FASHION Magazine

There’s a reason Shawn Hook was been nominated for a Juno Fan Choice Award this year. The B.C.-born singer songwriter has a way with singing, uh, hooks that stick. His catchiest tracks of late—”Sound of Your Heart” and as his new single, “Relapse”—bring to mind the suave tendencies of Justin Timberlake and yearning top notes […]

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Since Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be gracing our fair city this Friday at the Rogers Centre, the release of Sony Music’s video honouring The Boss’s bare-bones style could not come at a better time. Featuring the likes of George Stroumboulopoulos and FASHION contributor Sarah Nicole Prickett and created by Laura Lanktree, the video has some of Canada’s best and brightest sharing the ways in which Springsteen has either influenced themselves or impacted bad boy fashion.

View our SXSW style snaps »
Catch up with last year’s music festival coverage »

While we’ve been busy with all things Canadian fashion for the last few weeks, our friends south of the border have been living it up in the Austin sun for the two-week-long South by Southwest (SXSW) film, interactive, and music festival. While everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Jay-Z (!!!) to Sleigh Bells took to the stage, the stylin’ gals filled out the parties and the crowds in full force, including one Miss Alexa Chung, whom we snapped at the Spin magazine party in a rad metallic skirt, and two of the most babe-ular musicians, Margaux & Charly (they play violin and viola respectively), on bikes. Toronto-born and currently Austin-based writer and all around cool chick Lia Parsley was there to catch all the fashion action. And here, we bring you the best snaps!

There was a distinct cloud of dust hovering in the air backstage at Thakoon. Some models were coughing, a drop cloth had been laid on the floor, and there was a film of particles covering my iPhone. The culprit? Clay powders of varying shades that hair stylist Odile Gilbert had Fed Ex’d from Europe where they’re sold in pharmacies and health food stores. Applying it to the girls—either mixed with water or in its innate, powdery texture—was a nod to Holi, the annual festival of colour in India where the civilians throw coloured powder and water at each other. To give the illusion of bobs—albeit ones with tons of texture—hair was braided up into two different styles. (And yes, they were washing everything out post-show.) As an extension of the Indian influence, nails were painted with Nars nail polish in “Versailles,” a pale gold.

My closest friends know that every time the seasons change I become a little extra romantic, nostalgic and dreamy while inevitably proclaiming the upcoming season to be my favorite of all time. I’m unaffected by their long eye rolls and I usually take comfort in the current musical soundtrack of my life in those moments. They always seem to punctuate my thoughts and emotions in a much more beautiful and graceful way than whatever reality could ever deliver.

The princess of London is Lily Allen. She is—no exaggeration—everywhere: on enormous billboards, on the radio, on every gossip page, on catwalk playlists, on the February cover of Spin. (She makes a charming appearance in FASHION’s latest issue, too!) And just when you’re starting to feel a bit bothered, she does something you can’t deny is brill. Like cover “Straight To Hell” by The Clash with all the insouciance she can muster, turning a punk classic into ska-lite delight (with the help of one Mick Jones, by the way). The song is a smash, the first whopping success from the covers album Heroes for humanitarian charity War Child. It starts playing in your head every time you see War Child posters on the subway and you think two things: 1. Is there anything Lily can’t get away with? And 2. Oh, right. I was supposed to blog about that album.