What a refreshing Sonia Rykiel collection. Maybe I am biased because I used to work there, but usually Sonia Rykiel puts the same thing on the catwalk season after season. Its normally all about striped knits, lace dresses, wool jersey tailoring, and models with Sonia’s haircut. But this season’s collection feels fresh and fun and very Rykiel without being predictable.

And I love that the models all smile. For those of you that have never been backstage at a catwalk show, you may not know that the brands usually make little posters for the models to read before they go out on the catwalk. They will say things like “You’re angry!” or “You’re a sexy superstar” or “relax!” so that the models all have similar moods when they are on the catwalk. At Sonia Rykiel, our posters used to say things like “Smile”, “Hands in pockets”, and “Be Happy!” The girls do it well.

I Love…

the contrast of the knit and sheer on this outfit, the fabulous safety pin, and the giant pompom head piece.

the "very" dropped shoulder on this sweater coat.

the contrasting trim on this soft jacket.

a beautiful nude dress.

I Loathe…

a suit ten sized too big.

too may multicoloured stripes. And that black hat, it is in every Sonia Rykiel show and I don't understand why. I'm not very superstitious.

that every Sonia Rkiel show ends up with all the models on the catwalk in similar outfits. It was fun the first time, and maybe the second, but now it is gimmicky.

All images from Style.com.

Before I start this post, I just want to say that I am devastated about the death of Lee Alexander McQueen. I have decided to wait a few days to write a post about it, as I’d like to hear a bit more about the circumstances and the reactions, before I write.  I’ll post something in the next week or so. R.I.P. Lee Alexander McQueen.

It is hard now to go on and talk about fun fashion things, but I feel I am long overdue for a post about the Sonia Rykiel collections for H&M. I never wrote anything about the lingerie (I had a draft written for ages, and then it was too late,) so I definitely need to comment on that, and the knitwear coming out next week.

This body suit is pretty cool.

Not exactly a t-shirt bra, but very cute.

One of my students asked me if I was going to buy anything from the upcoming collection, and, unless I get the opportunity to do so with the least amount of effort, the answer is no. It is not because I don’t like the collection, on the contrary, it looks great but I have a lot of the real thing, so I don’t intend on buying the cheaper version.

But it looks pretty cool!

I had a look in my closet to see if I could show you all some of my fantastic Sonia Rykiel collection, and I realised that my collection consists of bags, shoes, and jewelry, I barely have any clothing at all. My Sonia Rykiel shoe collection is PHENOMENAL, with a lot of pieces that were never commercialised or that were produced in very limited quantities. My bags are mighty cool too. And the costume jewelry is fantastic. There is way too much of it to photograph tonight, so here are a few good bits.

Rhinestones, or "strass" as its called in French, are one of the key elements in all of Sonia Rykiel's collections.

My time at Sonia Rykiel was amazing, and I know I was fortunate to have worked with one of the fashion greats. She is a pretty amazing woman, and she was very invovled in all of the collections, which was rare because she was in her early seventies at the time. I can’t possibly describe the entire experience in one, or several, blog posts, but here are a few short stories that might make you smile.

My beautiful ribbon sandals.

One day Sonia took the design team to lunch at the Cafe Flore, which was across the street from the flagship store and the offices. She is known for being a bit of a swinger, and let’s just say, her love life certainly hadn’t caught up to her age. We were sitting upstairs, and a man came over to the table, which was filled with young fashion designers, good looking gays and girls, eating lunch, and right away he started chatting up Sonia. She didn’t even seem surprised. I was pretty impressed, and hope that I will still be receiving fancy pick up lines when I am 70.

These don't look like much, but the trim is real fur. And I love real fur.

If you work for Sonia Rykiel, and your name is Sonia or Nathalie, you need to adopt a new name while you are working in the company. They don’t want anyone to have the same name as the founder or her daughter. The even weirder thing was that our studio director was named Antoinette, but Sonia hated that name, so she was referred to as Louise while she worked there. Louise wasn’t her middle name or anything, it was a name assigned to her, because Sonia “liked” it.

Sonia Rykiel was not the most generous of brands when it came to giving freebies, particularly to the models. We always told the dressers to make sure that the models didn’t steal the clothing. At one show, I was helping someone dress Alek Wek, and she said she loved the shoes (I think those were the ribbon sandals shown above.) One of the senior designers said to me, “Give her the shoes! Give her the shoes!” We gave her the shoes, and what happened? A few weeks later she is photographed wearing them out, and of course they become one of the “shoes of the season.”

