Ophelia (1851-2) by John Everett Millais

Today in my 19th century art/architecture class we briefly went over one of my favourite paintings, which I want to share with you, called Ophelia by John Everett Millais who was a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. This painting is taken from Shakespeare's play Hamlet (which I am currently studying in my Shakespeare class), where his love Ophelia dies offstage; we are never shown her actual death. Ophelia apparently spent much of her days singing to herself and one day she had gone to pick flowers by the river when she fell in. Her clothing became so heavy that she could not lift herself up and so she drowned. The model in the painting is Elizabeth Siddal who was one of the most favourite Pre-Raphaelite models. In order for Mallais to capture this woman floating in water accurately, he immersed her in a bathtub. As a result she got very ill from lying in a cold bathtub and she was too scared/shy to interrupt the artist as he was painting her so she just laid there not moving until he finished.

Zac Posen for Target Go International

Zac Posen is everywhere nowadays, I just recently wrote a post about the 29 year old branching out his name by creating another line called Z Spoke (similar to Marc by Marc Jacobs) for Saks Fifth Avenue. Now Posen will be designing a Go International line for Target that will be sold at selected Target stores and online from April 25th through May 30th. How exciting!

Information taken from Women's Wear Daily

Fur and Sequins

This past Fall/Winter season I have been obsessed with anything that has fur and/or sequins! I am in love with Russian style....dark hair, porcelain skin, red lipstick, fur, jewels, sequins, sheer black tights, and heavy fabrics...amazing!! Here is a look at some things I have been wearing lately:

Zara t-shirts with shoulder pads and sequins:





Zara white sequined dress, black scarf from Paris, necklace my grandfather made in the 1970's:







Zara leather jacket and coyote tail scarf:



Zara trench coat and fox fur collar from the 1970's"

Brassai

I am so inspired by the photographer Gyula Halász (also known as Brassai), his work is beautiful, mysterious, sensual, and completely captivating. He was born on September 9, 1899 in Brasso, Hungary, but moved to Paris at the age of three with his family. Brassai (his name comes from the city that he was born in) accomplished so much in his life from studying fine arts at two different academies both in Budapest and Berlin, to serving in World War I, and writing as a journalist for several years before pursuing photography. He decided to move back to Paris in 1924 where he would wander the bare streets of Paris at night and take pictures of the city that he was so fascinated by. He completely immersed himself in the French art and literature scene when he would take his photographs at night and as a result he met many interesting people. Brassai became friends with Matisse, Picasso, Prévert, and Giacometti to name a few. He was a novelist and also produced several films, his most famous being Tant qu'il y aura des bêtes which won Most Original Film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974. He passed away on July 7, 1984 in the south of France. How people view the city of Paris is due to the images that Brassai took back in the 1930's when exploring the streets, bars, and cafe's of the city.

Some photographs taken from : http://www.masters-of-fine-art-photography.com/02/artphotogallery/database/brassai02.jpg

Fashion's Night Out 2010

I am already getting excited for next year's Fashion's Night Out hosted by Vogue, Council of Fashion Designers of America, and the city of New York! This is the biggest fashion night of the year where people from around the world come to NYC to party and shop all night. I did some work this past summer at Condé Nast for it, but was not able to go to New York City for the event; this year will be different. I don't know which magazine at Condé Nast I will end up working for next summer, but I definitely want to put in my part of making this event amazing. WWD announced that they changed the date of the event it's not going to be Thursday, September 9th, but rather Friday September 10th, 2010! Check out the website: http://www.fashionsnightout.com/

Music: Feist

I love this song so much...

So Sorry - Feist

Z Spoke by Zac Posen

Zac Posen has designed a new line of clothing called Z Spoke which is a less expensive line (compared to Zac Posen) and will only be sold at Saks Fifth Avenue this coming Spring 2010 (also on saks.com). There is a 60 piece range of items with casual tops starting at around 78$ (what a deal!) to dresses for 675$. The style is“minimalist and utilitarian” sportswear that definitely goes against the designers signature evening gowns that range anywhere from 900$-20,000$. Zac wants to make sure that this line is not the mini-me of Zac Posen the brand, but rather a "new identity" that has much more street style than Hollywood, red-carpet glam.

*Photos and information from www.wwd.com*

Stockings

This is a fashion obsession that I have had since I was a baby (no joke). My mom used to dress me up in gorgeous hosiery from France when I was a little girl, then in High School I always wore stockings instead of the knee high socks that were a part of the school uniform, and to this day (literally I am wearing stockings right now) I still where them. I don't know the brand that I am wearing now, but I know I bought them at Ogilvy's and that they are made in Italy. These are one of my favourite stockings they are black with a big diamond pattern, the diamonds are ultra sheer and the thick outline around the diamonds are opaque. I also own Hue, Wolford, DKNY, and then some random European brands that are amazing (like the ones I am wearing now). My favourite designs are thick opaque Wolford's, ultra sheer (the 80's are back!), diamond shape, flowery net pattern (I have a gorgeous pair from DKNY in this dusty rose colour....amazing), and now ultra sheer with small dots.
(All photos taken from http://www.wolford-partnerboutique-w1-london.com/)

Jimmy Choo for H&M

I know that this is old news that Jimmy Choo is designing for H&M, but I am so upset that I was not able to go to the grand unveiling of the line on Saturday (I was working all day). For those of you who went...how was it?! I'll stop by the store tomorrow to see if there is anything left although I doubt it because the stuff is already up on ebay selling for over 150$. Here's a look at some of the beautiful designs! (Some photos taken from nitrolicious.com)

Music: My Favourite French Song

This is BY FAR my favourite French song of all time and I forgot to incorporate it into my last post, but it's alright because it deserves it's own post.

