FASHION Magazine

There’s no one “right” way to look anymore (hooray always and forever), and we can chalk some of that notion up to the power of social media. Yes, friends, I said it. Whether it be the power of #IWokeUpLikeThis (via our lord and savior, Beyonce Knowles), Love Your Lines, or the abolishment of the under-size […]

The post Is Social Media the Best Thing to Ever Happen to the Body Positivity Movement? appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Who among us isn’t obsessed with Bunz? The trading Facebook groups and app have exploded in the past few months, and we’re particularly enamoured with Bunz Makeup Zone. What started out as a place for people to swap makeup (and it’s still a go-to for that) has transformed into a much bigger community of people […]

The post The 14 best skincare and makeup tips on Bunz appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

2015 is quickly wrapping up, with only a couple of weeks left until New Year’s Eve. Before you start setting resolutions and looking forward to 2016, let’s take a moment to reflect on things that happened this past year. And what better way to do that than by taking a look at the posts that […]

The post Top 20 posts of 2015: From summer weddings to cat memes, our most popular pieces, as shared by you appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

It’s the middle of a Thursday afternoon and I’m lying on a mat in a chic studio overlooking Toronto’s posh Yorkville neighbourhood. Woodsy incense wafts through the air. My head rests on a pillow embroidered with an iconic image of Buddha. Phil, my meditation instructor, coaxes harmonic tones out of instruments called quartz crystal singing […]

The post You’re not good at multitasking, you just think you are appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

We may have taught you how to take the best Instagram photo, but what do you know about taking the perfect profile picture? We all know Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and dating apps like Tinder each serve a different purpose in our lives, so naturally each platform should be given special attention. And since it’s the first picture a follower comes across, it’s important that it’s a memorable one.

When it comes to choosing the perfect profile picture, bloggers, editors and other social media stars have the skill down pat. But what’s their secret to having such recognizable profiles? Thanks to years of social media experience and connecting with thousands of followers, they’ve come to know the ins and outs of what pictures works best for them. Cases in point: Using one consistent photo across her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, Nicole Warne of Gary Pepper Girl can easily be recognized on all her social media platforms, while Fashion Toast‘s Rumi Neely‘s different head shots is easy to pinpoint amongst the sea of people we follow via her iconic nonchalant look and beach-wavy hairstyle.

Before we decide to give up because we a) don’t have professional photographers on speed dial or b) have as many years of experience in the digital world like many of the social media stars, it doesn’t mean we can’t strive for the perfect picture for our social media accounts. To help us figure out the secret on how to take the perfect profile picture, we tapped into the brains of Chriselle Lim, personal style blogger, Youtuber and wardrobe stylist of The Chriselle Factor (she has over 315 thousand followers on Instagram alone!) and Canada’s Maybelline New York lead makeup artist, Grace Lee. You know, just in case you were thinking of using that spring break picture for your professional LinkedIn profile. From our personal Facebook page to our fun Tinder profiles, we present you eight expert tips and tricks on how to take the perfect profile picture for all your social media platforms.

After the hate-athon that ensued after Yves Saint Laurent unveiled a photo of its revamped Saint Laurent Paris logo, two fashion heavy-hitters have come to the defense of creative director Hedi Slimane.

Both Karl Lagerfeld and Arizona Muse have given their stamp of approval to the new fuss-free, sans-serif logo, which was pictured atop two black boxes stacked on white marble on the brand’s Facebook page Monday. The logo, which is a nod to the brand’s Rive Gauche era back in the ‘60s, is the exact opposite of the swirly Yves Saint Laurent font that’s been a mainstay for the brand up until this point.

As we watched Mark Zuckerberg ring the bell on Wall Street Friday morning, we wondered: how is this going to change how we use social media? And, for those of us who are style-inclined: how is this going to affect the fashion industry?

Though Zuckerberg’s proclivity for hoodies won’t land him a “style icon” status anytime soon, Facebook evolving into a public company will definitely impact the fashion industry in many ways.

