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!

!!!

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.