To my Vancouver readers: Obakki and Fashion Magazine are holding a customer event tomorrow night in the Water street store, with amazing discounts. Plus you’ll get a chance to meet the amazing Rebecca Tay! All you need to do is send an email to rsvp@obakki.com. Obakki is definitely one of the best Vancouver fashion brands and everything is made right here in Vancouver. So if you want free drinks and gorgeous (discounted) clothes… drop them a line!

BoF Fashion Pioneers | Natalie Massenet in conversation with Imran Amed from The Business of Fashion on Vimeo.

I am getting very excited about my Business of Fashion and the Digital Revolution event on Monday, and as a teaser, I’ve embedded the last Business of Fashion – Fashion Pioneer event, which was with Natalie Massenet from Net a Porter. I spend a many hours a month drooling over the goods on her site, and this interview gives us an insight into how she runs the company, and where things are headed for them and the fashion industry in general.

If you don’t have half an hour to watch the video interview (if you are a fashion student, FIND half an hour) then there is a blog post that includes a summary of the event, read it here.

For those of you attending on Monday, I can’t wait to see you all! Check out this Q&A with Imran on the Flare blog. Thanks again to my sponsors, OPUS Bar, Vancouver College of Art and Design, and Skyy Vodka.

My new house!

Today I am a homeowner. It is very exciting (it certainly better be, as I’ve had to cut my shoe budget to virtually nothing for the next few months in order to afford the house.) Our house is in Brackendale, BC. Most of you will think, where the hell is that? To answer your question, it is outside of Squamish, which is a small town halfway between Vancouver and Whistler (the famous ski resort.)

The next question usually is, why the hell would you want to move there? Actually, only Vancouverites ask this. Most of my non-Vancouverite friends, especially those who have also survived big city living for at least ten years, can usually understand straight away why I’d want to move to a town of 15,000 in the mountains. We left London because we were sick of tiny apartments and a shitty standard of living. We moved to Canada for big open spaces, and so we could own a house with a big backyard. Vancouver is very expensive, a house in the neighbourhood I grew up averages at 2 million dollars, and I don’t have that kind of money (unless maybe they accepted shoes in lieu of cash.)

Since my husband and I love the Squamish area, and we aren’t afraid of a 50 minute commute (much better than the 90 minute commute I used to do in London,) we started looking for houses there. My mother said that I should move to the trendy, young areas of Vancouver, and I told her that I did not move to Vancouver to try and replicate my London lifestyle. I used to live in a cool area of London, and I didn’t move to Vancouver to live in their small town version of a “cool” neighbourhood. I don’t want a tiny apartment on Main street, where most people look like they are trying too hard all the time, or a house in the “trendy” neighbourhood of Strathcona, an area that you need to share with crack addicts. No thanks, I want space, a big house (4 bedrooms, to be exact) and I want to live in a community where I don’t to worry about locking my door or discarded needles in my backyard.

So Brackendale it is. We are moving sometime in September, and of course I’ll keep you updated on how that is coming along, as I try and juggle another house move, this time during the fashion weeks. Lastly, I should point out that Brackendale was definitely favourable over Squamish, for one very good reason. For those of you who don’t know, Squamish is where all the outdoorsy types go to mountain bike or hike. I can assure you that my husband and I will also be partaking in “outdoor” activities, but our idea is slightly different, we consider drinking beers in the backyard, preferably in a hammock, to be our outdoor activity of choice. Which is why we chose Brackendale. Squamish’s tagline is “Canada’s Outdoor Recreation Capital,” which frankly is terrifying and send shivers down my spine. Brackendale’s tagline is “Winter Home of the Bald Eagle.” Now where would you rather live?

I am pleased to announce that I will be hosting my first event in Vancouver. I know most of my readers are not in Vancouver, so I’ll try and limit coverage to two posts, but I am very excited! The event, whose theme is “The Business of Fashion and the Digital Revolution,” will be an intimate affair with Imran Amed, the founder and editor of the Business of Fashion. You may have heard me harp on about how much I love his blog, but it is basically the best fashion industry blog in existence. If you are in the industry it is an absolute must-read. For those of you not working in the fashion industry, but fascinated with all of the ins and outs, it is a very good blog to read in order to keep yourself up to date.

Imran Amed (Photo by Daniel Cianfarra.)

I met Imran at Christmas, when he was visiting family in Vancouver. I knew he was coming back in August, so I suggested we do an event, which would not only give me the opportunity to associate myself with him and his blog (nice!) but also to get him some exposure over here. A lot of people read his blog, but hardly anyone knows he is a Canadian.