The social media giant, which currently has 900 million users worldwide, opened to the public with an initial public offering of $38 a share, making Facebook the most valuable company that’s ever gone public. With a total worth now of $104 billion (in other words, almost unimaginable amounts of money to invest back into the company), the ability to do more in terms of advertising, online shopping and other ventures has never been more feasible.

For fashion retailers in particular, Facebook going public probably means that they will no longer be limited to simply tallying one’s “likes” as a measure of success. Though the sharing and community aspects of Facebook are valuable to retailers in terms of brand presence, there are now more opportunities to create new social media–friendly e-commerce and advertising tactics than ever before.

Previous efforts with online shopping on Facebook didn’t exactly take off, forcing retailers like Gap to shutter their Facebook shops. However, now that there is an unprecedented amount of money in the bank, Facebook can begin to explore other means of social commerce that will provide shoppers with a more “seamless and convenient” shopping experience.

Think about it: Burberry, for example, has over 12 million “likes” on their Facebook page. Though they have advertised heavily on Facebook for some time now, if the social media network could provide the retailer with new, improved means of advertising and online shopping, Burberry could capitalize on their huge social media following in ways they never have before.

Though we’d need a crystal ball to accurately predict how everything is going to pan out now that the company has gone public, it’s probably safe to say that this will not only mean big dollars for involved parties, but new ways of shopping and interacting online for everybody.

Word: Liketivism

Usage: “30 million views and counting? All in a day’s liketivism.” – me

Meaning: A less-hot version of “clicktivism,” which is the practice of promoting causes through social media.

You should know it because: Did you watch the Kony 2012 video this week?

While most offenders of this crime are under 18 or over 40, Agyness Deyn is the latest to confess to lying about her age. The English supermodel’s CV may read 23, but she has confessed that she is actually 29. But why would she admit this now? you might ask. A rose by any other age may still smell as sweet, right?

Deyn tells the The Guardian: “When I decided I would really do modeling I was like 18, and I think at the time that was quite old for a new face, so we knocked off a few years.”

Hmm, we wonder if the supermodel would have confessed her age if her former classmates had not started a Facebook group entitled “Agyness Deyn You’re Not 18.”

She may have gotten away with the fib back then, but we’re sure with the CFDA’s new ID policy, this type of lie will now be nearly impossible to pull off (unless you’re walking at Marc Jacobs).

“Those girls started riots, because Chinese people thought they were ugly,” says Phillip Ing, vice-president of global retail and special events for M.A.C. He’s describing the public’s reaction to a series of images by Beijing-based photographer Chen Man, published in 2003 on the covers of Vision, an avant-garde Chinese fashion and art magazine. OK, so they weren’t actual riots, but there was plenty of hate mail; resistance is a common repercussion when one is blazing a beauty trail in a conservative country. Her images were arresting and fantastical, and they instantly garnered attention, as did the artist herself. At the time, she was only 23 and still in school, but she represented the next generation, who no longer felt constrained by many of the limitations their nation imposed.

Continue reading about Chen Man »
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I will start with an admission: I am a terrific failure at online dating. It’s not that I’m a Luddite when it comes to cyber-communication; I grew up on the cusp of the generation that came of (dating) age during the digital era. Yet somehow, meeting someone online reduces me to the level of awkward small talk at a wedding with an elderly uncle: “Where do you live?” “Is it nice there?” (Uncomfortable pause.) “What do you like to eat?” And the perils of online communication don’t disappear after the first few dates: A guy I was seeing ignored my Facebook friend request until I retracted it, embarrassed; an ex-boyfriend abruptly untagged himself from every photo we appeared in together. The internet, for all its Google Pluses, has created plenty of minuses in my love life.

Word: Désamour

Meaning: Unlove, although that’s not an English word; maybe disenchantment, then.

Usage: “S’il n’est pas sûr, malgré le dicton, que l’esprit vienne aux filles avec l’amour, il semble s’aiguiser dans le désamour.” — Hervé Bazin in Madame Ex.