Spring Trend Report: Gold Digger

Designers made like Midas on the spring runways, turning everything they touched into gold. Elie Tahari (far left) and Loewe (right) showed the metallic hue on sexed-up dresses, while Paul & Joe (left) went playful with a pair of blinged-out shorts. Perhaps the biggest gold showstoppers of the season (the gold medalists, if you will) were an it-girl-worthy Ungaro (center) dress with patches of gold sequins and a ladylike Alexander McQueen (far right) suit.

Also seen at: Hakaan, Azzaro, Viktor & Rolf

Kick Ass Shoes for Rich People

You guys, the shoe world is absolutely KILLING it this fall. Platforms, big buckles, and sparkles? I'm so in.

Unfortunately, as a student and magazine intern, I am not exactly raking in the big bucks. But I can dream, right? Here's what I would buy if I had Paris Hilton's budget. #outdatedpopculturalreference #annoyinguseofhashtagsoutsideoftwitterPedro Garcia wedges ($450): These shoes give off the coolest Lux-Lindstrom-shabby-elegant-hippy vibe.

Miu Miu heels ($630): I'm pretty sure half my tweets from the Miu Miu show (and by "from the Miu Miu show" I mean "from my early morning sociology lecture where I was watching the Miu Miu livestream and ignoring the glares of those around me") are along the lines of "GLITTER! On SHOES! SOMEONE GET ME SOME GLITTERY SHOES, STAT! THEY ARE KIND OF THE BEST THINGS EVER IN LIFE EVER!"

So, you know. Suffice to say I like these. Chloe ankle boots ($795): Shoes fit for some sort of elfin woodland creature. This is a compliment, I promise. Burberry Prorsum platforms ($950): Do you guys remember how in 10 Things I Hate About You, Julia Stiles was like this total angsty late-90s riot grrl who read The Bell Jar and drove a beat-up old car and won Heath Ledger's heart? These shoes are that girl, distilled in shoe form.

Which fall shoes are you guys obsessing over?

Current Obsession: Jen Kao Wedges

How sick are these wedges by Jen Kao? (The correct answer is "so sick.") It's the perfect Frankenstein's monster of a shoe, simultaneously calling to mind ski boots, patchwork, and that Christopher Kane collection with all the galaxy prints.

Jen Kao? More like Jen Wow! (Sorry. Bad puns are sort of my thing.)

Office Space: Some Inspiration for Your Work Week

Let's face it, Mondays can be rough, even for those of us who've been blessed with jobs we love. (Okay, it's probably Tuesday by now in some time zones).

How about injecting a little fun into your workweek? Fifties style glasses or bold coral lips can shake up even the most staid office-appropriate ensemble.

And who needs a shirt? Bust out your favourite bra instead! (Just kidding. That one's best left for the pages of Vogue Italia. Unless you're a stripper, I guess.)

(Also, nix the napping.)

Top to bottom: October 2010 Vogue Italia beauty supplement, Elle Poland, Elle Singapore July 2011. All images from Fashion Gone Rogue.

Blast From the Past: Vogue Does Disney

The one and only time I went to Disneyland was around 2001. I was 10 years old and wore shorts, T-shirts, and Mickey Mouse ears the entire time. It was not a great moment in fashion.

Ten years earlier, however, Vogue UK took a much more fashion-forward trip to the land of roller coasters and screaming children.

Doesn't it sort of make you want to roll up to the nearest amusement park in a vintage skirt suit?

(Scans courtesy of The Fashion Spot)

Adventures in Etsy: Of Hogs and Hedges

You guys, I'm babysitting a hedgehog(!!!) this weekend. His name is John-John, he hates me (I tried singing The Cardigans' "Lovefool" to him, but this only served to annoy him) and he is actually the cutest thing ever!

The new love of my life. (Please ignore the camera phone picture quality and how weirdly disgusting my carpet looks).

In honour of my temporary foray into hedgehog-parenting, here are some painfully adorable hedgehog-themed accessories I found on Etsy.

Hedgehog flats by emandsprout ($24):

I feel like it would be impossible to have a bad day with these on your feet. How much do you love the fact that the hedgehogs have little flowers in their hair (or in their spikes, I guess)?

Hedgehog hair clips by CuckooBoo ($5):

I'm pretty sure that these are actually intended for small children, but I'm also pretty sure that the world would be a way better place if we all wore adorable animal-themed hair bows all the time.

