Thursday 28 February 2019
Fashion with Trend
Eco-friendly, sustainably-sourced beauty may populate the shelves of skincare shops today, but cosmetics with a conscience is something The Body Shop has been doing for 25 years. Ever since launching her “Trade Not Aid” campaign back in 1987, to “alleviate suffering and poverty around the world”, founder Dame Anita Roddick—who passed away in 2007—has planted the company’s roots firmly in fair trade and community outreach. This week, the British brand perpetuated that legacy of activism with a new line of shea butter-based products, aimed at delivering high-quality ingredients to customers while supporting local economies—and, specifically, the women who work within them.
The brand has been collaborating with the Tungteiya Women’s Association since 1994, an initiative that started out with 50 members and today comprises 640, spread across 11 villages in northern Ghana. The West African country has seen the shea tree (vitellaria paradoxa) flourish for thousands of years, as well as the corresponding development of a female-dominated industry around extracting its butter, known as “women’s gold”. With the tagline “a She in every Shea”, the goal of the Body Shop’s shea-focused line (in addition to helping us all heal our cracked winter skin) was to do their part for female empowerment by sourcing a higher volume than ever before: 390 tons of shea butter every year. It’s also their first time offering 100% raw shea butter to customers. The brand c0-founded the Global Shea Alliance, a non-profit that aims to support the more than 8 million who form the foundation of the worldwide industry.
But The Body Shop aren’t the only ones using this dry skin staple to do a bit of global good: Lush works with the Ojoba Women’s Shea Butter Collective to source ingredients for everything from lip balms to bath bombs, while Sundial Brands (parent company to SheaMoisture, Nubian Heritage, Nyakio and MCJW Beauty Culture) all collaborate with a handful of collectives as part of their Community Commerce pillar. L’Occitane does their business with another shea-producing country, Burkina Faso, employing 15,000 women to produce their popular shea butter line.
Here are six products you can feel extra good about slathering on this winter.
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Fashion with Trend
There’s a very specific formula to talk shows: ask a few questions, sets up a pre-arranged anecdote, roll a promotional clip. There are, of course, a few twists that have been introduced in recent years to add some excitement—and encourage a viral video. If you’re sitting down with Ellen, there’s a chance a clown will pop out to scare you; if you’re making an appearance on Jimmy Fallon, you may be asked to participate in a lip sync battle; if you’re dropping by James Corden, you could end up eating a calf’s brain. The onus to create an amusing talk show bit falls heavily on the celebrity guest, and every once in a while, an unexpected A-lister gifts the world a moment of spontaneous, hilarious and endearing entertainment. With the Talk Show Guest Hall of Fame, we commemorate these celebs.
Since the day Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga stepped out together at the Venice Film Festival, holding hands down the red carpet into the premiere of A Star is Born, their off-screen relationship has been an object of constant speculation. Millions of fans took in their on-screen chemistry as they watched the film in theatres, listened to them gush over one another in press interviews and watched as the co-stars continued to longingly gaze into one another’s eyes on red carpets around the world.
The past six months of award season campaigning led to the ultimate apex of the Gooper lovefest: a live performance of “Shallow” on-stage at the 2019 Oscars with Cooper’s girlfriend, model Irina Shayk, looking on from the front row. The viral moment had everyone from Cooper’s ex-wife to Gaga’s ex-boyfriend to Scary Spice weighing in on whether or not the A Star is Born stars are, in fact, “f*cking.” (Those are David Spade’s words, not my own.)
Gaga herself has now spoken in response to the romance rumours. Or rather, eye rolled in response. On Wednesday night, the Oscar-winner appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where Kimmel asked about her steamy connection with Cooper. “First of all, social media, quite frankly, is the toilet of the internet,” she said in response. Ain’t that true. “And what it has done to pop culture is abysmal. And people saw love, and guess what, that’s what we wanted you to see.”
“I’m an artist and I guess [Bradley and I] did a good job,” she added. “Fooled ya!” I guess that’s just show business, baby.
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Fashion with Trend
The third annual iteration of Hot Docs’ Curious Minds Weekend speaker series, in collaboration with The Globe & Mail, takes place this weekend and as always, the line-up is impressive.
