Last night I went to the opening of the James Nizam show at Gallery Jones on 3rd. As expected, crowd was interesting and well-dressed (unlike most fashion events in Vancouver.)

James’ work is really interesting, and once I looked into his older work, I’ve realised that this recent collection is much more to my taste than his older work. It is photography of sculpture and installation, and its amazing. He told us a bit about the process, and it was really interesting, but rather than try and recap it all, I’ve included a blurb from the invitation on the bottom of this post.

Images from the Gallery Jones website.

Here I am with a very old friend, Jessica Clark, from Quince Fine Flowers. I’m wearing Atelier 1 coat, Uniqlo Jeans, vintage handbag, Hermes necklace, and Finsk shoes.

I had to show you all a few more photos of my shoes, which got many compliments. I have yet to unleash my entire Finsk collection on Vancouver, but I can tell you there are many more amazing pairs that need christening.

The giant zipper pull looks amazing when it sings back and forth when you walk.

The pleated leather is divine.

More on James Nizam’s work, from the exhibition invitation.

“On the occasion of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Gallery Jones is pleased to announce James Nizam’s exhibition, Memorandoms which continues Nizam’s use of vacated domestic interiors as the backbone of his photography, the provisional location of his studio, and the source of materials. In this case the site is the former Little Mountain housing project on 33rd to 37th Avenues, between Ontario and Main Street, what was the oldest public housing development in Vancouver, recently demolished to make way for a higher density combination of market condominiums and social housing. At one time these low rise buildings situated around grassy common areas across the street from Queen Elizabeth Park would have been attractive housing. Large windows threw light onto hardwood floors of square well built rooms, but that was decades ago. One year ago Nizam was granted access to the slated complex where he assumed residence to an empty third floor apartment. There he set up a camera, and over the course of several months, documented a series of ephemeral sculptures that he constructed from accumulations of remnants such as doors, drawers, shelves, and various other standardized architectural furnishings. Similar to each of Nizam’s previous photographic series two dominant and constant ideas persist with this new body of work: the lost or abandoned domicile, and that the personal is political. In Memorandoms, though the type of the home used has shifted towards the social, Nizam’s work in them continues to move towards greater refinement and sophistication.”

Ever since I saw the Viktor & Rolf exhibition at the Barbican in London a few years ago, I gained a whole new appreciation for their work. (Check out some of the exhibition images here.) They really are an extraordinarily pair, and there are few designers pushing the boundaries of creativity like them these days.

I Adore…

this combination of formalwear, traditional tailoring, and fun prints.

another great mix of formalwear and casual trousers, I love it when formalwear looks effortless.

all these greys, the beautiful shoes, the layering, and the styling. A great look.

the blue tones. And the socks and scarf are a nice touch.

slick blue satin tuxedo stripes.

more great formalwear. Rather than a satin trim, lets make the whole tuxedo in satin. And its beautifully cut.

I Loathe…

this shirt and tie pattern. It's too gimmicky for my liking.

the way this look is belted. I love all the elements, but I don't like these cinched waists we are seeing in the menswear collections.

All images from GQ.com.

I was so wrapped up with my Decade Summary Posts (Remembering the Noughties Parts 1, 2, and 3) that I didn’t really upload many of my photos from the holidays. Here’s a couple of the parties and stuff. Christmas was low key this year, with presents mostly revolving around the home: a few French tapestries, antique silverware, money towards a Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner, and a giant plastic rabbit toy with a cigarette in his mouth.

My Christmas shoes, old Sonia Rykiel press pieces.

What is a better present than a book about shoes?

A book about shoes that is hand drawn by an artist.

Girls who love Shoes 2009 by Dougal Graham. I hope there’s a 2010 version coming soon.

Douglas Coupland’s City of Glass was one of the secret Santa presents.

It is all about Vancouver.

This list of top ten surnames in Vancouver was, well, interesting.

Thanks to Kendra, Tara and Neil for throwing a great New Years Eve Party. A house party is always good, there are no variables…you know there will be a toilet, your shoes aren’t going to get ruined, and you probably won’t be cold either.