Yes, these ankle boots are amazing...

but even more amazing when you fold down the top and expose the pink lining. Notice the "strass" all down the side.

My favourite one-on-one Sonia Rykiel moment was when she called me in to help her tidy up the studio. I had just started there, so I felt pretty intimidated by her. Our fur supplier had dropped off some colour samples and they needed to be tidied. Now, this didn’t mean they dropped off a few bits of dyed fur, this meant we had about thirty top grade fox skins, dyed in the most beautiful colours (which, once lined with satin, sold as scarves for about $2,000 each.) She was shoving them into garage bags, and asked me to help her with it. She said they were in the way. Here I was, 20 years old, a little Vancouver girl, shoving $40,000 dollars worth of fox skins into a garbage bag with one of the most famous French fashion designers. Welcome to Paris.

My "Glam Star" strass pins.

All Sonia Rykiel for H&M images courtesy of H&M.

I definitely think that North Americans are a little less generous than the British when it comes to using the F word. I agree its vulgar and rude, but at the same time, its effective and straight to the point. I know I say it too much, but after living in London for ten years, it becomes a part of your day-to-day vocabulary. One of the biggest challenges here in Vancouver is NOT to say it in work situations, with clients or in front of students.

I suppose I became desensitized to the F word when I studied at Central Saint Martins, under the tutelage of Professor Louise Wilson OBE. Louise is the MA Fashion Course Director at Central Saint Martins, and, after my mother, is probably the person who has had the most impact on me as a person, and whom I credit for shaping me into the person I am today.

I remember during the last week of my MA, while we were finishing off our collections, I said to my friend Richard (Nicoll, a fantastic designer) that we would remember our times at Central Saint Martins as the best times in our lives. He told me that I was crazy, and he was dying to get out of there. Only a few months later, he said that I had been right.

I’ve decided to talk about Louise today because there is a fantastic article in the Guardian about her and the MA at Central Saint Martins. The article makes her sound terrifying but portrays her as one of the most influential people in the fashion world. I think when she describes her students as “lazy fuckers” she is being quite kind. She used to call us the “tragic cunts.” (Sorry, I know that is a very, very bad word, but it is a quote.) I’ve also been told my work is “shit”, I should lose weight, and that we were all hopeless. She told me I was going to fail the course so many times, that I had planned to give up fashion become a surf bum in Cape Town.

Richard Nicoll Spring Summer 2010

But this hasn’t stopped me from admiring and loving Louise. The hell she put us through prepared us for an even worse hell: the real world. I remember my first interview after my MA course at CSM was with Christopher Bailey at Burberry. He laughed at my work. Most people would have run off sobbing, but I didn’t really care. I was used to much worse. (On that note, Burberry did hire for a project me shortly after…)

What the article doesn’t fully explain, and what Louise doesn’t fully prepare us for, is the fact the 18 months in the MA studios is a holiday compared to the upwards battle you have to fight to be successful in the fashion world. I had already worked for Sonia Rykiel by the time I was at CSM, so I knew what the industry is like (and Sonia Rykiel is pretty easy compared to some brands who do everything at the absolute last minute.) We graduated at a pretty bad time, right after 9/11, so jobs were scarce, and there weren’t many options. Almost everyone started their own business, or opted to take a more quiet route in fashion. After the Burberry project, I started on my own business, and then when that wasn’t making me millions, I too opted for the quiet route.

When I look at the other graduates from my year, and other ex-colleagues from the industry, I see that nearly everyone is either a slave to the industry, or has chosen to have a life, which means a much more modest profession in fashion.

Illustration by Miss Marc by Marc Jacobs, by Will Broome.

I chose the latter, and here I am in Vancouver, not having done a twelve hour shift in several years, and having time to watch TV, walk my friend’s dog, maintain a healthy relationship with my husband, and get eight hours of sleep a night. Then there’s Neil, who left his designer job and is now teaching fashion illustration classes in New York, something he loves to do (check it out, Harbor at Dawn.) Jens (Laugesen) started his own business, and was a slave to it for many years. The only thing I have heard people say about him since he gave up his business is “he looks amazing.” Will Broome, an incredible illustrator, is still doing his own work, but judging by the amount of time he spends on Facebook, I think he too has prioritized a personal life and time with his daughter. Oonagh writes books and teaches and does projects when she wants. Dean teaches and has his own collection, but its low key and he still finds time to have a drink at the pub.