Hedgehog necklace by Piggy ($18):

For the sophisticated hedgehog-wearer. (As if there's any other kind).

Raquel Zimmerman by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia

As I was scrolling through Fashion Gone Rogue, this spread stopped me in my tracks. I guess that in a sea of crazy fashion spreads, it's raw, simple images like the first picture in this spread that are truly shocking.

I'm not even sure that I totally get grasp Meisel was going for here, but I like it. The juxtaposition of the wig-wearing, overly made up, pose-y Raquel and the wet-haired, grinning Raquel is really cool.

The deliberate fakeness of the black wig photos feels very Cindy Sherman to me.

What do you think?

Christian Dior Couture Fall 2011: Barbie, Time Travel, and Outer Space

When I was a kid, my favourite movie wasn’t Sleeping Beauty or Home Alone but the little-known cartoon flick Barbie and the Rockers: Out of This World. When my parents would take me to the video rental place, I’d gravitate to this out-dated 1980s TV special (which I referred to as “Barbie in Space”) like a bee to honey, or Tommy Ton to Anna Dello Russo.

Guys, this movie was CRACKED. OUT. After discovering last year that the cinematic light of my preschool life had been uploaded to YouTube, I decided to re-watch it. The plot, which had seemed totally logical when I was three, goes a little something like this:

Barbie and her rock band go to space, and when they arrive back on earth, they somehow end up back in the 1950s. Luckily, the first person they meet is some sort of time travel specialist who helps them get back to the eighties. Interspersed throughout are shopping montages and dance sequences.

So it makes sense that while many members of the fashion press panned Dior’s first couture collection sans Galliano for lacking focus, I saw a clear unifying theme.

Think about it: The bold makeup. The celestial elements. The eighties meets fifties silhouettes.

You guys, this collection is totally Barbie in Space!

On a non-Barbie-related note, I love the scalloping detail on some of the pieces in the collection, like the Nemo-coloured skirt above. It reminds me of Christopher Kane's Planet of the Apes-inspired season (S/S 2009), one of my favourite collections of ALL TIME.

What did you guys think of the new Dior? Am I seriously the only one who liked it? And am I the only one who remembers Barbie and the Rockers?

Minimalism vs. Maximalism

Okay, I hate when bloggers waste valuable word-space apologizing for their lack of blog activity but I have seriously been the worst lately.

Now that that's been acknowledged, on to the fashion! I've basically realized that I tend to gravitate towards one of two styles of dressing lately. Over the top madness or total Calvin-Klein-in-the-nineties simplicity:

Any other fashion schizophrenics out there?

LG Fashion Week Review: Line Knitwear

Toronto's LG Fashion Week is a chance for the Fashion Design Council of Canada to show off home-grown talent.

Line Knitwear's show was the last of the week and arguably the best. The collection - full of long skirts, baggy sweaters, and knit turbans - spoke perfectly to the 70s meets 90s mood that the fashion world's been feeling as of late. The styling was impeccable - every look seemed like something Ali MacGraw might have worn in Love Story, if only she had more of a taste for accessories.

The Line show was just what was needed to reinvigorate the fashion-weary crowd at the end of the week.

LG Fashion Week Review: Amanda Lew Kee

Toronto's LG Fashion Week is a chance for the Fashion Design Council of Canada to show off home-grown talent.

(photos taken from Toronto Life's awesome photo gallery)

Hipster favourite Amanda Lew Kee's fall collection was built around basic black - basic black infused with pops of brightly coloured pseudo-tinsel and a weird, filmy multi-coloured fabric, that is.

Unlike Lew Kee's spring collection, this one wasn't met with critical acclaim (The Globe and Mail's Amy Verner says the proportions "alternated between apron and shower curtain") but I kind of liked it. The crazy colours and fabrics were an interesting contrast to the overtly sexy sheer tops and skirts with precariously high slits that were prevalent throughout the show.

LG Fashion Week Review: Anu Raina

Toronto's LG Fashion Week is a chance for the Fashion Design Council of Canada to show off home-grown talent.

Anu Raina put on an amazing show on Friday. The runway was backlit, making the models’ curls look as though they were on fire. The finale looked like a meeting of some mysterious secret society, with the models walking out as a group before lining up on either side of the runway so the designer could walk out. To be perfectly honest, the only aspect of the show I wasn’t quite in love with was the collection itself.