The pom pom wreath

I like their house

Happy New Year!

The NYE aftermath: my D&G shoes, Sonia Rykiel diamante anchor, Vivienne Westwood rings, money left over (a very pleasant surprise) and a midnight snack of Lindt chocolate.

Last night we went to my friend Maria’s house for drinks. Her husband, Gregory Kenny, is a furniture designer, so there was high expectations with regards to their house. It was beautiful, but unfortunately my photos didn’t turn out that great since it was dark.

I love the painted radiators

Greg’s work is modern, and they have done a great job mixing modern and old in their home.

Here’s a few pictures from Greg’s website.

Back to school and work tomorrow everyone! Good luck…

Here is Part 3 of my summary of the last decade. Click for Part 1 and Part 2.

Building BRIC Countries. Brazil, Russia, India, and China have become new industry superpowers. Luxury brands are opening shop in these newly wealthy countries. China is reveling in its manufacturing powers and looking to bank in on creativity as well. Russian oligarchs own…almost everything. High street brands are opening all over India, with an estimated 700 million Indians living in cities by 2050 (Goldman Sachs.) And Brazil has the world’s 5th biggest population and a huge amount of natural resources.

Louis Vuitton’s Shanghai store under construction.

Too Fat and Too Thin are the words used at some point to describe almost all of the celebrities in the past ten years. With obesity rates rising globally, the blame shifted to the thin people, in particular the fashion industry.

Another distorted fashion image.

Socialising Change. How has society shifted in the past ten years?

A new language is born.

The Axis of Evil. Image source.

Twitter, tweets, tweeting, retweet, etc…

Swine Flu, Bird Flu, H1N1, the flu had many new names.

Image source.

There has been many goodbyes in the past ten years,including the Yellow Pages and the fax machine.

Green is the New Black, certainly when it comes to lifestyle. The words fairtrade, ethical, sustainable, and organic have become a part of our everyday vocabulary. How green are you?

Eating Locally

The Electric Car. Image source.

We all understand what this sign means now.

How many of you grow your own? with the help of your compost…of course.

And the garbage gets smaller as our waste gets redirected to compost and recycling. Image source.

Of course we all carry around reusable bags for our groceries… Image source.

And lets not forget, no trend is a real trend unless a giant American company manages to profit in some way. Here’s to the king of organic food.

When Fame Meant Talent. Our obsession with celebrities intensified in the past ten years, and fame became more achievable. Celebrities don’t just sing songs for us and act in our movies, they design our clothes, the model clothes in our magazines, they make perfumes, yoga clothes, hotels, and nightclubs. And anyone can be famous, land yourself a gig on a reality TV show, and you too can be the next big thing.

Big Brother: the source of way too many useless celebrities.

Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. One of the few celebrity collections that has a teeny bit of credibility. But not much.

According to UK Vogue, putting a celebrity on your cover guarantees way more sales than using a model, The only exception being Kate Moss, who seems to be an exception to a lot of things.

Poor Paris. She is just…so uncool.

The Hills: I can proudly say I have never watch a whole episode of these ditzes and their boring life. Would it be possible to do a reality show about some people who are interesting, intelligent, AND talented? Or does that defeat the purpose?

The i-Generation. Remember when a blackberry was a fruit? Phones were used for calling people? Maps were used for finding your way? And you used a CD player to listen to music?

And… A few more people to sum up the decade.

Politicians these days have to ride bikes. Image source.

Celebrity chefs: some were cool, some made good good, and other were *?@*&%€ !!!! Above, Jamie Oliver.

“shoes, sex! cocktails, shoes, men, Manolo, shoes, sex! dildo, New York, shoes, Manhattan, shoes, sex! orgasm, shoes, shopping, dress, shoes, New York. And sex!” The Sex and the City girls (or should I say ladies?) certainly liberated the plus forty single woman.

No many artists can go mainstream and still be cool. Banksy = an exception.

Remember when Karl Lagerfeld was fat and carried a fan? Photo from Vogue France.

Not many celebrities can be filmed doing cocaine, not make any statements to the media, and then double their fees.

