Charlie & Lee had set up shop in Victoria, BC last year and have just released some excellent news that they’re moving to Vancouver.

This is quite a cute little shop with some excellent label stock and a snappy ‘tude, and to celebrate their move, they’re offering an additional 20% off sale items (up to 70% off) from their online store within the month of March w/ the promo code “MAKINGMOVES“.

There isn’t any word yet on the exact located C&L will be taking over, but rest assured it will be announced as soon as I hear.

This is only a very small sneak peek of what I’m selling tonight, Saturday and Sunday @ The Chosen Ones vintage sale @ The Waldorf hotel.

RSVP on Crackbook!

It’s time again for your favorite multi vendor vintage shoptimes at The Waldorf! I’ll be there with a rack of my own goods (closet cleaning, you know) so make sure to say hi!

WHEN: Saturday, February 19th, 11am – 6pm / Sunday, February 20th, 11am – 6pm
WHERE: Downstairs @ the Waldorf Hotel [Googlemap]

A taste of whose vintage you can get a lick of this weekend (besides myself, of course): Angelus Novus, C’est la Vie, belles choses (consistently good), +Seeker+, Wendy Cook Styling, Dandi Wind (loud stuff), USED-House of Vintage (enough said), inherit, Community Thrift + Vintage, Victoria Potter (!), Mackenzie, the fair and Split Pea Vintage

I would consider Obakki founder Trena Peake (wife of Nickelsack guitarist Ryan Peake) to be less than one degree away from the band.  Really she is part of the essence of Nickelback, one of North America’s most loved Surrey rock themed bands, purveyors of safely ordinary and utterly generic rock sounds that somehow remain popular despite many years of creating the same howling, bro loved songs.

I despise Nickelback as a musical group, so it came as a great horror to finally confirm that Obakki is owned by the wife of one of the band.  That’s right.  If you’re buying Obakki you’re supporting a Nickelback wife project.

It’s tough because there are many pieces I’ve loved from Obakki over the years, and I continue to enjoy their collections as the brand continues to develop its identity.  Alternatively, check out Genevieve Graham‘s collections; she was Obakki’s first designer and created the whole draping, monochromatic look.

Zinc, my hair salon, is chock full of Sassoon trained stylists (as you can tell) who really love to do bang up jobs on client’s heads.  This is my new photo for the salon.

Before you go off about the weird right shoulder and neck being elongated, I say hi fives to you.  I’m not the one in charge of Photoshopping, but I think the hair looks mighty cool.

If you want to get some awesome done to your hair, a new colorist [Oliver Peto] has just joined from London.  He is the one that did the color you see to the left, while the cut was done by Sarah Vernon-Smith, both expats from Sassoon London.

In my extensive hair’s extensive upkeep life, I’ve learned from being at Zinc that you can’t top a Sassoon trained stylist in technique.  If you’re curious about having their magic worked on you, give them a shout and tell them I sent you!

The next Chosen Ones vintage sale at the Waldorf Hotel has been announced, and there’s a bonus this month – I’m vending at the sale!

As a bonus, I’ll be hanging out and selling goods from my own collection (closet cleaning has to occur regularly in people’s lives who occupy small apartments!)

WHEN: Waldorf Hotel [Googlemap]
WHERE: Saturday Feb 19, Sunday Feb 20, 11 – 6 PM

As a follow up to the last Dakota Group sample sale [see review here], we now have the Dakota Group blow out sale, which spells 50% off wholesale pricing.

Items include Mackage (womens), Chinese Laundry, Matiko, Pour la Victoire, Kelsi Dagger, Faryl Robin, Matt & Nat, Young Fabulous & Broke and more!

WHEN: Friday January 28 10AM-6PM,  Saturday January 29, 11AM-4PM
WHERE: #102, 256 West 7th Ave [Googlemap]

This is the sale you’ve been waiting for – 80% off some of Vancouver’s most talented designers, and all in one place.  Add some free drinks and snacks, and you have one super sale.

WHEN: Friday January 28 4-9PM, Saturday January 29 11-6PM
WHERE: Haiku Studios, #410, 207 W. Hastings (Dominion Building) [Googlemap]

A wee preview for the editorial I shot for Solestruck.

