je t'aime, guy bourdin

model: jessica

hair/make-up/styling/photography: moi-meme

new york journal

so i'm back from new york and i'll have you know, i haven't updated my blog yet because 1- we were hacking into other people's wireless signals in new york and they kept cutting out so i couldn't post anything and 2- i got back to toronto and realized i had to do an entire photo shoot for wednesday and i had three midterms on tuesday and wednesday. so needless to say, i've been ridiculously busy and i should be studying for marketing right now, but i've been dying to update...

new york was amazing.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009

we arrived at JFK, almost took the wrong taxi ("only take the yellow ones!") and $55 later, we arrived at our lovely hotel. equipped with a mini-kitchen (yes, that includes a stovetop oven!), a full-length mirror and plenty of closet space, we were set for the week. we went to soho, ran into some ryerson fashion students and later were invited by a complete stranger to the matthew williamson afterparty at cain the next night! that night, though, we went to a cute restaurant in greenwich village with some fashion friends, followed by the beatrice inn. before we knew it, the place filled up with models. i've never seen so many amazing sets of legs in my life. we also spotted thakoon there!

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2009

we went to fifth avenue to check out the stores, but ended up spending ages in saks. we explored nearly every floor until our feet began dying from wearing heels. later, we went to the lower east side, went to some stores, and ended up eating at the best restaurant ever on ludlow st., pink pony. they had the best veggie burger and shoestring fries. after, we headed out to cain for the matthew williamson after-party. we arrived there and thanks to our lovely new friend matt, we got bottle service - champagne and all! the only downside to the night was the music. all i will say is the night ended with songs along the lines of usher's "yeah" and that "gasolina" song. not gonna lie, though, i kind of have a soft spot for them. we met the darling harold of "harold and jerold," new york promoters, who invited us to the richie rich after-party with amanda lepore at cain the following night...

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2009

was our big fashion day. we woke up early, got all prim and proper and headed out to the new york fashion week tents at bryant park to see the nanette lepore show! it was hell trying to hail a cab but we made it there and there were passes waiting for us. after the amazing show that featured feminine silhouettes, gorgeous textures and amazing hues of purple and gold, we roamed the tent for a while to see who was there. we ended up meeting a lovely girl named audrey who attends parsons, as well as a fashion photographer, vann apragal, who has shot for teen vogue. he shared some backstage photos with us and gave us amazing advice on photography and interning in new york city. with friends and acquaintances including kelly cutrone and anna wintour, you know his advice is invaluable. we got our photos shot for fashion blogs and marie claire japan and later headed back to our hotel to get ready for another night at cain... this time sam came with us!

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2009

thursday we decided to be cultured, and visited the MoMA. i love art galleries and i especially enjoyed seeing works that i've studied in art history class in real life. after that, to benefit our wallets, we ate knock-off kraft dinner in our hotel that night before going out to the lower east side to check out some bars. we got declined at lit lounge thanks to our ghetto yonge street ids, but ended up going to the bowery electric where they played my favourite new wave and rock.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2009

after sleeping in, we met up with gill and jordan in soho at the "landmark cafe with the droopy blue awning." and preceded to brooklyn/williamsburg from there. williamsburg has the cutest vintage shops, ranging from very pricing boutiques that carry vintage YSL, louis vuitton, etc... to one's similar to vintage depot at bloor and lansdowne. i had the most amazing bagel at the bagel store. their jalapeno cream cheese blows what-a-bagel out of the water. after missioning around for a while, we had a quick beer at the union pool then went to the pink pony again in the lower east side to have one last amazing dinner in new york. this time we got creme brulee for dessert and it was just like heaven. then it was back to manhattan to get ready for our final night on the town. after some XL budweiser tall cans, we hopped in a cab to southside where we met up with some friends again and were equipped with bottle service; 4 bottles of belvedere, to be exact. somehow i found myself at the W hotel and at this point i couldn't really tell you what happened. all i know is the next morning my stomach and liver weren't impressed.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2009

clearly saturday didn't start off great. tiffany went out for brunch with some family friends while i contemplated death due to severe hangover. at 1:30pm i was forced out of bed to check out of our hotel and met up with tiffany at grand central to subsequently head to times square. what's a new york trip without doing the lame touristy stuff? we made it to the airport and hopped on our turbulent flight back to the homeland. i miss new york.

highlight: i can't quite remember what day it happened on, but we were on the subway when a cute, scrawny white boy, maybe 16, came on and began to sing georgia on my mind by ray charles. he was amazing and afterwards thanked the people in the subway car for listening and went around humbly, holding his hat to collect money. it was honestly the most beautiful thing i've ever witnessed and i became even more emotional inside when this thug sitting on the train gave him a dollar.

anyway, that's all for now. stay tuned... i will put up some shots from the photo shoot i did on sunday soon. it'll make up for the lack of photos in this post.

caged animal

so the other day at FLARE was amazing. we got in a ton of designer pieces and looks from louis vuitton to yves saint laurent. i happened to have my camera on me and we snapped a few photos...

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how amazing are these ysl pieces?! the cage boots pretty much complete me and this tear drop number is so unusually constructed (two places to put your arms...?!), yet somehow so classy. i'm sold. and those are just two of the many designer pieces we got in that day. oh and did i mention we decorated a board room for a baby shower? i won't get too into that...

on another note... new york in two days! i cannot wait. we're helping out with one show so far... sodaliscious. it's a very theatrical line of dresses and gowns. we've also e-mailed plenty of other designers and the mercedes-benz fashion week volunteer contact to see if we can get any other volunteer placements. because it was such a last minute decision to go to ny, we're not counting on it, but we'll see! 

see you in new york...

i am going

to new york fashion week.

thunderstruck

so on friday, i was on set of my second FLARE photo shoot...

the day before, i was in the FLARE offices and my boss asked if i was available to go on set of an entertainment shoot the next day. i was looking forward to my day off, but figured it would be a good experience to go on set again. when i asked her the details, she said "it's for some band or something... thunderheist?" hahaha little did she know that more often than not, i run into isis at the social and have enlightening [intoxicated] conversations with her.

so there i was, the next day, at tryst nightclub on peter street at noon unpacking the garment trunk and sorting shoes and jewelry on the bar. it's so surreal, being at a club in the daylight. it was actually a gorgeous place, it's a shame it's in the clubbing district... i felt like a zombie the entire day after celebrating liam's 20th and going to ourspace for the virgins' afterparty the night before [that morning].

there happened to be someone filling up pitchers behind the bar and setting them on a table for us. we all looked at each other wondering [hoping] that they were, well, spiked? 

"ummm is that... guiness?" 

"somebody smell it!" 

"no... it's just coke." 

i guess being on set at a club got our hopes up?

grahm & isis of thunderheist

isis was fierce and energetic in front of the camera and looked smokin' in buddhist punk, pink cobra, ksubi and french connection ensembles. grahm has a certain power in his stance in front of the camera. together they form an amazing duo, thunderheist, that you all should check out. not only are they great musicians, but they're friendly, fun people.

my body still aches from carrying the trunk to and from set.

ps: pick up FLARE's March 2009 issue and flip to page 66 ("spring's greatest hits") to see photos from the last beauty shoot i was on!

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unintentional imitation

photo by sam lalonde

photo by guy bourdin

i was browsing guy bourdin's website and came across this image, and immediately i thought of our little fashion shoot we did in rachael's bathroom! what geniuses... taking photos in the style of the best fashion photographer (in my opinion), without even realizing it!