Saturday, March 29, 2008

Montreal Fashion Week Reviews plus Rags and Mags and my Wedding Gown!

Rags and Mags
I'm loving Rags and Mags by Danielle Medar and Carolyn Rohaly! Carolyn writes it and Danielle illustrates. It's perky, funny and right on the mark, a faux blog of two fictional characters working in the fashion industry. Max is a Toronto designer, emotional and artistically driven but young and inexperienced, Lucinda is a shmoozy fashionista extraordinaire who writes on fashion.

Montreal Fashion Week
Montreal fashion week just happened, wish I could have been there. I've been away from the blog for a little while now, I constantly find myself 'blogging in my head', thinking of things I want to write about and thought rethought but sometimes the time it takes to really keep up with it and provide something insightful can be tricky... This blog really is about my journey and experiences... my reactions to the fashion world and the offerings I have... I want to jazz up my blog for sure, I've got a comic that I want to start writing and post it here, just a matter of getting my characters designed I suppose... Being an animator and dabbling in the fashion industry is an interesting experience.

Nathalie Atkinson
covers Montreal Fashion Week for National Post here and covers Rudsak, Helmer, Marie St Pierre, Bodybag by Jude, Envers par Yves Jean Lacasse, Muse, Thieves and MO851. I like Nathalie's Lessons from the Catwalk, she reflects on Toronto and Montreal fashion weeks as well as the state of fashion in Canada.

Next month, the Palais de Congrès in Montreal will exhibit 60 of Haitian-born Montreal designer Helmer's pieces, described by Nathalie as kaleidoscopic and possibly the closest thing Canada has to actual haute couture.

National Post/The Apersand's coverage is lacking in eye candy however, the official Montreal Fashion Week site has lots. Click the photo link to the left.

There's a black and white jacket cinched with a big red belt and peeking out is a red/black/beige diamond patterned skirt by Helmer I love, as well as an extravagent mostly black jacket, layer after layer of black grey and red ruffles. I love the pink pant visible underneath and the red and gold lining when the model walks. The collection is a lot of dark, the usual fall/winter palette, but there's hints and pops and sometimes lots of bold colour. I like liked much of Marie St Pierre's pieces- she doesn't use many colours per outfit. Soia and Kyo have some interesting assymetrical jackets, and I liked the presentation.

My Wedding Gown
I ordered my wedding gown today- the entire search for the gown was a very interesting process... I think I've got too much time to ponder and think about it, the whirlwind search was thrilling at first- but I think when you find a gown you love you need to order it sooner than later! I've been trying on gowns for months now and some that I like have actually gone out of production at this point. At first I was open minded to anything, then I "realised" I wanted a big ballgown, and now I'm much more interested (and I look good in) an A-line gown. I love lots of streaming and textured fabric, ruching and gathering and not so much the mountains of structure and tulle I once worshiped in a massive ballgown. I still adore those looks, but I don't think that I feel the way I want to feel on my wedding day when I put on a ballgown. They seem too youthful and princess-like. I have a look in mind for the wedding, a vintage plus modern look and I want it to be black and white. Think white gloves on Stephen with a white vest/black tux/maybe I can get him to wear a silk top hat, and a white birdcage veil on me with black accesories, a black ribbon or lace around my neck, maybe some short silky gloves, long strand of peals.... I think of black and white dice and playing cards, classic black and white patterns and peals and black satin and lace... Gold makeup and pink blush... I love the gown I purchased, I think it will inspire much of the theme... I feel I found something I really wanted and I love that my mom adores it too. She saw it in the window of our favourite bridal boutique and wouldn't let me order 'the gold one' in Toronto until I tried this one on. So once again a visit to Waterloo was in order to try on gowns. Now I need a killer pair of shoes!!!

I think I'm craving some navy blue. And steamed broccoli.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you like Rags & Mags! Thanks for reading.

Andrea Haid said...

I love it! When Max was asking herself if she's really meant to be a designer I wanted to be her friend and comfort her. Strange how believable the characters really are... I'm hooked!