Last spring I was lucky enough to meet Neil Martin and Jeffrey Howard at a fashion event. These two have been working tirelessly to help the freelance artist in Toronto as they saw that many were missing out on opportunities and struggling to maintain their passion as a full time career. Neil and Jeff aimed to help freelance artists the opportunities to gain exposure with other artists for collaboration with as well as provide an outlet to find new clients, with their amazing platform, Clayza. They have been working with the top talent in Toronto in all creative fields to launch this platform. I was fortunate enough to be one the few who were chosen to test this secret new platform and give my feedback on the site with regards to my styling business. I am happy to say I am a huge fan of the site, and not just because I was one of the select few who were chosen to test it out.

 

Clayza, is truly a great platform for any artist be it a photographer, videographer, graphic designer, fine artist, designer, stylist, makeup artist to show their work in an incredibly easy to use format. They made sure that the site not only allows you to feature your work there, but also includes links to your own website and also any social media platforms you may use. Not only that but Neil and Jeff are so excited about this platform that they are willing to do whatever it takes to help make sure you are happy with the page and that it works the way you want it to. I am extremely excited to see how they progress with the platform. Currently the site is invite only, but thankfully being one of the testers I am more than willing share this great platform and connect you with them. Feel free check out my own Clayza page here.

Vuitton Confirms Nicolas Ghesquière To Helm Label

As announced by WWD, in Paris today, Louis Vuitton has confirmed that they have named famed Nicolas Ghesquière as the new artistic director of the women’s collections. Ghesquiere is most known for his time at Balenciaga where his designs helped launch the label back into one of the hottest labels amongst the fashion set. The new position with Louis Vuitton has been made effective immediately, he takes over from Marc Jacobs who’s 16 year tenure had helped launch Louis Vuitton into an incredible collection known no longer just for their luggage but chose to leave this past season to focus on his own namesake collections, Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs.

After Ghesquière was promoted to creative director of Balenciaga in 1997 he became well known to going into the archives of Christóbal and doing incredible reinterpretations of the label to help transform the brand into one of the most influential French brands and one of the most anticipated collections to be shown during Paris Fashion Week. I am intrigued to see Ghesquière’s interpretations for Louis Vuitton when he shows in March for the Fall 2014 collections which will also coincide perfectly to the heritage brands 160th anniversary in 2014.

 

There is a great deal of excitement and buzz in Canada as Target has it’s first major designer collaboration launching north of the US border, and this collaboration is definitely one to check out, 3.1 Philip Lim for Target. Philip Lim is a major staple in any fashion fan’s wardrobe for it’s great and wearable pieces. This upcoming 100 piece collection will be launching September 15th at all Target locations in North America. There are amazing menswear womenswear and accessories up for grabs with the price tags ranging anywhere from $20-$300. Scope out the collection look book here. You will definitely see me lining up post TIFF events here in Toronto.

 

This past week I had the privilege of being able to attend the Ann Taylor Holiday Preview put on by the amazing ASC PR team here in Toronto in the beautiful Storys Building. Not only did we get to see the upcoming Holiday 2012 Collection but they also had amazing gift ideas for all those stylish women on your list well worth braving the horrible rainstorm to get there. Here are some images from the event:

It was such a wonderful event and all I can say is there are many women eagerly awaiting the opening of the first Canadian Ann Taylor location in the Eaton Centre this coming fall so they can start getting their hands on all the amazing goodies. This amazing event and the special gift from Ann Taylor that night just helped whet our appetites.

Rag & Bone Fall 2012 Campaign featuring Kate Moss

Recently Rag & Bone announced they would be showing at London Fashion Week. Not long after this announcement they released images from their first print campaign for Fall 2012 featuring none other than the fabulous Kate Moss. This campaign shot by Craig McDean has more of a street style feel reminiscent of Kate’s own personal style rather than an editorial feel. I have to say I love it and it seems fitting with the London Fashion Week show coming up, as well there is talks that there will soon be a Rag & Bone flagship opening up in London. One can only hope Canada will eventually get one too.