Jonathon Saunders Spring Summer 2010

On the other side, there’s Jonathon, who has been working like crazy over the past few years, first to build and then to maintain his business, and I cant even begin to imagine how he must be feeling right now, as the brand is at that stage where it will become a major player, or fade away. Bora and Miki who got a lot of attention after graduation, but then had to compete with the many new brands being launched every year. Kim, now at Dunhill, who is facing some tough criticism from the press at the moment. Another example is Susanna who is senior designer at Dior. Yes, she gets nine weeks holiday, yes she can afford amazing 5 star hotels, but she hasn’t maintained a normal social life in years. Last time I was supposed to see her, we had booked a trip to the Swiss Alps, and she had to cancel the day before because John wanted to do fittings. Did I mention her boss Steven died at a the age of 38, from a heart attack after many years of complete and total dedication to John Galliano and his work. I am sure I was not alone in thinking “that could be me if I continue to work like this…”

L'Wren Scott Spring Summer 2010

My friend Julia who started as Carine Roitfeld’s assistant, and then moved on to be a successful stylist at French, US, Japanese, and Chinese Vogues, is quite a sad story in my eyes. She was one of my best friends, but I gave up on her when she was too busy to RSVP to my wedding invitation. Florence used to sleep under her desk when she works at Alaia and now she has a job she enjoys with L’Wren Scott (Mick Jagger’s girlfriend), but it’s a small company and she works extrememly hard (I definitely didn’t complain when we walked down the red carpet with the Rolling Stones at their Shine A Light premiere in London, but I can assure you that there’s a new degree of stress when you’re not only trying to run a fashion business but also being surrounded by some of the most famous people in the world.) Avshalom, who did a short spate as creative director of the relaunched Ossie Clark brand, only to have it shut down shortly after. His own line still exists, and although he has two young children, he still has a bed set up in his office.

The higher you are, the harder the fall.

So, as much as I respect Louise and credit her for preparing us for the world of fashion, no one can prepare you for the real world, which is in many ways far more terrifying than being called a “tragic cunt”, or a “lazy fucker”. And I am sorry to all those fashion hopefuls out there thinking that the industry is all about glamour and fun. Yes, those things are definitely involved, but the industry gives a new definition to the term “slave to fashion.”

On that note, I am now going to have dinner and lie in front of the TV for a few hours. I’ll get up at 8am tomorrow, do a one and a half hour yoga class, go home and make myself lunch, and then do a bit of work and attend a meeting in the afternoon. The only deadline I have in the near future is the next blog post, which is not very stressful at all. Maybe I’ll get bored of this soon, but it is so nice, for once, not to be tired all the time.

I am sure most of the people mentioned in this article will agree that our time as fashion students were some of the best times of our lives. Students who are reading this, take note, and enjoy it while you can.

I was going to change names in this article, but then I would have had to change brands, and that would have defeated the whole purpose. I hope I haven’t offended any of my old classmates and friends, good luck to those of you still slaving away.

Images: Hello Kitty source, and all catwalk images from Style.com. Will Broome illustration from his website.

There’s been a lot in the press and blogosphere about the attention bloggers are getting, and whether bloggers have the right to be sitting front row at fashion shows and being recipients of free stuff.

It started off with an article in The Independent entitled “Fluff flies as fashion writers pick a cat fight with bloggers” which talked about the fact that many people in the industry can’t believe that bloggers are getting showered with free gifts, and that blogs “have turned into little more than mouthpieces for fashion brands, which are increasingly using bloggers to regurgitate their press releases.” (Read Kanye West’s hilarious and absolutely idiotic rant against bloggers here.)

Tavi’s hat that blocked everyone’s view. Image source.

Business of Fashion then wrote a good article about how the Independent interviewed many bloggers for the article, but failed to use any quotes from them and therefore the article was quite one-sided. There was also some other really good points made (as usual) by Imran Amed, editor of Business of Fashion, so I’d suggest you read both articles if you are at all interested in the subject. (Links here and here.) They also link to Grazia magazine’s outburst at Tavi, and her response. I don’t want to spend too much time on this but I’d like to have my say, so, here are some of my points.

Yes, there are bloggers that are not always professional and maybe they don’t all deserve the spotlight they have, but if the public support them by reading their blogs, whose exactly is judging that they “don’t deserve?” Also, there are many very interesting, intelligent, or beautiful blogs out there, and they DO deserve the attention they are getting.

Susie Bubble from Style Bubble, a well-respected fashion blog. Image source.

