FASHION Magazine

Everything ’90s is new again, and zines aren’t breaking the rule. To wit: they’re back. There’s a zine-ness to Toronto’s own Worn Journal, the indie fashion magazine favoured by Tavi. There’s the new, must-order First Kiss zine, by New York writers Marisa Meltzer and Elizabeth Spiridakis (aka White Lightning). And tonight, there’s an interactive zine workshop at Magic Pony in Toronto, headed by the arguably over-talented Sonja Ahlers.

With Robson Street completely pedestrianized between Bute and Beatty streets and Georgia Street now home to one of the city’s largest public squares, it’s inevitable that visitors will come across the Vancouver Art Gallery (vanartgallery.bc.ca). I love artist Michael Lin’s enormous mural of colourful Taiwanese fabric covering the entire Georgia Street façade, but with all […]

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Affairs of the heart are top-of-mind this month, but on the eve of Valentine’s Day, you’ll have a chance to spread the love around a little at the second edition of Heartbeats for Africa, a fundraiser to help women and children in Africa who are living with HIV/AIDS. The art auction is the brainchild of sisters Alison and Kate Lawler-Dean, who work in public relations and art consulting, respectively, and were inspired to create the event after reading Stephanie Nolan’s 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa. (The first Heartbeats was held in 2008.)

Not everyone with a brush can paint a picture, and certainly not everyone with a camera can take a photo. As Charlotte mused in Lost in Translation: “I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses… taking dumb pictures of your feet.” The […]

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Our fashion department has interns so bang-on stylish, they make Whitney Port look like an American Eagle greeter. One of these is my lovely friend Sarah Kosloff, who’s spent the last four months toiling behind the magic of editorial shoots. Though her days here are numbered, her talents are not. So, on Sarah Kosloff’s final day as a FASHION intern, I’d like to reveal one of her recent creative endeavours—a series of images she created for Show|OFF at UPC Boutique (128 1/2 Cumberland St., 416-929-9209, upcboutique.com).

“In an Absolut world,” Justin Broadbent jokes, “all the vodka would be beer.”

For an artist, Broadbent can be such a dude.  He creates almost hyper-actively—photographing, graphic designing, directing music videos (hotdoggarbage.com), mashing up mediums in big-scale works—and now,  he’s been commissioned by Absolut to create a one-day-only art exhibit. But honestly? On the sunny day of our interview, he’d rather be hanging out in the park with pretty girls. And the longer we chat, the clearer I see: this guy is 40 ounces of distilled positivity and not a drop of pretense.

There is something of the Mona Lisa in Lauren Conrad’s signature half-smile, hovering between certain boredom and smug knowingness. We’d just never realized it until last week, when we heard that The Hills are alive again, and in portraiture? No kidding: Karin Bubaš (karinbubas.ca), a Vancouver artist known for photographic work, has created a whole series of drawings of TV’s favourite California girls—mascara running, collagen lips trembling, looks killing from across da club.

A few Fridays a year art enthusiasts from across the city gather at the Vancouver Art Gallery for a cultural gathering known as Fuse—an evening that celebrates music, performance, fine art, and all around entertainment. The most recent incarnation of Fuse, which took place just last week, coincided with the opening of some of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s summer exhibitions, including the works of Anthony Hernandez, Andreas Gursky and Stan Douglas.

The Textile Museum of Canada (55 Centre Ave., Toronto, 416-599-5321) is a gem of a museum tucked away on a side street near University and Dundas and if you haven’t been there, you really should remedy that tout de suite. Not only is it a trove of fabrics from all over the world, there’s also […]

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This past Thursday, FASHION went Powerballin’ at the Power Plant’s 11th annual “original contemporary art party,” the Power Ball. Co-chaired by Cleophee Eaton, Michael Cooper and Queen West gallery guy Clint Roenisch, the trailer-trash bash was as much about raising hell as raising funds. Design duo du jour Castor hauled in their high-kitsch Winnebago and–what swine flu?–a real, live-looking pig roast. Next door, art (and bar) star Dean Baldwin slung vodka and Kool-Aid to the likes of Drake Hotel-ier Jeff Stober. In the “video outhouse,” scandalous “private parties” became less so, as they were broadcast to the big screen inside; other projections included “Mad Max” and a “Conceptual Art soft porn peep show.”

Canadian design wunderkind Jeremy Laing (jeremylaing.com), is taking a dip in art waters. Looks from his Fall 2009 collection will be worn by staff and curators at the Venice Biennale’s Canadian Pavilion. Opening June 7, the Pavilion will host the work of artist Mark Lewis who will be representing Canada with four films in the […]

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