“It’s been almost three years since we launched our inaugural speaker series and the world is no less crazy or confounding,” said Will Di Novi, lead curator of Curious Minds Weekend. “Against this backdrop, we hope this Festival can continue to offer a kind of intellectual oasis—a sanctuary where thoughtful people can engage with dynamic speakers and put the noise outside the theatre into a little more context and perspective.”
The weekend kicks off on Friday, March 1 with Donna Brazile, former chairperson of the Democratic National Committee, and Leah Daughtry, CEO of the 2008 and 2016 Democratic National Conventions. As co-authors of the new book For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics, they will be speaking at the series about making politics more inclusive.
New York Times editor—and renowned ‘Beyologist’—Veronica Chambers will be speaking about her upcoming book Queen Bey and the cultural impact of one Beyonce Knowles. Other speakers at the series include Rebecca Traister, writer at large for The Cut and author of last year’s Good And Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger; the executive producers and design team of acclaimed television show The Handmaid’s Tale, adapted from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel; and Marlon James, the Jamaican author of Man Booker Prize-winning novel A Brief History of Seven Killings and the upcoming Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the first in a trilogy series that’s being described as an “African Game of Thrones.”
You can see the full lineup and buy tickets here. The weekend series runs from March 1 to 3 at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto.
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Fashion with Trend
Next month, Stevie Nicks will officially become the first female artist to be inducted twice into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which I almost typed as Hawl of Fame because it’s hard to conjure a picture of the music icon without summoning a vision of her onstage in one of her dramatic shawls.
Over the years, we’ve seen her in shawls that are fringed, sequinned, crocheted, lacy. She’s amassed quite the collection, and in a recent interview with Rolling Stone she revealed that all those shawls are in excellent condition, stored carefully in a temperature-controlled vault. She also said that there are SO MANY shawls that she’s actually trying to give some of them away (where do we sign up?!).
Here’s her full response, when asked by Rolling Stone’s Rob Sheffield where she keeps all those legendary pieces:
“I have my shawl vault — they’re all in temperature-controlled storage. I have these huge red cases Fleetwood Mac bought, all the way back in 1975 — my clothes are saved in these cases. All my vintage stuff is protected for all my little goddaughters and nieces. I’m trying to give my shawls away — but there’s thousands of them. If I ever write my life story, maybe that should be the name of my book: There’s Enough Shawls to Go Around.”
For a look back at some of her greatest shawl hits—the Shawl Hall of Fame, if you will—head to this photo roundup in Vanity Fair, and as you click through, let yourself marinate in this other tidbit from the same interview about her iconic stage persona:
“I could never go onstage in street clothes because it’s not who I am. I could never go out there in a pair of jeans and a denim jacket. I mean, I don’t do casual very well. Even my normal life, I’m in cashmere pants and a cashmere sweater and cashmere thoughts.”
Cashmere thoughts. The next Stevie Nicks single perhaps?
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Fashion with Trend
I have a confession to make that feels somewhat sacrilegious: I was never that into Phoebe Philo’s Céline. “Muted,” “understated,” and “quiet” are traits I find useful in an apartment building but not necessarily my wardrobe, where I prefer to dabble in such timeless trends as ‘mall goth’ and ‘prairie dresses.’ I just don’t find minimalism visually stimulating and will forever remember the time period between 2012-2016 as a fashion void where everyone was trying to channel either sexy Steve Jobs or a cult leader.
That said, it was still disheartening to watch as the cohesive brand identity Philo had singlehandedly created for Céline was razed to the ground by her successor in favour of ahistorical, overpriced clubwear. No one in the industry could fathom which brand would pick up where Philo left off. Would it be The Row, who charges upwards of $1000 for a modest-looking cashmere sweater? Even Gabrielle Boucinha, the mastermind behind @oldceline, wasn’t quite sure.
Enter Rokh, an upstart label founded by Rok Hwang, a Korean-American who grew up in Austin, Texas but is now based in London. Founded in 2016, Rokh made its Paris Fashion Week debut earlier this week with a complicated collection that made unpredictability its hallmark: business lady blazers were outfitted with bondage clasps, sensible pencil skirts were layered atop kinky Perspex, and paisley dresses shared equal airtime with neon turtlenecks.
