Styling / Audrey Kitching

July 15, 2014November 11, 2014Leave a comment

As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent the majority of Friday styling Audrey Kitching. Gerald found out he would be shooting her about one week and half before, so he got his regular team together (me and Leesa) and quickly planned a concept that ended up being so awesome! Audrey was a dream to style. Not only is she absolutely gorgeous, but she is so sweet and down to earth. I kept the whole thing a secret from everyone (except Meaghan and Ryan) until the day of the shoot, and it was pretty hilarious to see how excited some of my old pals from high school were about me getting to meet and work with her. She was a pretty big deal for scene kids back in the day and I had a ton of friends who loved her. She is obviously still very popular and I feel really and truly lucky to be able to say I got to put her in some of my gorgeous Larkspur garments and a darling floral matching set from Rosehound Apparel that I pulled from the lovely gals at Victoire (thanks ladies!). It was a beautiful day and perfect for shooting. I can’t wait until the photos are released. As you can see the concept was aviation and Gerald pulled out all the stops for it – including a giant model plane, a wicked airplane headpiece, flying bikes and an actual parachute from Leesa’s dad’s army days. This series is going to be a killer one, so keep a lookout for it!

Happy Belated

July 14, 2014November 11, 2014Leave a comment

The past few days have been pretty amazing. Friday I spent the day styling the one and only Audrey Kitching which was sort-of insane and it’s kind of hard to believe it actually happened. I took plenty of photos from the day and shoot, so I’ll talk more about that later. These photos are from Saturday, which was my 26th birthday. Ryan and I had brunch at one of my favourite spots, Rustic Cosmo, or as Meaghan’s boyfriend Nick calls it, The Rusty Combo (don’t ask), and then headed to Toronto Island to relax in the sun listening to garage rock and sipping much-too-sweet alcoholic beverages. Ryan took these photos of me at Ward’s Island – my sort-of dream spot if I could afford to live here, and if anyone would actually give up their home. The houses have a wonderfully cottage-y feel and you would never know that just a ferry ride away is crazy ol’ Toronto. After the island we went to Hogtown Vegan, and if you are ever visiting Toronto and like crazy cool vegan food, this is the spot. It’s vegan comfort food, and honestly makes you wonder why you ever ate meat in the first place. The night finished off with drinks at Geraldine’s, a new-ish 1920’s themed bar in Parkdale, (super pricey, but totally worth it) and then to Pharmacy, and like the name insinuates was once a pharmacy, also in Parkdale, but is now a quaint bar where you always run into a familiar face. It was a great day and night. There were a lot of people missing that I wished could have shared my birthday with me, but it seems a ton of my closest friends reside all around the globe now (cries!!). On Sunday I had brunch with Meaghan and Ryan, and Meaghan bought me a jade plant from Crown Flora, which I have yet to name (Ryan also bought me a cactus, who needs a name. suggestions are welcome). I spent the rest of the day cleaning my apartment that looked like a clothes bomb had exploded everywhere (i hate unpacking after shoots) and re-watching Short Term 12, bawling my eyes out (i love a good cry) cause it’s so good and so sad!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend as well! Today I am off work and am going to start prepping things for my upcoming Larkspur lookbook. It kept getting pushed back due to other shoots I was styling, but it is finally happening in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned.

*photos by Ryan

Dress worn as shirt: H&M
Shorts: TLO
Hat: vintage via a wee shop in MTL
Shoes: thirfted Giorgio Armani

Houndstooth, and other things

June 23, 2014November 11, 2014Leave a comment

I have not had a free weekend in what seems like weeks. Mind you, I normally have Sundays free for whatever I like, but I consider a true free-of-work weekend when I have both Saturday and Sunday off. I cannot complain though, I spent most of Saturday styling another shoot for Gerald, which really doesn’t feel like work at all, but rather something that is fun and gets my creative juices flowing. The other half of the weekend was for blog and shop affairs. I’ll be honest, I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed with finding the time to really give my online shop the love and care it desperately needs – it’s down to the bare bones at this point. But I spent a few hours on Sunday photographing items to list all through the week and I’m hoping I can keep up with this and get back to where we were before I moved a huge amount of stock over to Odd Finds General Store and became busier than ever. I’ve also been feeling sort of uninspired with my writing recently, so we’ll just leave it at that for today.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Pinafore: ASOS – out of stock, similar ones here
Blouse & shoes: thrifted vintage
Sunglasses: vintage via Public Butter