Three really annoying guys who were generally a nuisance to everyone.

Sex Wizards sells. Image source.

Best Looking Couple. Oops! That award goes to Brangelina. The Beckhams get the Most Annoying Couple.

Let’s also take a moment to think of the many tragedies suffered in the past ten years, particularly the tsunami victims, Hurricane Katrina victims, and everyone else killed in wars, terrorist attack, or from starvation. There was FAR too much of that in the past ten years.

Happy New Year everyone and here’s to a prosperous 2010!

All images from the brand’s or person’s website, except all catwalk images from style.com, unless otherwise noted.

Thanks to the Grahams for their help on this list!

The only personal collection that rivals my shoe collection is probably my books. I guess I spent most of my disposable income in the past 15 years on shoes, clothing, and books. Definitely not enough spent on traveling.

(warning Blackberry people, this post is very image heavy, no point trying to read it without the pictures!)

As a teenager I used to collect fashion books, but then I started to branch out into photography, art, music, and whatever was beautiful.

My most precious books definitely include the following.

Helmut Newton’s Sleepless Nights. I have already write about how much I love Helmut Newton, and I have many of his books, but this one if definitely the most precious. It is out of print and quite difficult to get ahold of. My friend Chris found this copy for me, before that I used to borrow the one in St Martins College library and curse the asshole who had ripped pages out of it (and at the same time admired the pages that were left.) By the way, if you are the type of person who rips pages out of books in a library you are a TOTAL ASSHOLE.

Cover of Sleepless Nights

I love the colour in these photos.

He always used the most amazing locations for his shoots.

Michael Cooper’s You Are Here. I bought this at the beginning of my studies and immediately became obsessed with this photographer (there is more on him below.) He was the unofficial photographer of the Rolling Stones in the early years, and I am still mesmerized with some of his photos. Mick and Keith looked so amazing when they were young, and I really respect that they haven’t lost their credibility after all of these years (unlike some people…Paul McCartney.) My husband was doing the inventory for our insurance when we shipped our stuff back from England, and it turns out that this book is also worth quite a bit of money because it too is out of print and hard to find. So it traveled hand luggage with me, along with Sleepless Nights, all my Hermes, and several pairs of shoes.

Mick Jagger looks so cute here. What a babe.

Mick and Keith are definitely the coolest music "duo" ever.

Michael Cooper is best known for shooting the cover of this Rolling Stones album, Their Satanic Majesties Request

The Clash. Photographs by Bob Gruen. This is another great music book, in an amazing sleeve. I like The Clash, but they are not in my top ten, however these photos are fantastic. You can really see the influence they had on modern mens dress, the skinny jeans, the whole “cool”guy” thing. And The Clash were really a band that stood for something, in a time where there were a lot of issues going on in Britain, and it is great to see the atmosphere and mood going on during their shows.

This is the sleeve for the book.

Here's what it looks like from the side.

And this is the actual book.

I'll bet a Jonas Brothers concert doesn't get like this.

Petit Pattern Books. I love these little Japanese pattern books. They each have a theme, and tons of drawings, and it comes with a CD of digital files of all the prints (they are royalty free.) The texture of the paper and the graphics are so cute. I know they are a copy of Pepin Press‘ concept, and Pepin Press is a far superior publisher (you’ll hear more about Pepin in coming months) but these books are fun anyhow.

They look delicious on the book shelf.

I love the graphics and the cover parts.

This book is full of free icons.

This book is full of checks.

And this one if full of flowers and fruits.

OK, so now I can get to the main subject of this post, which is fabulous luxury books that I desperately want and are out of my price range. It feels sad that there are books out there I really want and can’t have. I can accept that I’ll never have a wardrobe of Birkin bags, but for some reason I feel as though I am entitled to own a copy of the Helmut Newton Sumo Book.

There are many wonderful, fabulous, and ridiculously expensive books out there, and I am going to show you three that I desperately want. The first one has been released very recently, and is what inspired me to write this post.