Hwang trained under Louise Wilson, the fashion design professor who launched Alexander McQueen’s career after admitting him into Central Saint Martins’ Masters program without the requisite degree, and yes, Phoebe Philo. “Phoebe really helped me to define how to cut or fit a garment and taught me to perfect everything I make. That has been a real, life-changing experience for me,” Hwang told WWD. Though Philo’s influence on his work is palpable, it is hardly the defining characteristic. Hwang twists Philo’s quiet sensibility into something almost unrecognizable, where practicality mingles with perversity.
On first glance, Rokh’s designs are wild and freewheeling, yet on second glance, a restraint emerges. Hwang whips up stodgy fabrics like tweed and grey suiting into unexpected shapes; One hard-to-describe dress was fashioned out of khaki fabric and featured cutout side panels and an asymmetrical pleated skirt. He splices panels of plaid fabric into a traditional trench coat, conducting “millions of fittings” to ensure the fit is perfect.
It would be easy to suggest that Rokh is primed to poach grieving Céline customers from under Hedi Slimane’s snout. But in an interview with Vogue Business, Hwang makes it clear that’s not what he’s about. “Even though you love it so much, I don’t think it is right artistically to follow in someone’s footsteps. I try to always create my own narrative and new language for my brand…I want people to walk away understanding this is a new story, a new vision and new fashion.”
There’s a quote oft attributed to Diana Vreeland that suggests the purpose of fashion is to, “Give ’em what they never knew they wanted.” Of all the up-and-coming designers, Hwang is already proving he possesses the ability to do just that.
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Wednesday 27 February 2019
Fashion with Trend
Within seven walking minutes from my Toronto home, there are four grocery stores, three drug stores and at least a dozen corner stores selling everything from plants to peanut butter. And yet, when I need to restock on toilet paper, I turn to Amazon—where a host of other site-recommended cleaning products, books and gadgets usually find their way into my shopping cart.
I’ve managed to convince myself that the delivery packaging itself is not wasteful: cardboard boxes are an excellent vessel for holding, transporting and dumping other recyclable items. There is, however, an environmental impact of our culture of convenient consumption that I hadn’t considered: shipping emissions.
Transport has overtaken electricity as the #1 offender of carbon emissions, and the e-commerce norm of fast, free shipping is a massive contributor. Etsy—the global marketplace where you can shop pet portraits, handknit scarves and mid-century sofas—is the first e-commerce company to do something about it, pledging to completely offset the carbon emissions from shopping their products.
“Now, each time someone buys an item on Etsy, we will automatically purchase verified emissions reductions, more commonly known as “offsets”, through our partner 3Degreesm,” the company’s CEO, Josh Silverman, wrote in an Etsy blog post. “These purchases support environmental projects, including protecting forests that improve air quality and absorb carbon, sponsoring wind and solar farms that generate clean energy and replace fossil fuels, and developing greener methods for producing auto parts.”
This initiative comes at no additional cost to buyers or sellers — and a seemingly marginal cost for Etsy. “Considering these offsets will cost less than one penny per package for Etsy,” Silverman continues, “we don’t believe that cost should be a prohibitive factor for others to follow in our footsteps.” But those pennies add up. For Amazon, who reported that 5 billion items were shipped through its Prime program in 2017, a similar promise would cost close to $50 million. Though, the company did hit a $1 trillion valuation last year. It’s all about perspective.
And here’s a piece I’d like to share: every day approximately 55,000 metric tons of CO2e are emitted into the atmosphere by online package deliveries in the United States alone. To jumpstart their efforts, Etsy is offsetting shipping emissions for the entire US e-commerce sector on February 28. Offsetting this impact for one day is the equivalent of protecting 260 square km of forests for one year—or, a forest that’s over twice the size of Vancouver. I’ll remember that next time I’m too lazy to cross the street for a roll of toilet paper.
The post Who Bares Responsibility for the Environmental Impact of Online Shopping? appeared first on FASHION Magazine.
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Fashion with Trend
J. Crew has seen a lot of change over the past few years, with the departure of CEO Mickey Drexler earlier this year. But the most recent change is a promising one: J. Crew has announces that Chris Benz will lead the company as the new head of women’s design. He joins from Bill Blass, the American fashion house where he held the role of creative director since 2015.