Belle Vie / 08

May 21, 2014November 11, 2014Leave a comment

1. I really cherish the moments when I take my outfit photos myself. When I started the blog it was usually me and someone taking my picture, and while that was much easier and generally a faster process, I’ve come to really enjoy the quiet time and moving at my own pace to create photos I like. Sometimes Matt and I would butt heads when I had an idea and it wasn’t coming out the way I wanted – I’m sort of a control freak in that sense.
2. Kiana getting her makeup done by Leesa for an editorial I styled and also modelled in this past weekend. Leesa made everyone look so beautiful, I have nothing but wonderful things to say about this woman and her talents.
3. Tara with sprinkles on her tongue in another outfit I styled – so excited to see the final images of this one.
4. Quinn is such a beauty. I had seen her face before and did not even realize at the time. Remember Danielle who I worked with on a shoot a few weekends ago? Well the following day she was taking shots of this beauty for another mag and I saw a couple behind the scenes on her instagram. Strange how life works sometimes.
5. I think kids have the right idea – even the smallest, simplest of things bring them joy.
6. Our fearless photographer, Gerald (and his girlfriend Annya). We met through instagram, and he had expressed interest in working with me. I’m so glad he did. Working with him and modelling for him was a true pleasure. He has such a vision and does not let any detail go unnoticed. I have such a respect for him and what he does.
7. When I first saw Kiana my jaw just dropped (not literally, that would have been awkward) She is such a stunning girl. We got to shoot a few fun shots together which I think I’m most excited about.
8. Ryan with our favourite pizza from Libretto that we took to the park to eat and just relax after a long day.
9. A little ducky friend.

A clothes mind

May 20, 2014November 11, 20143 Comments

I had quite a busy day yesterday. I was styling and modelling for an editorial (i’ll tell you more about that later) which kept me from updating the blog yesterday with my usual outfit post, but here I am today, so all is well. The weekend was busy and lovely and lazy all at once, which is just the way I like it. I took these images on a day that was confusing as ever – the weather could not decide what it wanted to be. One minute it was sunny, the next sprinkling light rain showers, back to sunny, and then eventually became a downpour and I had to cut my shoot short. However, it made for interesting lighting and clouds, so I’m okay with it. I kept my outfit simple this day. Sometimes it’s nice to just throw on a dress and go. I’ve had this one for ages, and what I love most about it is the shift shape, 3/4 length sleeves and high collar so I can wear collared shirts underneath. It almost seems like a new dress every time I wear a different collar with it, and makes me feel very 60s, which is probably my favourite era, next to Edwardian, of course.

I feel I have not written anything of much significance lately. I sometimes hate just talking about clothes and why I love them so much. It makes me feel a bit shallow and vapid, which I know is not the case…you can love clothes dearly and want to talk about that love on a regular basis, while also being an intelligent person. And truthfully, clothing and dressing myself does feel like art to me, which is the very reason I love it so much. But I think sometimes discussing why an article of clothing is good just takes away from it and dumbs it down to nothing. What clothes are to you is what you do with them – how it creates you, and makes you feel. I’d much rather have my clothing and style speak for itself than to explain in the simplest terms why I like something. But to each their own. I’m always happy to read blogs that do just that. It’s just a personal thing really. I guess It’s my introverted, introspective side that never really wants to speak or write unless I have something meaningful to say. I’m not saying i’ll never discuss the clothes I wear in this space. I’ll always give you a little bit of both. My thoughts and my style are obviously huge parts of me that go hand in hand, and I love to share those parts of me in whatever way I can.

I hope everyone who had a long weekend enjoyed it thoroughly. I’m sick in bed today in a tremendous amount of pain, but hopefully will be back to the grind tomorrow.