the artiste

this is my best friend, rachael. she's featured in the august 2010 issue of FLARE!

THE ARTISTE: Rachael Meckling Hometown: Saskatoon, Sask. Illustrator Rachael Mecling, 20, may still be a student at Ryerson University but this FLARE intern's whimsical drawings are already hanging on our art director's walls - fitting, considering Meckling herself dreams of becoming an art director one day. Idols: "Gwen Stefani. She is such a novelty and I love how literal her style inspirations are. Also, Coco Chanel, Virginia Woolf and my mother - the obstacles that they overcame in their lives gives me the [motivation] to work just as hard." Words to live by: "It's unfortunate that some people search high and low for something that can be so obvious," says Meckling before citing Aristotle's famous quote: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

photo via FLARE Magazine by Norman Wong 

the winds of change...

(lamest post title ever.)

big things are happening at flare magazine! my lovely friend dane tredway has gone from intern to assistant fashion editor! and erin o'brien has been promoted to associate market editor.

lisa tant's (editor-in-chief) tweet:

I'm pleased to welcome Dane Tredway to Flare as our new Assistant Fashion Editor.12:00 PM Jan 18th from web
flare keeps getting better and better! congrats, everyone!

bright young things

how have i not made a post on this yet?!

here are the photos from the flare loft party photoshoot back in... september was it? they can be seen in flare's december 2009 issue with lady gaga on the cover.

addison gill shot by max abadian for flare dec 09

the music and drinks kept everyone dancing for hours at rolly's garage before the party moved to queen street.

photos via flare.com

flare 30th anniversary gala

outside of the ROM - prepping for the flare gala

this past thursday, FLARE had their 30th anniversary gala at the royal ontario museum. i volunteered to work the door and check-in tables, but i made sure to sneak off a few times to grab a few hors d'oeuvres, take a few pictures, and scope out the crowd. mingling was out of the question; first impressions are important and i wasn't about to give myself a bad name in canada's fashion industry by meeting people in a joe fresh volunteer uniform.

the venue was amazing. i'm a huge fan of museums and i'm a huge fan of parties. need i say more? there's really nothing like partying beside a dinosaur...

all the volunteers

jonathan and i in the flare photobooth!

just hanging out with the dinos

michelle and i ruining a nice photo of the ROM

myself, jonathan & michelle

nice shoes

some lovely check-in girls

gift bag distribution

the hard-to-balance mannequins

casting call

this is my friend maddy as seen in the november 2009 issue of FLARE. she's gorgeous. go buy it.

the september issue

let's just clarify this: no, i'm not referring to the doc that's coming out (august in nyc, october in toronto...boo hoo) about anna wintour and the making of the 840 paged september 2007 issue of american vogue. (take a look at sienna miller on the cover of it. now look at her on the cover of august 2009 nylon. i think she's getting younger rather than older.) i'm talking about the september issue of flare, which i am really into!

besides the fabulous editorials that grace its pages, there are two photos of which i was on set for. i was pleasantly surprised to see the photograph of thunderheist that was chosen from a variety of photos shot way back in... let's see... february!

isis & grahm

photo by norman wong

this next photo is from the greta constantine shoot. i like how it's slightly de-saturated. i think the true red of the flag would've been blinding. not only that, it makes the flag a little more appealing.

laura kell, kirk pickersgill, nicole jedrzejko, stephen wong, & andrea pearl

photo by max abadian

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...

+

=

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...

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!

snap snap!

so i was on the set of a FLARE photo shoot for the first time today...  it was a great team and i loved watching everyone work together to create all the looks. luckily, it was a beauty shoot, so there weren't as many tasks for me, as a fashion intern, to do. this made my first time on set a lot more relaxed. 

my main duties were to transport the garments and jewelry, steam the chosen outfits, and make style notes to record what items were used in the photos. it was an early morning (7:30am), but we managed to be finished by about 4pm, thanks to the model, tamara mcdonald's (elmer olsen) short pixie cut (resulting in faster hairstyling).

i can't go without mentioning the amazing catered food! fresh berries, yogurt and eggs for breakfast and herbed chicken, salmon, feta pasta and spinach salad for lunch. not to mention the mini cakes and lemon squares for dessert! mmm! with that kind of food, i'm available for photo shoots any day!

edit. 

these are the resulting photos! see more of tamara mcdonald here.

surprise, surprise

so, working at flare, you'd expect to be surrounded by expensive designer pieces, right? well, the other day, i picked up an amazing pair of black chunky strappy heels expecting them to be marni or something. but, no - aldo. that same day, i did the same with h&m shoes and clothes and cheap monday/rodebjer pieces.

i guess what i'm trying to say is keep your eyes peeled for next season's shoes and clothing at places like h&m, zara and aldo. eek!

on another note, i am becoming obsessed with fringe! for those of you who follow style.com, you'll notice that the cover story is shredded bliss right now. 

so many designers from alberta ferretti to jill sander are trying out this look. fringe comes in many materials, from suede and silk to even plastic and metal chain. there's also a huge variety of colours and sizes, but my person favourite is the silky loopy stringy beige fringe. and (surprise, surprise) i stumbled upon a cute and classic fringe dress on h&m's website. 

gimme gimme!

flare fashion room, leigh speaking.

so my first day at flare is finally over. 

contrary to what i had gone in expecting, things were pretty slow today, however most other days, there is never an end to what needs to be done. shipping, receiving, packaging, labeling, organizing everything from lookbooks and past issues to hangers and boxes, answering calls, signing letters... and there's much more to learn in the weeks to come. to be honest, watching the hills can give you a fairly good interpretation of how the fashion room works and looks (like a closet). my new little hideout that i'll be inhabiting twice a week. hopefully things will be a little bit more busy on friday so that i can start getting practice to get the hang of things.

on another note, i just watched this short video from style.com featuring manolo blahnik. he's so cute! the newest video is also worth watching, featuring coco rocha and jpg at a fitting and rehearsal.

ps: congrats to fiona for getting the assistant fashion editor position! amazing!