Shoes by Senso Diffusion, skirts from F As In Frank (Vancouver) and socks from my own collection.

Chatterbox Social Media is launching their lovely selves, and have secured not only a killa venue, but some spectacular door prizes to thank those celebrating their company along with them!

Prizes include bits and bites from Bombay Brow Bar (I love them – see why), Noir Lash Lounge, Blo and loads more. I’ll be there, and you should swing by for the good times, [potential] free stuff and drink specials.  Oh, and there’s no cover, because that would be fa-la-la-la-lame – you have no excuse not to be there!

Right before the holidays, I styled and wore a bunch of awesome goods from JNBY.  My dear eccentric lovely Kenneth Yuen did the photo taking, and we ran around all afternoon in what could not have been a soggier Kitsilano.

It was loads of fun, though – this image is a preview of the set.

I can officially confirm that The Lake And Stars lingerie is quite lovely.  It’s not over the top like an Agent Provocateur piece, though is quite effective in its undie charm.  There are loads of mesh, sharp sparks of orange here and there and some delightful buttless tie dyed leggings (everyone seems to be after them!)

Check out the photos of the items below; these were photographed by myself in room today and all of the items shown will be available for sale.  There are limited quantities, so be sure to get yourself to The Waldorf promptly at 7PM [FB event] tonight for the launch.  I’ve heard there were quite a few private shopping appointment requests, so if you want some lingerie to dazzle your Other, being there tonight is a sure fire must.

The good retail times at The Waldorf [Googlemap] don’t stop, especially now with the NYC lingerie label The Lake And Stars popping up within one of the hotel’s rooms.  This is the first in a line of shop in-room events The Waldorf will be hosting in addition to the monthly Chosen Ones vintage sales.

You can’t buy The Lake And Stars lingerie anywhere else in Vancouver, so this is the time to hoof it to the Waldorf.  Pick up a piece in time for Valentine’s Day, or [hell] any other day for that matter!

Additionally, the instillation Five Secret Worlds has been held over from New Year’s Eve, which is an expanded version of a peep show set in five of The Waldorf’s hotel rooms.  For more info on this, see the FB event page.

RSVP for the Lake And Stars @ The Waldorf in-room shop on Cracbook (while you’re at it, you should fan demiCouture as well)

I haven’t been shopping very much at all since I returned from Europe this summer, and while I tempted myself with clothing on sale this Boxing Week, I couldn’t help but feel incredibly embittered and inspirationless when it came to the stock within Vancouver’s boutiques and megashops.

There is always online shopping, though this is so limiting in its provoking of creativity no matter what the photos show, the whole process always ends as numbing and unsatisfying.  You spend your money, input your cluster of credit card numbers and bang – you’re billed, and are forced to wait a week for your goods and simply have them out of nowhere.

While shopping in Scotland and Italy, I was reminded, and once again astounded at the richness of the retail landscape.  High street retailers provided a varying selection of styles, luxury shops were teeming with designers from the familiar to obscure and even familiar labels from North America were gloriously unfamiliar in their offerings.

Indeed, the shop I miss most is [surprisingly] Zara.  While H&M Europe is also known to have a vastly superior selection to its North American counterstores, I found Zara to have the items I wanted at incredibly acceptable price points.  One of my most worn pieces in the last few months was grabbed from Zara Glasgow; this is a simple olive tee, holey and distressed with a bit of chain mail detailing on the shoulders to imitate Balmain‘s collection from last summer.  The shirt itself was on sale for about £10; a pittance for something so wearable and reasonably unique.

Recently I wandered into the Robson Zara location; a high street megashop devoid of any style beyond clean lines that would satisfy a rather dull woman in her mid thirties with perhaps a nannied baby or two.  The sterile experience of the Canadian Zara was repeated in each consecutive retail venture, even at Holt Renfrew; so many safe designs for safe shoppers.  I miss the thrill of being in Florence’s Luisa via Roma; this is a venue that holds luxurious creativity at a proper value.  H&M was devoid of even an acceptable party dress, while Aritzia teemed with designs that deified under design and overpricing. Of course anything like Urban Outfitters is completely lacking a hair of originality and sensibility, thus was avoided as the bubonic.