Don’t get me wrong, Raina is indisputably talented. And some pieces, especially the long purple tie-dyed dress, were amazing. It might just be a matter of personal taste, but I feel that some of the pieces (like the printed sheer tunics) veer a bit into “middle aged hippy at a yoga retreat” territory. Raina’s word-print seemed to work better on the scarves she showed, which were gorgeous.


While I appreciate the mood the Raina created in her fall collection, none of the pieces are in danger of landing in my closet anytime soon (and not just because I probably couldn’t afford them).

Both photos taken by me.

LG Fashion Week Review: Diepo

Toronto's LG Fashion Week is a chance for the Fashion Design Council of Canada to show off home-grown talent.

Diepo’s show reminded me of camping. Not real, peeing in the woods/sleeping on the ground/wearing gross sweatpants camping. The only resemblance it bore to that was the lack of seating, with bloggers, friends of the designers, and photographers jostling for standing room behind the three rows of benches in the space.

No, Diepo presented a more romanticized view of the great outdoors. Paper gift bags filled with caramel corn and other goodies sat atop each seat, models with messy braided hair posed on fake tree stumps, and the clothes were casual in a Band of Outsiders sort of way. Meanwhile, corset-style black tanks and tight mini-skirts gave the low-key collection a dose of sexy. Diepo’s baggy sheer tanks and chevron print basics are sure to be coveted by the Urban Outfitters crowd. (Top photo mine, second photo from frontrowmag.com)

LG Fashion Week Review: Sarah Stevenson

Toronto's LG Fashion Week is a chance for the Fashion Design Council of Canada to show off home-grown talent.

A great woman (okay, a fictional character in The Devil Wears Prada) once sarcastically said: “Flowers? For spring? Ground-breaking…” It’s true that florals as a marker of spring have become something of a fashion cliché. Perhaps this is why designer Sarah Stevenson opted to show a floaty, floral-print-filled collection for fall. The result was the manic pixie dream girl of collections – winsome, a little bit edgy, and beautiful in a low-key way. This skirt was one of my favourite pieces in the collection. Very My So-Called Life meets Jil Sander S/S 2011. (That's probably the most pretentious sentence I've ever typed. Apparently I say things like this.) All pictures are mine. Go find well-lit pictures to steal.

LG Fashion Week Review: OR by Angela Chen

Toronto's LG Fashion Week is a chance for the Fashion Design Council of Canada to show off home-grown talent.

These pictures are mine. Don't steal them. Especially because you can totally find better ones to steal.

OR by Angela Chen's collection utilized knitwear in playful yet sexy ways. There were lots of back-revealing dresses but the most memorable look was probably a black mini dress with a sheer white piece at the back (calling to mind a bridal train). The clothes stuck to a fairly neutral pallette, but were paired with bright coloured tights.

Also, I really want to make a knit-related pun right now (knitwit? knitty-gritty?) but I am super overtired and in no position to be clever. Feel free to suggest your own in the comments. Winner gets nothing except for you will probably make me laugh.

LG Fashion Week Review: Vawk

Toronto's LG Fashion Week is a chance for the Fashion Design Council of Canada to show off home-grown talent.

(photos from thestar.com because my photos suck)

The Vawk show was undoubtedly one of the highlights of Thursday evening. However, none of the fashion fans in the front row suspected the crisis averted backstage. After the show had begun, the pants that went with several of the looks had still not arrived. Vawk designer Sunny Fong showed up in the nick of time, pants in hand, and the show went off without a hitch.

And what a show it was. Fong was inspired by Malayan mountain climbers and translated the idea into a collection of inspired but wearable looks. I take it as a sign of the designer’s skill that he managed to transform leather, leopard print, and studs into classy daywear. Vawk’s fall collection was definitely the toast of the week.

LG Fashion Week Review: Lundstrom Collection

Toronto's LG Fashion Week is a chance for the Fashion Design Council of Canada to show off home-grown talent.

(photos taken from torontolife.com because mine are awful)

While some collections are all about the concept, Lundström Collection’s fall/winter 2011 presentation was definitely all about the individual pieces. The Russia-inspired puffy fur hats and fur-trimmed coats were as close as the lovely but staid collection got to having any sort of conceptual, over-arching theme, but the beauty of some of the garments more than made up for it in the fashion stakes. The best were definitely a pair of tan leather trousers and textured black tea dress reminiscent of something Holly Golightly might pluck out of her closet.

LG Fashion Week Review: Cydelic by Choryin

Toronto's LG Fashion Week is a chance for the Fashion Design Council of Canada to show off home-grown talent.

