FASHION Magazine

The symphony of colours, patterns, textures, forms and silhouettes in fashion transcribes into a cultural and historical dialogue into the Textile Museum of Canada’s exhibit, The Cutting Edge (to July 7, $12, 55 Centre Ave., 416-599-5321, textilemuseum.ca).

It might come as a surprise to some that Charlottetown has a killer local music scene. The Danks, Smothered in Hugs, The Robots and Two Hours Traffic (whose music has been featured on The O.C., and who were recently nominated for a couple of Verge music awards) are just a few of the local bands that are beginning to make serious waves on a national scale.

Wouldn’t it be fabulous if you could shop for a living?  And, I don’t mean for groceries, stationary supplies or diapers…I mean Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Holt Renfrew. For Calgary based stylist Karla Carol’Ann Pospisil this is a way of life.

By Jennifer Campbell

Long before everyone and her mother was touting green as the new black, Toronto’s Preloved was pumping out sustainable fashion from reclaimed fabrics. Their reassembled sweaters, former-trenchcoat jackets and dresses-from-khakis have been staples of a downtown girl’s wardrobe since 1995.

This holiday season, my top priorities are to support local businesses, complete my shopping at one destination and, because I will have my three very young children in tow, spend no more than a few hours.  I am opting for Crestwood Centre, an elegant collection of stores that are upscale shopping at it’s finest.

I just turned 26. (Yes, I put my age on the internet for the whole world to see.) I’m now closer to 30 than 20 and in celebration of becoming one year older (and most importantly, wiser), I decided to buy a scandalous little dress and show some leg, just to prove that I can still run with the best of them.

My friends always argue about which of these dresses, wolf vs. bird, is the most fantastic, and while a verdict is rarely reached, everyone seems to agree that these two dresses are the Lennon and McCartney of the local fashion scene.

By Jennifer Campbell

Did y’all see Britney on Saturday? Those who didn’t catch Spears’ MTV true-superstar-story, Britney: For the Record, would do well to catch it one of the myriad times it will air this week. It’s candy of the best kind.

The holiday season is upon us and there is no time I love more than Christmas.  I love it all: the busyness, shopping, baking, shopping, decorating, shopping and music. It’s also the time of year when the most glitz and glamour emerges from our closets (and we search for some new head turners).

FASHION’s Rani Sheen guest blogs from the Geminis.

Canada’s TV personalities turned out in their awards-show best on Friday night for the 23rd Annual Gemini Awards in Toronto. The InterContinental’s soaring glass lobby was a grand setting for pre-show cocktails, although the Metro Toronto Convention Centre’s basement was a slightly less glamorous venue for the awards.

A few years ago Mattel announced that, after 43 years of dating, its plastic bombshell had ended her love affair with Ken. A woman with dozens of jobs under her belt, from NASCAR driver to paleontologist, even Barbie couldn’t keep it together. At the time I remember feeling baffled by all the media attention their break-up demanded—maybe because I was more of a My Little Pony kind of girl.

With a stir of rebels and rivals, a pinch of angst, romance and graduation anxiety, cinematic high-school drama never fails deliver. My coming-of-age retrospective is consumed with the fashion in juicy teen classics like Dazed and Confused, The Breakfast Club, Clueless and the cream of the crop, Grease.