FASHION Magazine

There is something so easy and effortless about summer dressing. Throw on a cute floral dress, stack a few bangles, slip into a fabulous sandal and out the door you go.

By Jennifer Campbell

Is there anyone out there who doesn’t harbour a big crush on Isaac Mizrahi? Seriously, raise your hand. Well, it can’t be just me, because the designer’s web site (isaacmizrahiny.com), revamped earlier this year, seems tailor made for the Mizrahi enthusiast.

By Jennifer Campbell

Around here, I am sometimes known, style wise, as the sexy secretary. I assume this is because of my predilection for pencil skirts as opposed to my filing skills, which are nil. Happily, the fall runways (to say nothing of Mad Men) were full of strict, administratively-inspired outfits.

By Natalia Ksiazek

It-Brit Luella Bartley is the latest designer to team up with Tonic (tonicgen.com), a for-profit business that sells stylish stuff while supporting meaningful causes.

All of my big plans to head to Montreal to check out the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts may be a bust, but I got an email last week that promised to satisfy the couture craving. This past Friday, I ventured up to Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street (my second home of late, not that I’m complaining) to take a spin around a new in-store installation of vintage YSL.

As summer heats up, so does celeb-spotting season.

Hilary Swank and Amelia co-star Ewan McGregor were filming at the Carlu on College Street one lovely Sunday afternoon. The film, based on the life of Amelia Earhart who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937, also stars Richard Gere and Virginia Madsen and is being directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding).

“In a notoriously laid-back city, it’s nice to see a bit of red carpet glamour,” said Maggie Langrick, the new arts editor at the Vancouver Sun and my co-judge for this year’s Best Dressed on the Red Carpet at the Leo Awards. We were being asked what was the best part of being asked to present this award, and her words were spot on.

After a long and dull winter, Montreal is full of life again. Last week the Festival Transamériques (www.fta.qc.ca) drew dance and theatre lovers to its indoor and outdoor shows, exhibitions and workshops. With artists in from Paris, Dusseldorf, Brussels, New York, Rio and Berlin, the atmosphere was really thrilling. Among the favourites was Benoît Lachambre and Louise Lecavalier’s Is You Me, a dark, minimalist dance show that questioned the body and its relationship to others. With N.Y.C. composer Hahn Rowe’s magnetic electronic music and artist Laurent Goldring’s live digital creations, it was a voyage for all the senses.

Sorry for abandoning you, dear readers, but I was buried under a mountain of veils, foam wedding cakes, $20,000 diamonds and countless dresses and bouquets. Yes, it’s production time for Mariage Québec and your poor Montreal editor doesn’t have a life!

The Toronto chapter of Fashion Group International held its annual Night of Stars gala downtown at the Carlu recently, bringing out the brightest of Canadian fashion stars, natch. Though this fashionable girl was riding her couch due to a severe throat infection, details came pouring in fast and furious from my own fashionably lovely friends. Along with the night’s honorees—including twins Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared, designer Wayne Clark, Holt Renfrew’s Barbara Atkin, journo David Livingstone and interior-design guy Brian Gluckstein—the well-heeled crowd consisted of Zoomer mag editrix Suzanne Boyd (looking lovely in a lingerie-inspired ensemble), who arrived with Ian Hylton, Pink Tartan’s Kimberley Newport-Mimran was there with hubby Joe, who was presenting, Natalie Lecomte from Holts dazzled in a pistachio Greta Constantine mini, while eTalk’s Ben Mulroney arrived with fiancée Jessica Brownstein.

There is nothing a FASHION editor likes more than a touch of luxe after a long day at the office.  And when it comes to luxe, two bon mots come to mind: Michael Kors.  Some may know him from Project Runway, but he is best known as one of America’s pre-eminent designers of luxury sportswear.  His ad campaigns (think aviator-wearing, python bag–toting, sun-kissed, glowing glamour girls) perfectly capture the essence of the luxe lifestyle, PJs (that’s private jets, love) and all.   So, when MK opened his third lifestyle store in Canada at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, the Tinsley Mortimer set from north of the border came out in droves. 

I stepped in as the online editor for FASHIONMagazine.com at the end of March and I thought it was about time I said hello. I’m really thrilled to be jumping into the website right now; there are so many exciting things happening, like our partnership with MySpace and the big one, our Reporter Search. I’m especially thrilled about this contest, since it lets our team peer into those corners of the country we don’t normally see.