Photography by Amy Sussman/REX/Shutterstock
If Benz’s name sparks some familiarity, that’s because the formerly pink-haired designer founded his own quirky ready-to-wear line in 2007, featuring kooky prints and bright colours that earned him the nickname, “The Prince of Colour.” Despite his status as a critical darling, the Chris Benz line folded in 2012.
This isn’t Benz’s first stint at J. Crew either. From 2005 to 2006, he worked under then-creative director Jenna Lyons before branching off to start his own line. “J.Crew is where I started my career and I have always loved the inspired mix of things – colour and pattern, texture and quality – that defines it,” he explained in a statement to Business of Fashion. “I look forward to innovating on the brand’s essential classics to create an eclectic American style that is both polished and unique, and revives J.Crew as a destination where everyone can find something special.”
Having taken time away from the brand to grow and solidify his name in the fashion world, Benz comes back to J. Crew with some serious credentials and preppy-glam design chops. It will be interesting to see how much of his creative thinking makes its way into new collections, and whether his aesthetic vision will give the flagging retailer the boost it needs to get back up on its feet again. A press statement from the company offers some hope, “These necessary and significant changes are part of the company’s efforts to revitalize the J.Crew brand among consumers, while also becoming more productive and more profitable in the process.”
We’ll be eagerly waiting for the release of the first Benz-designed line.
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Fashion with Trend
Celebration, a documentary by filmmaker Olivier Meyrou depicting legendary couturier Yves Saint Laurent preparing his final collection, was first screened at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2007. It was not screened again publicly until 2018.
As it turns out, one of the central characters in the film, YSL’s business manager Pierre Bergé, had not signed a release form authorizing the use of his image and successfully able to block distribution of the film until his death last year. Stitched together from a sparse 18 hours of footage captured by Meyrou between the years 1998 and 2001, Celebration is an unsparing and not-altogether-flattering portrait of one of the most important fashion figures of the 20th century. Now, the film that was essentially suppressed from viewing will have its first screening in Canada on April 6th, 2019, at the Fox Theatre in Toronto, presented by Archival Toronto.
According to Variety, Celebration paints Saint Laurent as a “reclusive, irritable, virtually silent, and, perhaps most shockingly, quite inelegant” character, apparently bearing more than a passing resemblance to grouchy Phantom Thread protagonist, Reynolds Woodcock. Bergé is portrayed as Saint Laurent’s manipulative and megalomaniacal stage manager. During a scene in which Saint Laurent is onstage to receive a CFDA Lifetime Achievement award in 1999, Bergé snatches the statuette from his partner’s hands and coos, “Thank you, I probably had a part in that.”
“Celebration is an important film that makes of one of fashion’s most impressive figures more relatable,“ says Carl Chiang, co-founder of Archival Toronto “We hope that by showing a film like this it will empower new designers and creatives to keep moving forward, accepting their own flaws and struggles as an essential part of the journey.”
Buy your tickets here.
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Tuesday 26 February 2019
Fashion with Trend
Eighth Grade
I might forgive you if you missed Eighth Grade during its limited theatre release this past summer. I won’t forgive you, however, if you continue to sleep on this tender coming-of-age film once it’s accessible via cell phone. Comedian Bo Burnham’s directorial debut charmed critics and audiences with its brutally honest portrayal of adolescent awkwardness, earning itself a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes and multiple Independent Spirit and Gotham Independent Film awards. It will make you cringe, laugh, cry and feel tremendous gratitude for the fact that you aren’t a middle school student in the age of Snapchat and YouTube vlogging.
Available March 1
Queer Eye: Season 3
It’s been just over a year since the new Fab Five were introduced to the world, becoming the most talked about makeover tribe on the internet. In the third season of the ultra-successful Netflix rebo0t, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Karamo Brown, Bobby Berk, and Jonathan Van Ness hit the road and head to Kansas City, Missouri. The show will continue to explore queer identity in relation to self-confidence, religious acceptance, and coming-out as the Fab Five teaches a new crop of projects how to love themselves via dramatic hair, fashion, interior design, cooking, and cultural transformations.