Taking a step back from the corporate retail landscape and returning to boutiques, I was equally disappointed with the stripped down visual sensibilities of Gastown retail, vintage of True Value, even the caliber of pieces available in Used (typically a solid venue for vintage shoppers) or local favorites Gravity Pope and JNBY.  I felt completely haggard at the end of this adventure; thoroughly disappointed and wondering how shoppers stay interested in what is shoved in our hands and faces.

Avid shoppers are [more] likely travelers, which leads me to wonder how Vancouver’s poor shopping availabilities affect their spending candor.  With myself, the more I see outside of this city (and country), the less I wish to spend my money here.  I know there is better elsewhere, and though I can usually acquire said items online, I am unwilling to sacrifice that social and physical experience of shopping (think of all the fabrics you touch while making your decision, and how fabric feel makes or breaks a decision to keep an item purchased online) simply to due retail’s ineptness to design beyond mainstream creativity.

Whether or not you enjoy being within crowds of like minded buyers within a Topshop or small boutique, shopping gives you so much more when you experience it (and the items you purchase and the environment) in person, physically.

One can only wonder if this trend of Plain Jane dressing will ever truly start to give up the ghost in this city, though the first breaths of 2011 give me hope that more demand of creative, expression laden clothing and accessories may some day soon be demanded by the buying public.

Sales, sales, sales.. but is boxing day actually worth it? People go insane on boxing day, and most of the time it’s not worth getting up for, though you can be the judge of that with the list of sales below.

Main Street

• F As In Frank – 60% off entire store, 30% off online store w/ promo code ‘chucknorris‘
• Eugene Choo – 30% off clothing and accessories, including sale items
• Lark - additional discounts, 1 day sales

Gastown

• Roden Gray – entire store 20-70% off
• The Block – Sale occurring; no discounts specified
• LYNNsteven - 50% off FW10 items, 20% off jewelry
• Times Profile Shop - up to 60% off
• Dutil - 98.6% off selected denim, additional $7-8 off with flyer
• Nouvelle Nouvelle – 50% off entire store

Downtown

• Browns - up to 80% off
• H&M - $100 off your purchase for the first 100 customers, additional sales in store
• Urban Outfitters – 50% off sale items, additional discounts in store
• Aldo - additional 30% off sale items
• Aritzia - additonal 20-50% off sale items
• Winners - sale details on website
• Zara - up to 50% off everything
• Holt Renfrew – 50% off sale items
• American Apparel - 20% off everything (unconfirmed, forum)
• BoysCo - entire store up to 80% off

Kitsilano

• Gravity Pope – 20% off regular priced items
• JNBY- 50% off sale items

Online

• SSense - additional 50% off sale items
• Bluefly - up to 80% off items
• Land’s End – up to 40% off select items

If you’re a late shopper like myself, this is a prime holiday gifting opportunity! Gastown’s (212) boutique is offering a special pre-Christmas sale on Wednesday the 22nd – 45% off everything in the store (regular price) and an additional 15% off all items already on sale.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 22 from 11AM – 7PM
WHERE: (212); 454 West Cordova [Googlemap]

Blanche Macdonald’s latest fashion design program grads recently took the stage at The Westin Bayshore, providing quite a curious presentation for those in attendance.  The runway show entailed 45 of Blanche’s grads showing two looks for each grad an extensive display of the school’s current batch of talent.

It became quite clear within the first fifteen minutes of the show that the designs were highly costume design based.  Much of the designs evoked a feeling of sci-fi films, takes on traditional ethnic attire [1] [2] , oddly cropped active wear and some genuinely confusing styling choices.  Pieces were heavily color blocked, many with thick piping and fused with a highly theatrical look.

What was rather perplexing was  what appeared to be a heavy use of synthetics for the graduate’s final presentation garments.  Due to low number of required looks each grad was required (two completed outfits); the majority of the students using what appeared to be low cost fabrics.  Many chose to use [what appeared to be] polyesters and other similar materials; in person the lack of textile quality was clear.