The Life and Times of Hugh M. Hefner
An illustrated autobiography with highlights from Playboy ’s first 25 years

I know that most people associate Playboy with “something I don’t buy and certainly don’t want to look at.” But there is no denying that a book, or six books, about the first 25 years of Playboy is going to contain some amazing photos. Yes, there are naked women, but for some reason porn mags from the sixties look a hell of a lot cooler than ones from last year (I am guessing this, since I don’t often buy porn mags.) In fact, I have been meaning for some time to start collecting Playboy from the 60s and 70s, but of course that is another thing on the “list of things to buy.”

Here’s some images from the book and some blurbs about it, all from the Taschen website.

Hugh M. Hefner presents an illustrated autobiography with chronological highlights from Playboy’s first 25 years. His personal life and career—from cartoon-drawing childhood to astonishing success with Playboy—are revealed in the most intimate portrait ever.

Limited Edition of 1,500 numbered copies signed by Hefner, in a Plexiglas case. Includes a facsimile edition of Playboy #1 from 1953—featuring the iconic Monroe cover and first nude shots—and a 7 x 7 cm piece of Hef’s famous silk pajamas, worn by the great man himself.

This sumptuous six-volume anthology celebrates the decadence, sophistication and wit of the original men’s magazine and its creator. Hugh Hefner’s Playboy highlights the extraordinary years from 1953 to 1979, with a selection of each era’s spiciest centerfolds and writing by literary icons Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer, Jack Kerouac and Ray Bradbury, as well as some of the most important Playboy Interviews, including Martin Luther King, John Lennon, Richard Nixon, and Roman Polanski.

Here is another one that is also out of my price range but definitely on my wish list. Blurb and images also from the Taschen website. Helmut Newton’s SUMO.

It is so big it actually comes with its own table!

The biggest and most expensive book production in the 20th century
Limited edition of 10,000 copies worldwide, each signed and numbered by Helmut Newton!

Probably Helmut Newton's most famous fashion images, these are of Yves Saint Laurent's "Le Smoking", which means tuxedo, one of the first pantsuits for women.

SUMO is a titanic book in every respect: it is a tribute to the twentieth century’s most influential, intriguing and controversial photographer. Measuring 50 x 70 cm (20 x 27.5 inches) and weighing approx. 30 kg (66 lb.), the book contains 464 pages, breaking any previous record. SUMO is a truly unique publication.

SUMO, edited by June Newton, features a wide selection of over 400 pictures, most of which are published for the first time, covering every aspect of Newton’s outstanding career in photography: from his stunning fashion photographs, which pointed the way for generations of photographers, to his nudes and celebrity portaits.

My last book today is Blinds and Shutters by Michael Cooper. This is the same photographer I mentioned above, but this is his very very special book. Here’s some images (I couldn’t find very many) and a blurb from the Snap Galleries website.

Blinds & Shutters is a journey through the 1960s, and has been internationally acclaimed as the definitive cult chronicle of that decade. Each volume has a variety of thirteen different contributors signatures which means, no two copies are ever the same. Copies signed by Ringo Starr are the most desirable.

Photographer Michael Cooper worked with leading musicians including, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Marianne Faithfull, Eric Clapton, artists such as Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Peter Blake and David Hockney and writers like William Burroughs, Jean Genet and Allen Ginsberg. He was never without his 35mm camera and captured some of the most intimate and confortable images with a vast collection of different legends from the 60s. Blinds and Shutters is limited to 5,000 copies.

Forgot to include prices above, in case you are feeling flush, here they are (in USD): Playboy book: around $1000, Helmut Newton Sumo Book, around $15,000, and Michael Cooper’s Blinds and Shutters, $4000.

These Michael Johansson sculptures featured on Trend Land are amazing! The Swedes just know how to make things look good.

All images from Michael Johansson’s website.

The Gingerbread House Competition and Auction at the Museum of Vancouver was a great night out. I bid on a house designed by Busby Perkins & Will Architects and won it!

This is the house I bid on.

Here's the house designed by McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design Inc

This one is by Eastside Design & Solus Decor

Here is my house in its new home, on the bookshelf underneath the Christmas Decoration.