Available March 15
Amy Schumer Growing
Amy Schumer is taking the stage for her second Netflix comedy special—and this time, she’s pregnant. “Here’s the thing. You’re pregnant, but you don’t change who you are. I hate women who start to act like really precious,” she tells the audience, cradling her stomach. “You don’t stop being you, you know. You don’t stop working or drinking.” From what we can gather from the trailer, Schumer will reflect on womanhood, life as a newlywed and what it’s like to grow a baby in your body. HA!
Available March 19
And here’s the full list of everything else coming to Netflix in January:
Available March 1
A Monster Calls
Budapest
Cricket Fever: Mumbai Indians
Dog Days
La La Land
Larva Island: Season 2
Losers
PAW Patrol: Season 5
River’s Edge
Space Jam
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The Dark Knight Rises
The Girl on the Train
Your Son
Available March 2
Romance is a Bonus Book (Streaming Every Saturday)
Available March 3
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj: Volume 2 (Streaming Every Sunday)
Available March 5
Disney’s Christopher Robin
Life
Available March 6
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Happy Gilmore
Lucy
Secret City: Under the Eagle: Season 2
The Order
Available March 8
After Life
Bangkok Love Stories: Hey You!
Bangkok Love Stories: Innocence
Formula 1: Drive to Survive
Hunter X Hunter (2011): Seasons 1-3
Immortals
Juanita-
Shadow
Walk. Ride. Rodeo.
Available March 11
Timeless: Season 2
Available March 12
Jimmy Carr: The Best of Ultimate Gold Greatest Hits
Terrace House: Opening New Doors: Part 6
Available March 13
Triple Frontier
Available March 15
Arrested Development: Season 5 B
Burn Out
Dry Martina
Girl
If I Hadn’t Met You
Las muñecas de la mafia: Season 2
Love, Death & Robots
Paskal
Robozuna: Season 2
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 10
Turn Up Charlie
YooHoo to the Rescue
Available March 16
Green Door
Available March 20
Smurfs: The Lost Village
Available March 21
Antoine Griezmann: The Making of a Legend
Available March 22
Carlo & Malik
Charlie’s Colorforms City
Delhi Crime
Historia de un crimen: Colosio
Mirage
Most Beautiful Thing
ReMastered: The Miami Showband Massacre
Selling Sunset
The Death of Stalin
The Dirt
Available March 23
Kubo and the Two Strings
Available March 26
Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid
Available March 28
Ainori Love Wagon: Asian Journey: Season 2
Jane the Virgin: Season 5
Suits: Season 7 New Episodes
Available March 29
15 August
Bayoneta
McQueen
Osmosis
Santa Clarita Diet: Season 3
The Highwaymen
The Legend of Cocaine Island
Traitors
Available March 31
El sabor de las margaritas
Love, Rosie
Snowpiercer
The Giver
Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection
Tyler Perry’s The Single Moms Club
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Fashion with Trend
Ever wake up in the middle of the night completely paralyzed but totally cognizant of the fact that you can’t move your limbs? Chances are you’ve experienced sleep paralysis. Here, a breakdown on the ever-so-elusive sleep disorder and what you can do if you have it.
What is sleep paralysis?
Some chalk up sleep paralysis to supernatural causes, or an urban legend dubbed the “night hag.” Well, turns out sleep paralysis is a real thing. It affects approximately 7.6 per cent of people worldwide (Kendall Jenner reported experiencing episodes back in 2016), and in Canada alone, it affects “about half of the population at some point in their lives,” says Dr. Brian Murray, head of the division of neurology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
Sleep paralysis occurs during the final sleep stage (we go through a total of five periods during a sleep cycle): the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep stage. “In REM sleep we are essentially paralyzed, except for breathing and eye movements,” explains Murray. “Sleep paralysis is the phenomenon where the cortex is active, but the motor system is inactive.” So basically, it’s when you wake up fully conscious but unable to move; one system wakes before the other, instead of getting up in unison.
What does it feel like?
Besides being unable to move, those who’ve had brushes with sleep paralysis have reported seeing figures (sometimes terrifying, sometimes abstract), feeling weighed down by an object and/or sensing a strange presence in the room. (If you really want to freak yourself out, lots of people have shared their stories online.)
In my case (because, yes, I have experienced sleep paralysis countless times) my limbs are rendered useless, eyes are glued shut and my brain can’t help but focus on my very shallow breathing…. which, in turn, leads me to believe I’m gasping for air or I can’t breathe. While episodes may feel like they go on forever, Murray says they generally last between 1 to 2 minutes. “It might often feel longer as it can be frightening,” he says.
