you heard it here first

this school year, i vow to keep on top of my hwrk at all costs & i will refrain from partying every night like i have been for the past four months. (keyword: "every")

and in times of procrastination, i will still be productive! example:

mac overflow lab, between thumbnail sketches

oh, and this is what we did in digital illustration class today. they're emo kids. my rendering of the human form is improving, can't you tell??

advice?

dsquared2 at ryerson with jeanne beker

dean and dan of dsquared2 are surely as talented as they are the cutest duo of gay twin brothers to walk the earth, but they didn't have any original advice to give to us fashion students upon their trip to toronto. on one hand, i was disappointed to hear the same old "follow your dreams", "don't give up" words of encouragement, but now that i reflect on it, maybe it's a good thing that they gave this banal advice. think of it this way: if everyone is giving the same advice, that can only mean one thing: it works.

"aim for the stars and you can fall in the clouds."

- dsquared2

dsquared2 is coming to town

so it's my first day back to school - nothing too exciting, but i will note this: dsquared2 is coming to ryerson this friday!

dean and dan caten are holding an exclusive ryerson school of fashion q&a period moderated by jeanne beker. i made sure to grab a ticket (limited seats). i'd like to brew up a good question or two for them... i'll have my creative thinking cap on until then.

note to fashion students: lorna lewis is the coolest (no sarcasm). she was wearing high waisted, tapered camel-coloured pants and a long sleeved white lace top today. red lipstick of course. but more than anything, go check out her hair. only she could rock long white roots and honey brown tips. one of us should start a lorna style blog.

the politics of lipstick

so i'm leaving work last night and walking along yonge street when i notice a homeless man sitting by the hard rock cafe with a tim horton's cup. i gave him a little smile because i feel like that's the best i can do without opening my wallet (and oftentimes i'm thanked for smiling), but instead of a "thanks for smiling," i get a "teen hooker." (!!!)

let me first tell you what i was wearing: a plain grey t-shirt (6 for $10 in china town), a beige plaid shirt ($5 at value village), ripped black cheap mondays (gift) and old brown suede fringe sandals.

i'm sorry, but "teen hooker"?! i would understand if he had mistaken me for a fellow hobo friend, but c'mon!

and then i realized. it was the russian red mac lipstick. i'm certain that if i had naked lips, i wouldn't have been verbally abused by this homeless bully. but since when does wearing lipstick make you a hooker? i can see the connotations that lipstick may have, and yes there are sexual ones, however does that make every woman a prostitute if they put a little make-up on? 99% of the population of people who wear lipstick are not hookers.

i don't know how i could've made the ensemble i was wearing any less slutty or revealing or suggestive. it really is beyond me.

now if i ever do resemble anything along the lines of a teen hooker, please do tell, but until then all i have to say is: fuck you, homeless man.

where the wild things are

naomi campbell shot by jean paul goude for harper's bazaar, september 2009

these photos are absolutely amazing - there's really no need for me to address that; at the same time, i'm not sure how i feel about the use of these "wild" animals.

here comes a little rant...

sometimes i wish us humans would mind our own business. i mean, would you really ever approach an elephant if you've never seen one before or it didn't have silly connotations like the circus? look at the thing - they're freaky looking! these photos make these amazing animals seem harmless, which they really aren't. we often hear stories in the news about "tame" zoo animals or trained lions in magic shows attacking their "owners" and it's always the animals that get hell for it. they didn't ask to be on stage or behind windows.

this brings me to a conversation i was having with my mom this morning that was triggered by the talk show "the view." my favourite host is joy because she isn't afraid to speak her opinion. today's episode was about women's health. i can't quite recall exactly what was being discussed, but it was along the lines of things you can do to prevent and ultimately cure a particular heart disease. joy's response was "well if we keep finding these cures, what the hell are we ever gonna die from?! i don't wanna live forever!" (not a direct quote, but you get the gist.) i agree. we aren't invincible! why can't we just come to terms with the fact that disease and illness always has been a normal part of the lives of every specie on the planet?!

us humans need to tone it down and deflate our egos a little. we can't succeed at everything.

skinny bitch

so, i've discovered this site that i'm completely obsessed with:

fuckyeahskinnybitch

i check it religiously. some of the photos are so inspiring, not to mention the girls are beautiful. you can find a lot of mko and cory kennedy photos up there, to name a few.

yesterday i found this photo on it and literally stared at it for ten minutes before realizing i had to go catch the bus. anybody know who she is or what this photo is from? love love love 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