Scott Bergey’s muted pallet and whimsical style.
Carol Russell’s charming wooden spoons.
An Inuit woman and child giving each other a kunik.
Fashion
flower power
June 15, 2022
If I were going to a big fête, you know, at a Rockefeller estate or a small castello in Como, I’d wear a frock by mother/daughter duo, Bernadette. The Antwerp-based fashion label is chic and playful, and takes summer florals to another level. Think full length taffeta adorned with sunflowers or wild hyacinths. Or mini dresses, fashioned from sorbet orange Italian silk. These are dresses to dance until dawn in. These are dresses that come home grass stained with chocolate gelato down the front. As an aside, Bernadette also makes a delightful line of ceramics; simple teapots and bowls covered in the brand’s signature florals. So much to love.
hats off
June 10, 2022
I’ve been eyeing this summer topper for months now, and I’m on the verge of pressing add to cart. Designed by Sydney-based artist, Lorna Murray her accordion pleated hat looks like something Audrey Hepburn might have worn dashing across the Piazza Di Spagna in Rome. It’s hard to choose a colour, but I am leaning toward the emerald green, ‘Ravello‘ or the blue and white, “Praiano.” I rather like this terracotta, too. Once on, I’m not sure I’ll ever take it off.
around and around
June 8, 2022
hairstory
May 26, 2022
Ballerina meets librarian –– such is the small, low bun. It’s where I’ll be for a while until my hair is long enough to wear it in a top knot again. I liked the bob, I really did. It gave me the change I yearned for. I used my hair dryer so much it blew a fuse. I bought mousse. And diamante bobby pins. I considered different necklines. It was fun. Like a sojourn in the French countryside. And now I’m ready to come home.
wood you rather?
May 17, 2022
Not since the 70s have clogs been so popular. Only this time around, choices are endless, from black patent to neon snakeskin, and everything in between. No amount of Italian leather can make a clog “pretty”, and that’s part of their appeal. Think of them as the middle finger to every strappy stiletto you’ve ever endured. These ones from Ontario-born designer, Charlotte Stone are my favourites. If I ever consider dancing in heels again, these chunky, disco inspired numbers would top my wish list. In these, my feet may actually survive the dance floor.
new normal
May 4, 2022
Born in Morocco and raised in Belgium, Mous Lamrabat‘s photographs are an eye-popping fusion of his Arab heritage and the Western symbols he grew up with. Think models dressed in Gucci djellabas and superhero burkas. “As a child of first generation immigrants, there is always a point in your life where you feel like you don’t fit in anywhere; not in the country you were born in nor in the country you were raised in,” says Lamrabat. “I felt like I was too Moroccan to fit in as a Belgian and too European to fit in as a Moroccan, and this is something that almost every immigrant has to deal with.” Through his photographs, Lamrabat is honing a visual language that captures both the universality and uniqueness of this experience, while dismantling stereotypes and cultural norms and paving the way for something new and more flexible. “As a kid, I loved wearing djellabas and rocking them with my Jordan sneakers. It felt “cool” at that time because that’s who I was: a mixture of identities. Doesn’t it make sense that your “idea-basket” gets larger when you live in different cultures or you live in multiple places in the world?” The eyes, and often the whole face, are covered in Lamrabat’s images, which interestingly, makes his subjects even more accessible. It’s the experience that we’re connecting with rather than the individual. “I love creating from a perspective that it’s not about one person,” he says. “The face takes so much information away and doesn’t leave that much to the imagination…. I feel when the face doesn’t show, the person who is looking at the image puts their own face in there.”
acid wash
April 28, 2022
I’ve worn acid wash jeans exactly twice in my life, once when I arrived at Kingsley Pines summer camp in Maine, and the other to a Madonna concert in Toronto in 2003. It’s not a good look, even in the hands of my favourite contemporary designers. I lost so much weight at camp –– a combination of home-sickness and non-stop outdoorsiness –– that my jeans practically fell down when my Mum came to collect me three weeks later. I didn’t own another pair until 15-years on, when my friend, Antonella and I rifled through racks of jeans at a local Value Village looking for the perfect pair to channel Madonna in. Our black suede pumps, white lace gloves and rhinestoned chandeliers completed the look, and off we went to true blue the night away. Acid wash jeans date back to 1960s California surf culture, when ocean sprayed surfers got fed up of fading their jeans in the sun and resorted to chlorine bleach instead. Then came the gaudy 80s, and between the neon and the shoulder pads and the animal print, acid wash jeans with a paper bag waist fit right in. They have no place in 2022 unless bleach falls on your favourite jeans while you’re doing the laundry.
nature trail
April 27, 2022
I read yesterday with my daughter that there are 950 species of sea urchins, and that puffer fish make huge, beautiful nests in the sand that look like mandalas, and that certain bees build cacoons out of petals and mud prettier than any springtime bouquet. Nature is flipping amazing. Each one of these seeds has a slightly different form and pattern. Purple, acid yellow and milky white. I can’t imagine how many seed species there are on earth, and like the urchins, how much variety exists in each one’s appearance, both subtle and dramatic. It blows my mind. Nature truly is the greatest artist –– resourceful, innovative, disciplined and fiercely imaginative. No wonder we all look to her for inspiration.