So we are doing a small event at OPUS Bar at the end of August, which will include a short onstage interview (discussing our evening’s theme), followed by networking (yes, Vancouver people, I want to teach you how to network. A very underrated activity in these parts.) Of course none of this would have been made possible without OPUS Bar, who is providing the lovely venue, Vancouver College of Art and Design (one of the fantastic fashion schools I teach at), who is sponsoring the event, and to Skyy, for making sure the cocktails will have lots of vodka.

If you really should have been invited (you are local media or industry) and you haven’t been, then please get in touch. And to some of my darling students, particularly the ones who have been Searching for Style subscribers since day one and never failed to get good grades…you may be in luck. I might be extending a few invitations out to students closer to the event date.

(Oops, more special thanks to Fiona, Bronte, and Johana. You guys are awesome.)

Hope you all like the new Searching for Style logo…designed by the fabulous Articulate Design!

I’ve got some exciting news coming up…so watch this space.

Our first giveaway is this Eliza clutch handbag from Handbag Heaven. To enter,  all you need to do is sign up for the Searching for Style email newsletter (the sign up is at the top of the homepage right under the logo.) If you are already a subscriber, then you’ll be automatically entered into the draw.

Read more about the handbag here.

The contest closes on Sunday July 3^rd, and winners will be picked at random on Monday, July 4^th .The item will be shipped out shortly afterwards.

This giveaway has been published on Free Gretchen, the site that lists all of the good fashion and style giveaways.

Sweden vs Finland Mens hockey, which I attended last night. I love watching the goalies do the splits.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I haven’t been able to put much time into Searching for Style in the past few days. I am keeping up my catwalk reports, but haven’t had much time to post. I have visitors here for the Olympics, have been going to some events, including a couple of good hockey matches, and I’ve had some family problems which has meant I’ve been spending time visiting the hospital.

I’ve got some drafts I am working on, so check in tomorrow for some new non-catwalk content, including my response to an extremely rude yet hilarious comment about my Cassette Playa post. I haven’t approved the comment yet, as I haven’t had time to write a response, but watch this space. I have been called many nasty things in my time, but “brain dead idiot” is a first (and I don’t think it accurately describes me…)

I have posted a reading list on my homepage, so my readers can see some of the blogs I read. There is nothing that revolutionary on there… so I would be happy for anyone to recommend any really amazing blogs I should be reading. The list is short, and will grow, but I didn’t want to just put every single blog I think is good on there (that would be thousands), I wanted to put the ones that are very important to me (OK, I have just lost credibility because Go Fug Yourself is on there. But it is SO funny.) These are ones I read on a daily or at least twice-weekly basis. I am currently testing some more. By testing I mean, I subscribe to the RSS feed and if I’m not excited to read at least 50% of the blog posts, I cancel my subscription, and just visit them occasionally.

Feel free to send over recommendations…

See the Searching for Style Reading List on the right side of the homepage.

Image source.

Today is the first day of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. I am not particularly thrilled about these games, but there is nothing I can do now but try and have some fun. New York fashion week also started yesterday, and I will be doing my Love and Loathe for some of the catwalk shows, the ones I think are important. Despite being busy with Olympics, and visitors from Sweden, and all of the fashion shows, I still fully intend on posting some regular blog content.

If you’d like to read a bit about the Olympics fashion, you can check out my VERY generic coverage of Olympic style on Examiner. I also did an article about some very cool athlete and consumer gear for the latest issue of View2. If you’d like to know my thoughts on the rather disgusting sponsorship deals, read this interesting article on Business of Fashion, and check out my long-winded comment on the bottom. I also contributed to this Urban Junkies Vancouver Guide, sponsored by Oakley.

In the meantime, here are some fun Olympics images.

These images of Team USA wearing special edition Rodarte knitwear, shot by Ryan McGinley for The New York Times Magazine are pretty cool.

Jeret (Speedy) Peterson, Freestyle Skier (Aerials)

Johnny Weir, Figure Skater

Rachael Flatt, Figure Skater

Emily Cook, Freestyle Skier (Aerials)

Some creative anti-Olympics images…

Image source.

Image source.

And here is a genius logo from the anti-Olympics camp. Is it a middle finger? Or is it a phallic symbol? (Thanks to Jocelyn and Andrew for that!)