Overall, the entire collection of grads appeared to be going for a very theatrical presentation, though the designs appeared to be design directed towards costuming.  There were times when outfits evoked video game characters (particularly Final Fantasy), raver and sci-fi inspired uniforming,  hooded Star Wars heroines, and even an asymmetric sleeve inspired by elephantiasis.  One could deduce the basis of the inspiration for these looks, and while there was clearly care within the garment construction, the design execution and finishing was where weakness lied.

Construction detailing was also a suffering point with some of the grads’ work; you could clearly see bulging waist corsets [1] [2], uneven and  sagging tailoring of garment busts [1] [2] [3], unflattering folds over a model’s thighs, a dress that give an illusion of a paunch, while others displayed overall lack of tailoring which resulted in an uncomplimentary silhouette.

I do wish that I had been able to view Blanche’s past presentations to identify if this was simply a less impressive collection of students, though unfortunately that reference point was not possible.  While the roster of past successful grads is clear (most notably Tenille Magnusson, designer of Aritzia’s Wilfred range, Dace Moore of Dace Clothing and Lisa Malcic, designer of the Barneys stocked children’s range Beba Bean), I did not see work presented from this runway collection that foreshadowed other such accomplishments.

Hey vintage lovers, it’s about that time again.. The Chosen Ones’ second sale is about to hit The Waldorf Hotel!

We’ve got some familiar vendors and new names; favorites like F As In Frank, Stephi Chin-Salvo, Kerry Weinrauch and Erin Templeton are all back for another round.  Robson’s favorite underground vintage treasure trove True Value is taking part this go around, as is Dandi Wind (local musician with excellent stage costumes).  There are loads more; check out the flyer for a full list of vendors.

I’ll be doing a preview video again, so stay tuned the night before for my picks and pans!

WHEN: Saturday, December 18 from 11AM – 6PM (get there early!)
WHERE: The Waldorf Hotel [Googlemap]

Vancouver doesn’t have a tonne of rocks to look under, so there aren’t always new and wonderful locations to find.   Just in case you aren’t as familiar with the Main Street row on and above 3rd, you’ve hit the jackpot – these are the places you’re going to want to swing through.  Hot tip: check out Vancouver restaurants reviews from Granville Online.. they’ve got the last word on the eats you’ll need during your shop-a-thon.

For your high street picks, Vincent Park is well worth the trip to 27th Ave. VP is home to the just launched Cheap Monday Cult Club, a host of brands as MinkPink, Super Sunglasses, Funktional, Fred Perry, Alkemie and Something Else by Natalie Wood. [Googlemap]

Burcu’s Angels is vintage fit for the ultimate selective shopper.  Burcu’s picks are romantic, eccentric and individualistic – these are detailed, often period pieces that are going to astound and spotlight those who choose them. [Googlemap]

When it comes to vintage, F As In Frank is one of the city’s favorites.  Frank’s style of vintage is much different than Burcu’s; where Burcu is classically eccentric, Frank is hipster friendly and far more urban.  This is the place where you can acquire everything from hip-hop inspired street wear to leathers and fatigues. [Googlemap]

Mandula may be Main Street’s newest addition after they recently took over grace-gallery‘s old space beside the Narrow Lounge (my favorite Mt. Pleasant hangout) but it is not a strange label to Vancouver’s observant style crew.  Mandula’s pieces are ethereal and will take your breath away; see the new space and take in the label’s works. For those outside of YVR, Mandula has a handful of items available within an online store.  [Googlemap]

It’s Christmas gifting season, which spells a threat to unique shoppers – acquiring a unique gift for your recipient that won’t break the bank, your retail sanity and is local.  The Gift Shop hits all the marks; you are supporting local designers, remaining on budget since all items in the shop are under $100, and will be utterly unique due to the collection of artists chosen to retail their wares at the shop.

This is no Portobello Market, folks.. this is the real thing and only available for a limited time.  Gift Shop is located at the former Mono Pop-Up shop location; 8 East Cordova in Gastown [Googlemap].  I suggest you check out pieces from Henderson Dry Goods; they are my personal favorites.