How can magazine criticize bloggers for getting free stuff? The whole concept of a magazine is based on advertisers, if you can’t afford to advertise on their expensive glossy pages, they won’t talk about you. 90% of Vogue’s content is covering advertisers’ product, so those are the brands that can afford $25K per page. And I can guarantee you, the magazine staff gets TONS of free stuff, it’s disgusting how much. Magazine staff generally gets paid quite poorly, but the perks are well worth the low salaries. So if editors are allowed free stuff, why aren’t bloggers?

Plum Sykes, another Vogue-employed boring socialite. Image source.

But the main point I’d like to make is that the fashion industry is extremely critical, brutally unethical, and totally elitist. And the way that people make it to the top is highly unfair. Will someone find me a major fashion industry player who WAS NOT born into a rich family, or has famous parents? Because seriously, nearly everyone (aside from designers) in the industry comes from money and fame, and that’s how they get their break. I like that bloggers don’t have to be socialites or from a rich family to get their voice out into the industry.

There are some exceptions of course, and particularly in Britain, you can come from nothing and make it as a designer, but if you look at who is making it big in the fashion industry, most of them come from money or fame.

Lou Doillon. Image source.

Take Lou Doillon as an example. Famous mom (Jane Birkin) meant she got the chance to be famous herself. I worked on one of the Sonia Rykiel shows that was her first catwalk show, and I had to teach the girl how to walk! She had no clue what the hell she as doing, but everyone loved her because her mom was famous. She is pretty, but I’m sorry to say it, never was model material. But who cares, famous mom = you are famous too.

How about Stella McCartney, Jade Jagger, Leah Wood. The Rolling Stones and The Beatles offspring make up a fair percentage of famous people at the moment.

Carine Roitfeld, editor of French Vogue may have started as a model, but let’s not deny the fact that she is bourgeois through and through.

Tamara Mellon, CEO of Jimmy Choo, whom I respect, would have never gotten anywhere without Daddy’s£150K “loan” to start up a little company with her friend Jimmy Choo.

Nearly all the girls at Vogue have come from money, and you’re seriously looked down on if you aren’t.

I’m just flipping through January’s issue of US Vogue, and who is mentioned in the magazine? Sofia Coppola, talented, but would not have stood a chance without her last name. Vanessa Traina: famous for nothing except having Danielle Steel as a mother.

Check out Vogue’s masthead:

Anna Wintour: father was a newspaper editor, and rich.

Alexandra Kotur: grew up in a rich family and mother worked as an illustrator for Vogue.

Plum Sykes: came from a rich family in England.

Rosamond Bernier: Was friends with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse when she grew up.

Marina Rust: great great granddaughter of Chicago department store magnate Marshall Field.

Tonne Goodman: husband is a Gimbel of the Gimbel’s department story family and the stepson of director Sydney Lumet.

The list could go on…and it’s the same at nearly all of the major glossy magazines. They are almost all socialites or from money.

Now, you don’t go into the fashion industry because you think it will be ethical and fair and nice. I am used to it, and I’ve learned to accept I’ll never be an editor of Vogue because my Dad isn’t famous and my mother is not a socialite, and I wasn’t a model when I was growing up. But the thing that ANNOYS the hell out of me is that all of these elitist journalists are getting in a huff because there are bloggers that aren’t socialites from wealthy families are getting attention and free stuff. Well, if the growth and popularity of the fashion bloggers means that the socialites are going to get less front-row seats at shows, and less free stuff, I am all for it.

I LOVE the idea of public opinion and readership numbers being the reason why someone gets attention, not because they’re rich so they got a job at Vogue.

(One day I’ll tell you the story about a Vogue-ette I know who used to be completely normal and then suddenly developed a pout and a posh accent when she started working for Vogue. There are probably many stories like that…)

Jason Matlo had a party last night in his studio for his friend Brad. My husband was the only straight guy amongst five women and at least forty gay guys, and he lasted over three hours. What a star!

Lyndi Jane from Style Republic Magazine, Jason, and TJ.

Rebecca and Brad, who both work for Holt Renfrew.

I am so jealous of Brad’s glasses, the shape is fantastic. But he says they came from a dollar store, which means its not worth getting a pair. I don’t like to spend money putting lenses in frames that might not last.

Danielle, Wen-chee, James, and me (wearing H&M top and skirt, COS waistcoat, Ash shoes, and Hermes jewelry)

Christina and Leila, whose red vintage Balenciaga dress looks amazing.

I can’t remember who this girl was, and I am sorry its not the most flattering of photos, but she deserved a mention. She turned up wearing a full space suit with proper space helmet, and then took that off to reveal this combo. I am loving the American Apparel two tone tights with Sonia Rykiel for H&M lingerie bodysuit.