What causes sleep paralysis?
The causes of sleep paralysis vary from person to person, but a lack of sleep, for one, can be the culprit, says Murray. Conditions like narcolepsy, seizures and hypertension have also been linked to the disorder, as well as jet lag, sleep disturbances and shift work. Because sleep paralysis is more likely to occur when you’re sleep deprived, Murray says ensuring adequate sleep time is essential, noting that most adults need between 7 to 9 hours of uninterrupted slumber.
What should you do if you have it?
One way people have cited utilizing sleep paralysis to their advantage is by turning their episode into a lucid dream (something I’ve yet to experience). If you’d rather your body wake up, the best thing to do is remain calm. Try focusing on moving your smaller muscle groups—wiggling your toes and fingers usually helps. During my episodes, focusing on my breathing (and reminding myself that I’m not actually going to die) often helps quell my anxiety. Waiting for it to pass is what Murray suggests, adding that if sleep paralysis becomes persistent or problematic, you may want to consult a sleep physician. The one big takeaway from experiencing sleep paralysis is that the more you experience it, the more you can practise remaining calm, which makes the episodes a little less intense.
The post What Is Sleep Paralysis? And What You Should Do if You Have It appeared first on FASHION Magazine.
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Fashion with Trend
I remember my first pair of Vans. It was the summer of 2014 and the now-ubiquitous sneaker craze was just beginning to take hold. I decided to dip my toes into the trend with a pair of crisp; white Eras, so fresh and full of promise. I loved the chunkiness of the platform sole — an adult version of the Keds I kicked around in as a kid – and couldn’t wait to defile their blinding whiteness with layers of grime. How punk rock.
So imagine my disappointment when I unboxed the shoes, so fresh and full of promise, to discover they were not actually that comfortable. I was used to mincing around in leather-soled Victorian booties and was hugely surprised that a pair of sneakers could somehow be less comfortable than my everyday fussy footwear. Wasn’t that, like, the point of sneakers? To provide the maximum amount comfort this cruel world can afford? And yet, these shoes were stiff as a board. I begrudgingly wore them for a few months until realizing they made me look like a total poser and I decided to give them away to a friend.
My youthful disappointment has now been made redundant with the drop of Vans’ new ComfyCush technology. Vans styles can now be purchased with the regular stiff sole or ComfyCush, which replaces the insole with proprietary foam that provides extra cushioning and arch support. In addition, the shoe’s upper has been redesigned to stabilize the tongue and the inside of the shoe is lined with moisture-wicking material. All of this technology comes together to create a shoe that looks like a regular pair of Vans, but feels like walking on a bed of puffy marshmallows.
Vans developed ComfyCush as part of their status as a growing lifestyle brand, explains Rian Pozzebon, the brand’s Director of Global Footwear Design. The technology isn’t aimed at core customers, it was created to attract a different cohort: “People who don’t want to sacrifice their identity by going out and buying an old man shoe somewhere else,” Pozzebon says. In other words, ComfyCush are perfect for the aging skater looking for more arch support, or the dad who still wants to look punk rock while taking his kids to Disneyland. “You don’t f*ck with a classic,” he says. “We’re still producing a classic heritage piece, but in an evolved manner.”
I had the opportunity to test out a pair at the global launch event in Bushwick, Brooklyn last Thursday and can confirm that ComfyCush feels like walking on earthy pillows. With each step, a baby cherub plays a note on his tiny bugle, celebrating how good it feels to walk in these shoes. Hardcore Vans traditionalists can stick with their stiff skate shoes, I’ll be over here feeling like I’m wearing barely any shoes at all.
The post Vans Has Finally Invented a Sneaker That’s Actually Comfortable appeared first on FASHION Magazine.
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Monday 25 February 2019
Fashion with Trend
It seems that the members of the Academy have a sweet affinity for the city landscape of their chilly, northern neighbour. On the heels of last year’s best picture win for A Shape of Water—the Guillermo del Toro fish sex film shot in recognizable scenes around the 6ix—the Oscar for Best Animated Short went to Bao, a film about a Chinese-Canadian woman raising her dumpling child in Toronto’s Spadina Street Chinatown.