La Foule - Edith Piaf

Music: Old Jazz

I'm having a little obsession these past couple of weeks...I cannot stop listening to extremely old jazzy tunes! I sound like such an old lady but I'm loving it. Here are only a couple of my favourites:

Fly Me To The Moon - Frank Sinatra



Summertime - Billie Holiday



La Vie En Rose - Louis Armstrong



Black Coffee - Sarah Vaughan



Heaven - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

L'Entrecôte Saint-Jean

(In Montréal)

Seriously one of my favourite restaurants in Montréal because I feel like I'm in Paris. I actually went to the original one in Paris which was an amazing experience and the food was amazing! Both L'Entrecôte's serve the same meal: start's off with a soup, then salad, then a steak with fries and special sauce, and ends with an amazing dessert. The main difference between the one in Montréal and the one in Paris is that in Paris they give you an unlimited amount of steak/fries/sauce until you tell them you do not want anymore....they don't do this in Montréal.

http://www.lentrecotestjean.com/index_en.html

Here is a picture from the original L'Entrecôte in Paris called L'Entrecôte Porte-Maillot in the 17th arrondissement:

Joya by Tessy & Olivia

My friend Tessy and I were studying at a coffee shop on Bernard Street in Outremont last week when we got on the topic of trying to find a way to make more money other than from our regular part-time jobs. We both are very creative and love to make jewelry, so Tessy brought up the idea of making a little business where we make bracelets and headbands. We would sell them at Samuel Augustin (my father's salon and spa) and at a boutique on Mount-Royal that her uncle's girlfriend owns. The name for our small business is Joya which means jewel in Spanish. Our medium will consist of leather, beads, rope, wire, lace, rhinestones, and maybe some silk materials and our style will have a lot of braids and knots. For headbands we both agreed that feathers and bows are SO out and that since the 80's are back we would have headbands with big knots in the front and skinny turban styled ones that have an overlap material in the front. We also love rhinestones and headbands that have two rows that wrap around the entire head. Anyway, we're still trying to find and buy some of our materials but once we have made some Joya pieces I will definitely post some pictures up.

Lacy 80's

Ladies get ready to show your intimate and sexy side because lace is ALL over the place this year. Whether it be showing your bra, wearing a slip, or wearing lacy see-through blouses....the 80's lacy Madonna look is coming back in full force! John Galliano, Valentino, Chanel, Prada, Missoni, Proenza Schouler, Vera Wang, and especially Christian Dior all show that the 80's trend is back! (Photos taken from style.com)

Proenza Schouler - S/S 2010

Christian Dior - S/S 2010

Big Books

As I have mentioned several times in past posts, I am obsessed with buying not only novels, but more importantly coffee table books! I love looking at beautiful illustrations that are about either fashion, art, photography, home design, or travel. Some of them are quite pricey but I figure that I'll have them forever, plus when I'm older and have my very own place I plan on having gorgeous book shelves in my living room where I can put my collection. Here is a list of my favourite coffee table books:

1. In Vogue
2. Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People
3. Who What Wear
4. Renoir
5. Brassai
6. Andrew Wyeth
7. Fashion Now (Volumes 1 and 2)
8. Eugene Atget
9. Yves Saint Laurent: Style Style Style
10. Chanel
11. Influence: Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (don't make fun it's actually good)
12. The Sartorialist
13. Vanity Fair: The Portraits: A Century of Iconic Images
14. Richard Avedon
15. Irving Penn
16. Lifeguard On Duty (perfect for a beach house)
17. And any travel book on France and/or Italy

**Places where you can buy these books: Barnes & Noble (for those of you in the US), otherwise there's Chapters and Indigo, but I prefer going to Museums they usually have a gorgeous selection of coffee table books....my favourite? The Boston Museum of Fine Arts....literally almost had a heart attack they had the biggest selection of coffee table books I had ever seen in my entire life I could have spent days in there.....

Wanted: Fur Collars

I am currently having a bit of a crazy obsession with fur collars....I need to have one like NOW! I've always loved vintage fur (hopefully one day I get to inherit my great-grandmother's gorgeous mink coat that hits just below the bum and has shorter sleeves with a belle/peter-pan rounded collar!!), but right now I'll settle for just a collar...I've always wanted one, but just recently I saw my friend wearing a huge fox tail around her neck as a scarf and I gasped...it was gorgeous! You seriously can wear it with ANYTHING....a cashmere sweater, a leather jacket, a winter jacket, etc... So now all I think about are fur collars and all of a sudden they've been appearing all around me...I see them everywhere. Therefore, today after school I plan on hitting up some vintage stores on Rue Notre-Dame Street Ouest where apparently there are fur collars (well that's what my brother told me). Hopefully I will be in luck and find a real, gorgeous, but hopefully not too expensive collar!

On a side note: I do not believe in buying new fur, but I do not think there is anything wrong with buying vintage/recycled fur.