One thing Vancouver girls do really well is nails. Everyone seems to have cool manicures here.

Jason said the bakery could not understand why he wanted a white cake with white icing. I love it. Tone on tone cake decoration is the way forward.

My father is French, and I lived in France, so I feel I am pretty familiar with the ways of the French. I also feel that as I am half French I am allowed to point out their many faults.

But today isn’t about the bad qualities of the French, as I’d need several hours to write that post, and I’m too tired. Instead, I’d like to talk about a few things that I love about the French.

I received this e-card today from someone I worked with in France. Guillaume was in charge of lifestyle trends when I did a project at Nelly Rodi a few years ago (Nelly Rodi is a big fashion forecasting agency based in Paris.) We have kept in touch since, and this e-card arrived in my inbox today, it is a Happy New Year greeting from Guillaume and his new trend consultancy, LaB.

One of the great things about the French is that they don’t bother with sending out Chrtismas cards during the busiest time of year, when the postman are bogged down with delivering cards and presents, and everyone is busy buying gifts and cooking and celebrating the holidays. Instead they do it in January. I remember when I worked on the design team at Sonia Rykiel, I received a pile of holiday cards to send out to all my contacts, about five days before Christmas. I freaked out, but was reassured that you actually have until the 31st of January to wish people “Bonne Annee.” That is a pretty good idea, removing the stress of mialing Christmas cards before Christmas. It also means that if you forgot to send cards out before Christmas, you can do them in January without offending anyone. Let’s just say…I’ll be sending out some cards this week.

A couple of other things the French do well:

• Holidays: they know how to take them, and they take at least six weeks worth a year. That is the right amount of holidays to take in the year.
• Heathcare: We’ve all seen Sicko, we know the French do healthcare better than anyone else in world.
• Food: well, to be honest, they are old school, and they need to modernize things to keep up with the rest of the world. But French food is the foundation to most good food.
• Bakeries. I guess that fits into food.
• Eclairs. See above.
• Fashion: Paris is the fashion capital, no contest.
• Etiquette. Everyone says the French are rude, but they are usually only rude to tourists. People call each other Madame and Monsieur, and they are very formal in their communications. And when you meet someone in a social environment, you kiss them on each cheek. You do this with EVERYONE there (unless you walk into a house party with hundreds of people.) It means you are forced to meet everyone, and there is no awkward “Do I hug? Do I handshake? Do I kiss?…” It is the done thing. (the further south you go, the more kisses you give, for example two on each side in the South of France, three in French Switzerland)
• Wine and Champagne. Probably also the best in the world.

Time for a trip to France!

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…

My friend Michaela pointed out to me recently that everyone has just sort of been ignoring the fact that we are about to enter a new decade. Well, I wouldn’t say it has been ignored, but I agree we aren’t really making a very big deal of it. Maybe we had millenium overload ten years ago, but no one can deny that a lot has happened since 2000.

I have been working on this post for a while, looking through other websites’ and newspapers’ “summaries of the decade” and trying to think what I felt was really important from the last ten years. I have combined it all under a few categories, and I am probably forgetting loads of important things, but here I go. Also, I don’t agree with Time Magazine, who has called the 00s “The Decade from Hell”, I prefer just using the term The Noughties. Nought means zero in British English. Maybe we can call it The Decade Nought to be Forgotten? Ok, that sounds cheesy. Lets just call it The Noughties.

It is a very long post, so I have broken it down into 3 parts. Here is Part 1. Enjoy!

The Politics of the Stars and Stripes really took over the world stage in the past ten years. First, the Americans had the disastrous Bush era, whose ignorance, terrible international relations, and poor leadership led to the US being the most hated country in the world. That pissed some people off so much that they flew planes into the World Trade Centre towers, which led to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and very long line ups to get through security in airports. Things started to look up at the end of the decade, when Barack Obama was elected the first African American president of the United States. He hasn’t been around long enough for us to feel the effect of his good deeds, but it definitely brought hope to the world, and has calmed down their enemies… a little. And his wife is the best dressed first lady ever…she deserves mega kudos for showing off her arms, supporting young American designers, and wearing affordable clothing.

Yay!

These images from are from The Cut’s Michelle Obama Lookbook, they have been documenting all of her outfits. Definitely worth a look.

A Shift of Power took place in the fashion industry, as we saw established designers disappear, famous retirements, celebrities taking over the industry, and revived brands making headlines.