We also checked out the Ravishing Beasts exhibition while we were at the Museum of Vancouver, which was pretty amazing. We have been on a hunt (not literally) for a taxidermy deer head for a while.

Anne Pearson from Vancouver Special had the most amazing Mondrian nails.

Speaking of the beautiful people, here are a few photos from the John Casablancas Institute Staff Christmas Party. I lecture there sometimes, and thought it was extremely generous of them to take us all out for a fabulous dinner at Opus. I wore my Jason Matlo sequined dress but stupidly didn’t get any photos of myself on the night.

I guess I wasn't surprised that everyone looked so fantastic...its a hair, makeup, and fashion school!

I don't know everyone is this pic, but Foster Eastman from Axis hair salons is the one in the back and red shirt, and Lori, sitting next to him, is one of the presidents at JCI Institute.

The private room we were in was beautiful!

I went to Portobello West for the first time on Sunday, which is a market for local artists and designers that takes place in Vancouver and Calgary. My camera was out of batteries, so I am sourcing a few images from the web, but here are some of my favourites.

Tricia Aviss‘ cheerful, playful canvasses.

Brendalyn Avender’s metal cuffs.

and Modus Press cards, who uses an antique letterpress.

We had a fantastic weekend in Squamish, staying with some very old friends, Dougal Graham (a local artist and jeweller) and his wife Camille (also very talented at making beautiful things.) I am insanely jealous of their life up there, we try and visit as often as possible. This weekend was fantastic for my husband, as he got to see things that are very Canadian, including seals, Canadian geese, salmon, and tons of bald eagles, including one that flew about three metres above us.

We also had a very productive weekend…

This is the box I received on arrival, a belated birthday present.

I was ecstatic to find this lovely ring on the inside.

ring + skulls + flowers = perfect (and these are hand engraved flowers made from antler.)

Our first project was making lip balms. There is nothing more comforting and delicious than the smell of beeswax.

The packaging needs work, but here is the finished product. Lemon, Rose, Cinnamon, and Tangerine beeswax lip balms.

I stumbled upon this copy of the Georgia Straights, with my friend Jason's work on the cover (www.jasonmatlo.com)

and on the inside was a photo of this sequined dress. Jason gave me one of these recently, and it is definitely my most "fun" party dress. I was going to swear off sequins after experiencing the sequin overload at Metrotown, but seeing this photo has changed my mind, I'll be wearing this dress to one of my Christmas parties.

Homemade lemonade, staying cool next to the window because the fridge was too full.

The dining room table, where we spent a bit too much time this weekend.

More beeswax, this time for candles. We are so precious with the beeswax, I feel so sorry for all the bees, they are disappearing!

Candle making supplies

Finished candles before the wicks were trimmed. The scents were Lemongrass, Cedarwood, and Cinnamon & Clove.

Our bedroom for the weekend. I hope my friends don't mind me posting pictures of their house...I can't resist, it is so amazing to be in a house surrounded by Dougal's beautiful paintings.

Yesterday I attended the Eastside Cultural Crawl, which is when art studios around East Vancouver open their doors to the public. It was great to see some very talented work, and also opened my eyes to the fact that the art scene is much more interesting than the fashion scene here.

Our first stop was Roselina Hung’s studio, who is a friend and also a very talented artist (who just happens to be on the cover of the Georgia Straight this week.) She was doing her MA at Central Saint Martins around the same time I was teaching there, and we met through a mutual friend. I love her colourful pop paintings, makes me wish I had a bit more cash to invest in beautiful art.

All images from www.roselinahung.com

I also loved Christian Woo’s amazing wood furniture.

All images from Christianwoo,com

Yaletown Pet Portraits was quite fun, I guess someone needs to do this, I imagine this is a pretty niche market with a lot of demand.

And finally, I really like the Wild Rose Tattoo Shirts. I know its tacky, but it would be really fun to wear a tattoo sleeve without any commitment every now and then. They print tattoo graphics onto tops, shrugs, tights, and sleeves.

All images from wildrosetattooshirts.com