Accepting the award was Domee Shi, a graduate of the animation program Sheridan college whose family moved to Toronto from Chongquing, China when she was three-years-old. Shi wrote and directed the film, becoming the first woman ever to direct a Pixar short and the first female director nominated for Best Animated Short since the Oscars debuted the category in 1932. And now, the award’s first female winner.
“For all of the nerdy girls who hide behind their sketchbooks, don’t be afraid to tell your stories to the world,” said Shi in her acceptance speech, standing alongside Becky Neiman-Cobb, the film’s producer. “You’re going to freak people out, but you’ll probably connect with them too and that’s an amazing feeling to have.”
Bao, much like the Pixar shorts that came before it, is imaginative, endearing, a little bit bizarre and absolutely heart-breaking. “Bao, was a moving love letter that every immigrant Asian mom and adult child could relate to,” said Toronto Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam on Twitter after Shi’s win. “I know it represented a part of my own Toronto story. Thank you Domee Shi for telling it so beautifully.”
Watch Bao, a short film that first premiered to audiences in theatres ahead of Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 in June, below. You may want to set yourself up in a private space and remove any eye makeup before pressing play.
The post Grab a Box of Tissues and Watch <em>Bao</em>, The Toronto-Set Short That Won an Oscar appeared first on FASHION Magazine.
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Fashion with Trend
After ten years working the international fashion show circuit, Olivia Colacci opened her hair studio Twentyseven in an effort to slow down, but the Toronto native isn’t staying away from the rollercoaster-paced thrill and surreal glam of fashion week completely. “Fashion week is the best education I could get,” says Colacci. “I learn firsthand the newest trends and hair techniques from the best of the best—hair stylists I’ve followed for years, pinning up their work and dissecting their hairstyles. It’s priceless.” Colacci’s plan is to do one city per season and alternate so she spent last week in Milan working with the likes of Guido Palau and James Pecis and gave us the scoop on the looks she helped create.
Natural
The natural look was well-represented in Milan—a stark contrast to the high-concept stylings we saw over in London. At Etro, Colacci worked alongside James Pecis to create undone texture, neither too tightly curled, artificially waved nor straightened, to pair with the brand’s rich embroideries and jacquards. At Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini’s ’90s-supermodel-inspired show, where the team was headed up by Sam McKnight, Colacci described hair as having a “cool girl wave” with invisible side parts and an au naturel feel. Finally, for Eamon Hughes’s Byblos look, to complement designer Manuel Facchini’s Arctic Circle-themed collection, Colacci helped create sky-high ponytails and hair that flowed naturally down models’ backs.
The takeaway: “Work with what you were given,” says Colacci. “Talk to a stylist that will teach you how to make what you have even better. Retire your flatiron.”
Androgynous
No-frills hair was another big theme last week, with stylists doing away with overly fussed with hair in favour of a more androgynous look. James Pecis kept things smooth and sleek, with somewhat severe hair swept across the forehead for Gabriele Colangelo’s minimalist-focused collection. Over at MaxMara, the look, keyed by Sam McKnight, had a similarly masculine feel from the front, done up in wet-look French braids and deep side parts—the perfect accessory to creative director Ian Griffiths’s Nancy Pelosi-inspired power coats.
The takeaway: “Everyone always thinks that a wet look is created with gel or water, try using mousse and a diffuser to set hair in place and keep hair looking wet. Gel tends to crack and get flaky or look like a helmet,” advises Colacci.
More-Is-More
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Guido Palau pulled out all the stops for Dolce & Gabbana. True to the brand’s tradition of over-the-top accessorizing, he used barrettes, hats, flowers, headbands and more. And over at Vivetta, Peter Gray went against the natural grain with backcombed hair for a “bigger the hair, closer to god” look. Contrary to what that mantra may conjure, the effect was more futuristic housewife than pageant queen, complementing the collection’s mix of hyper-modern and traditional motifs.
The takeaway: “Hair accessories are HUGE,” says Colacci. “Use barrettes, pins, clips, headbands, even bobby pins to make a design.”
The post Notes From Backstage at Milan Fashion Week F/W 2019 From Toronto Hairstylist Olivia Colacci appeared first on FASHION Magazine.
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