Valentino retires, and so we say goodbye to the man known for red dresses, animal prints, and perma tan.

Emanuel Ungaro also retired in 2004, which resulted in turmoil in the house for several years, leading up the current disastrous state which sees Lindsay Lohan as Artistic Director. The above images are from her first collection for the house, which was bought by only two stores.

Things are not looking good for Christian Lacroix, who has had to suspend his Haute Couture and Pret-a-porter because of financial difficulties.

The Ferre brand is also unstable, since the death of the founder, Gianfranco Ferre, in 2007. Image source.

And some very old brands have been reinvented…

Alber Elbaz is now the Creative Director behind Lanvin.

Nicolas Ghesquière is the Creative Director for Balenciaga.

and Christophe Decarnin is the Creative Director for Balmain.

Luxury Made Accessible by the high street retailers collaborating with big names. Owning a piece by Karl was no longer unattainable, as long as you were willing to wait in a line up.

H&M were the pioneers of the designer high street collaboration.

H&M designer collaborations. Clockwise from top left: Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Viktor & Rolf, Matthew Williamson, Sonia Rykiel, Comme des Garcons, Jimmy Choo, and Roberto Cavalli.

Christopher Kane for Topshop, the famous crocodile print.

Target launched collections with McQ Alexander McQueen, Anna Sui and Rodarte (shown above.)

New Media changed the way we consumed news and information. Time Magazine summed it up in 2006 when they named “You” as person of the year. Web 2.0 changed the way we consumed the web, making users the new contributors. Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, and Myspace changed the way we searched, researched, communicated and socialized.

The computer screen was a mirror...

This image of bloggers Bryanboy and Tommy Ton (from Jak & Jil Blog) sitting front row at the Dolce and Gabanna Spring Summer 2010 show with Anna Wintour, Hamish Bowles, Suzy Menkes and other big player fashion journalists showed that blogging was being taken seriously in the fashion industry.

Scoot Schulman’s street style blog, The Sartorialist, is known for his well-chosen photographs of men and women of all ages on the streets of the world’s fashion capitals.

Websites like Vogue’s Style.com has allowed us to view fashion catwalk images hours after the runway show itself, changing the way we consume fashion. Years ago, fashionistas would wait until the magazines published the new season’s collections, usually months after the show itself. Now we see the shows immediately after they happen, and hear about them on Twitter as they are happening.

Catch Part 2 of 3 “Remembering the Noughties” posts tomorrow!

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

Thank you to Erin and Lenny who hosted an amazing Christmas party last night. The baked goods situation was extremely dangerous. Erin does things with peanut butter that are…incredible.

She made 14 different types of delicious things and they had a great colour theme too.

I am toying with the idea of copying their "book matching" technique. The shelves definitely look nicer when the books are colour coordinated.

Me and Kendra, who used to live in England too.

Kendra now manages Latitude restaurant, a fantastic restaurant on Main street (don’t judge the website, the restaurant is way cooler than its website.) I’m wearing Aloe loungewear top, very old skirt, and even older Sonia Rykiel boots.

Good looking girls.

More good looking girls, this time all with fringes.

Great tattoos and fabulous grey tie.

I am a bit jealous of their white cuckoo clock with deer head.

I bought one of Aldo’s DIY kits this week. I am sure that any craft store would sell the same studs or even better ones, but I thought the price was pretty reasonable for this little kit ($4) and a lot of people won’t be bothered to go to a craft store. I am not sure I will put this on a pair of shoes, maybe something else, I’ll post the results when I have them.

I like that Aldo has decide to launch this range, it is very on-trend for recessionistas, and it is a fun way to update shoes. I thought the studs thing would be going out of fashion, but apparently not, especially since the new Lousie Goldin for Topshop shoes are generating A LOT of hype. I want them.

No studded shoe will ever compare with these Sonia Rykiel shoes I got years ago when I was working there. Their box is labelled “The Shoes”, they have had quite some history, and have travelled many places. My favorite incident was when I broke both heels off falling down the stairs at Claridges Hotel, coming out of Mick Jagger’s penthouse suite. Thankfully I had a great shoe repair in London! These never went into production, so there was only ever a small number made (maybe 4 or 5?) which makes them even more special.

THE shoes

Aldo also had these leather straps you can add onto boots. These are also pretty cool, I would put them onto biker boots. (I don’t have any biker boots, but am contemplating buying some. They would be practical for the weather here in Vancouver, rain every single day, for 23 hours a day.) The Aldo photography and layout looks a bit dodgy tho…