Sometimes I read news about the fashion industry that truly send shivers down my spine… and today was another one of these moments. I thought of waiting until later to hear if these rumors were denied, but then I thought it would give me the opportunity to discuss one of my favourite brands ever, and one of my least-favourite TV shows, which I want to feature anyway, so here I go.

Womens Wear Daily, and The Cut have both announced rumors that Sarah Jessica Parker may take on an advising role at Halston, similar to the role that Lindsey Lohan took at Ungaro. Now, considering the utter and complete failure that was the first collection by Lohan at Ungaro, wouldn’t brands hesitate about repeating this “celebrity” advisor concept? Plus, SJP at Halston???? She wears fluffy skirts, not fabulous, streamlined jersey dresses, she has big curly hair, not slicked-back buns, she wears girly, overdone shoes, not statement, strong accessories. She is so wrong for that brand.

A little background on Halston…

Roy Halston was a American designer who came to fame in the late fifties and early sixties, starting as a miliner and then becoming famous for his minimal, jersey dresses. Here are a few photos from one of my Halston books.

Halston, like Helmut Newton, are one of my first reference points for creative research when I am designing. I love his work.

He is known for dressing women like Jacqueline Kennedy, Bianca Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor, and Liza Minnelli. He was also a regular at the famous Studio 54 nightclub, and would be known to turn up with a gaggle of women looking fabulous and wearing Halston. These women were referred to as the Halstonettes, and he was one of the first designers to openly use the concept of a brand ambassador, which is now something used by many large fashion brands (Daslu, the famous luxury store in Sao Paolo uses Dasluzettes to promote their store, they are beautiful Brazilian women who go to all the good parties wearing Daslu clothing. If you want to read more about the best luxury store in Brazil, scroll down to the bottom of this article.)

Remember this famous Gucci dress by Tom Ford? Inspired by Halston. Image source.

Anyway, Halston was relaunched for the umpteenth time a few seasons ago, but this time with a “super team” behind it, that included the smarts of Tamara Mellon from Jimmy Choo, the cash from film mogul Harvey Weinstein, and the, uhhh, ideas (?) of stylist Rachel Zoe. The collection did not do very well, neither did the second one, so they got rid of Rachel and the head designer, did one collection with their in-house design team, and hired Marios Schwab to come in as the new creative director. We are all awaiting Marios’ first Halston collection, to be presented in February, with feverish anticipation…He is an Austrian-Greek St Martins graduate young designer based in London that makes pretty beautiful dresses.

Halstons first relaunched collection that didn’t do so well…

Images from Style.com

Some of Marios Schwab’s designs:

Images from Style.com.

Now, why, when you have the fashion world at the edge of their seat anticipating the first Halston by Marios Schwab collection, would you then try and throw Sarah Jessica Parker into the mix? Why? It sounds ridiculous, she isn’t very Halston, she certainly isn’t very Marios Schwab, and she is not a fashion designer of any sort.

I am going to save my Sex and the City rant for another day, since they are releasing their next movie in the summer, and I am sure I will have a lot to say about that. I personally found the series a bit predictable, the characters were annoying, and I just wasn’t a fan (sorry…I know its about fashion and Manolos, but it just didn’t do it for me.) I did enjoy some of the conversations between the four women, and I think their outfits were worth checking out, but I find SJP to be pretty irritating. But I am not wasting energy saying mean things about her, its not worth it. She looks good for her age, wears some pretty interesting clothing, and his quite respectable, so good for her. But she isn’t worthy of Halston.

How can this

work with this.

Sarah Jessica Parker images source.

It can’t. Please god let this be a rumour that doesn’t come true, for Marios’ sake (it must feel pretty crap if you just got a new job, and before you even proved yourself, they hire someone to “help you”),  for Sarah’s sake (she is bound to make a fool of herself, and you need to be really tall, thin, and angular to pull off Halston jersey dresses) and for Halston’s sake. I have every confidence that Marios can do Halston, but its gonna be a lot of work, and he needs our support. But not  Sarah Jessica’s Parker’s help. She should stick to flouncy skirts and pretty colours and curly hair…

—- UPDATE —-

The rumors are true (according to WWD), SJP is taking on an “advisory” role for Halston Heritage. This is a very bad start to the day.

—- SECOND UPDATE —-

It seems to be confirmed that SJP will be involved in the Halston Heritage collection, which is the Halston diffusion line focused on re-launching some pieces form the Halston archives. She won’t have anything to do with the line  Marios is working on, but still. It is wrong.