Brown show, (who MacDonald says isn’t officially Canadian, meaning he is actually Jamaican), the designer is said to be “hip enough to jump on the return to the ‘80s trend…” As anyone knows, the ‘80s only briefly went out of style in the mid ‘90s, but other than that its not a return if it never went away.
Toronto magazines should show their support by sending their journalists to cover LG Fashion Week, but the coverage needs to be a little better than that.

Love Courtney

Courtney Love looks amazing, amazing in a way Madonna would like to look but just keeps ending up looking like an alien stick insect hell-bent on world domination, and I am glad for her. For one of the most hated and constantly crucified people in the public eye she has managed to somehow not be ground down into a pulp. Courtney can manage to say fuck you to the world often with just a look and she finally seems to be saying fuck you by pulling herself together.
Also, great dress… looks Channel, but I could be wrong, the sleeve poof seems like one of Keiser Karl’s flights of fancy.

Hot Nuts

Hot Nuts is really one of the best parties in the city. I have never gone and not had fun, I have never gone and not seen friends, amazing outfits, sexy boys and gotten happily drunk. Thanks!

Books

So I was reading Darkmans by Nicola Barker and I thought I was enjoying it. It took 663 of the 838 pages to realize, hey, I’m not that into this. The plot was pretty interesting, and I do want to find out how it ends I just could not see myself slogging away for another couple hundred pages (give or take) to reach the finish line. The brackets! The author uses endless brackets and avant garde punctuation and italics and spaces in a way that at first was refreshing and interesting but got to be tiring. I wonder if her editor killed themselves.
Now I am reading Hell House by Richard Matheson, which I’ve already been made fun of for as its not exactly a terrific work of fiction or a groundbreaking piece of art, but its fun. The writing is far from flawless and it derails occasionally into lesbian erotica, but it seems to be a good ghost story. Fun, easy and I’m getting enjoyment out of it. Isn’t that what reading is all about?

Drag Queen vs Drunk Girl

Who would attack a drag queen in a drag bar? This is the question I asked myself last weekend at Crews when Some Drunk Girl got into it with the queen on stage. This is the girl that previously in the evening had been grinding her way across the stage in what her mind must have told her was a dance as sexy as the lap dance scene in Death Proof but in reality was just a chance for the audience to see her stretch marks and cheep looking thong. Anyways, the drag queen said something to her that was typically drag queen bitchy and Some Drunk Girl went wild! Screamed at her, yelled at her, was yelled at back and then threw a beer bottle at the drag queen’s head. Poor choice Drunk Girl, poor choice. The queen leapt from the stage like the wrath of God coming down and slammed Drunk Girl to the ground like a cartoon bug. Screaming followed and the queen got a fistful of hair out before Drunk Girl’s thug boyfriend emerged and tried to join the fun. This was when Crews’ tiny-hot bouncer appeared, grabbed boyfriend in a headlock and took the trash to the curb.
Drunk Girl and Boyfriend continued to yell and make a fuss outside until the arrival of the cops became immanent and the queen returned to the stage to kick the broken glass off, straighten her wig and resume the show. “I hope she comes back,” she quipped, “I didn’t get enough out of her for a full wig yet.”