(photos from tofashionistas.blogspot.com because my hastily-snapped cell phone photos suck)

The Cydelic by Choryin collection was sort of like what some really awesome Disney villain would wear. The show started off innocuously enough, with quirky but sweet cream coats, but the models’ crazy voluminous hair and gothic eye makeup were suggestive of what was to come. The most jaw-dropping looks were a black blouse with a huge collar paired with a gray skirt that looked as if it were constructed of skeletal faces and the show’s closer, a black and purple dress with a gigantic tulle skirt.

Three Looks Featured on "People of Wal-Mart" That Are Actually Sort of Amazing

I'm not a big fan of People of Wal-Mart. For those who don't know, the blog shows oddly dressed or otherwise weird looking people shopping at Wal-Mart. I thought it was sort of a funny idea when it first began, but I quickly realized that:

a) 90% of the posts are just "look at this person with a mullet and/or fat rolls and/or visible thong."

b) It's pretty mean spirited. It refers to the fashion victims it features as "creatures," which crosses the line from funny over to mean, in my opinion.

The funny thing is that, while most of the fashion is pretty bad, some of it is secretly sort of awesome.

Exhibit A:

You can't tell me people wouldn't be all over this look if she was some nubile young hipsterette. I'm possibly biased, because I think the elderly pull off eccentricities better than anyone, but I think this woman is ridiculously cool.

Exhibit B:

I'm sorry, if you don't think appearing as if you have befriended oodles of butterflies is a good look, than you are no friend of mine.

A slightly more understated version of the look showcased on Jak & Jil

Exhibit C:

Doesn't this one sort of remind you of Jeremy Scott's latest collection? Or of something Tavi would wear?

I guess one person's trailer trash is another's sartorial treasure?

Mall Rats: Style Spotting at Toronto's Eaton Centre

Malls get a bad rap. Sure, in the suburbs the mall is often the place to see and be seen. But with the stylish people of Toronto more likely to congregate in Yorkville or West Queen West than at any mall, many Torontonians consider the mall to be something of fashion wasteland - a sartorial graveyard of fluorescent lighting, sweatpants, and Hollister tees. To be dressed "like you're going to the mall" is not a good thing.

While the stereotype of the mall shopper in sweats and Uggs is not completely unfounded - it's impossible to go to a Toronto mall and not see anyone dressed this - I knew that there were well-dressed mall-goers out there. So I wandered Eaton Centre and found five people who redefine mall style. Spotted them: Walking towards the food court.

Stopped them because:I liked the way they fearlessly played with colours, patterns, and styles. The girl on the left's top has a lot of text on both the front and back, but pairing it with jeans makes it fun, not overly busy. Plus, her boots with the multi-coloured fringe remind me of Pocahontas, which is my favorite Disney movie ever, and thererfore always a good thing. The purple plaid coat paired with a white leopard print scarf on the girl on the right is bold, but works really well. I think it's because of the different sizes of the patterns and the lack of colour in the scarf. The patterned bag works well with it, too. More people should take chances with fashion like this. Spotted her: Outside Indigo.

Stopped her because: She looked so chic with her black coat, scarf in Burberry plaid, jodhpur-style pants, and flat brown boots. It's a classically preppy combination, but the messy topknot in her hair stops it from looking too fussy. Her small jewellery completes the effortlessly pulled-together look. Spotted them: On a bench outside Victoria's Secret.

Stopped because: I first noticed her bright red circle scarf. As I got closer, I noticed her other cool accessories - I love the combination of the earthy red, yellow, and green of the leg-warmers and the pink shoelaces of her black combat boots. It's a fashion risk that shouldn't work but does, and it amounts to this amazing sort of nineties grunge look. I liked her male companion's jacket. It lends a cool, casual vibe to his dress pants and leather shoes.

In Which I Shamelessly Solicit Your Help

Hello dearests.

It's crowd-sourcing time.

As you might know, I'm a journalism student/freelance writer in real life. I'm currently working on an article about the increasing role young teens are playing in the fashion industry.

Here's where you come in.

I'd love to interview (over email or the phone):

-Teen bloggers (especially fellow Canadians!)

-People of any age who are inspired by the style of young teenagers like Tavi Gevinson, Elle Fanning, and Hailee Steinfeld OR who feel passionately against the fashion industry's focus on super-young celebrities.

Howwww are you so well-dressed? You are infants!

Email me at jillianbell@hotmail.com if you're interested!