The Fashion File Blog

Sounds so much cooler with the "a" at then end instead of "er", and when spoken with a London accent... FF checked out Guy Ritchie's latest gangster flick "Rocknrolla" at TIFF last night, and though there was no Madge in sight, he did bring along all his boys... At the after-party they told us a little about the film & a little about their own style and red carpet looks... check it out.



Footage: Special thanks to Alfred Tonna & "The Scene" at CBC


(Film buffs - Peter Bradshaw's "Rocknrolla" review in The Guardian is a fun read and makes propa use of the "a" thing.)

Posted by KEREN

September 5, 2008 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have to admit, I'm not up to speed on all the commonly known fashion dos and don'ts for men, but I feel like I know a thing or two about what looks good on the guys... However, when looking over YSL's men's fall collection the other day with a male friend of mine, I learned something new - though I'm not sure I'm totally buying it.
While debating the pros and cons of the various looks, he says "and never wear yellow unless it's a tie". Who knew? Is this true? Cause I kinda like the bright yellow jacket...

Photo from men.style.com, courtesy Yves Saint Laurent

Posted by KEREN

September 4, 2008 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh hello! How are you? I'm well. What'd you get up to last night? Oh no you did not! Stop right there. I don't want to hear it.

Okay, instead, let me tell you about my nuit en ville. I went to a cute store opening last night. Well, it wasn't exactly a store opening, per se. It was more of a reopening in a new space. Confusing, right? Let me explain.

On February 20th, preloved, one of Toronto's most adored sustainable fashion boutiques, went up in flames. Believe you me, it was one sad day on the uber-cool strip of Queen Street West, with hipsters crying into their fair-trade lattes.

But out of the ashes, a new preloved flagship store has emerged.





It's cute, like its predecessor, but with a slightly more modern, stylish feel.








For the uninitiated, preloved, as its name suggests, is a sustainable fashion line that takes vintage clothes and redesigns them into sexy new pieces. One designer sketches out the looks he wants to create for the season, and then a team of kids fan out to rummage through the rag-houses of Toronto, looking for source material. Making eco-fashion cool is a tall order - considering how granola-y some of the looks can be - but preloved has been getting it right for 13 years.





They've got stores in Canada and Australia, and are sold through other boutiques all over the world. As retail manager Shelley Whelan told me, completely straight-faced, "preloved is really big in Japan." Respect.

As for highlights from their Fall/Winter collection, well there are these turtleneck dresses that Paper magazine jumped all over:





Pretty adorable, non? I was also impressed with this funky coat, called the Bergman, made out of 4 old pairs of men's wool pants.





But I was most smitten with this ensemble, although I think the fact that the sales girl modelling it for me was sweet as can be may have helped tip the scales in its favour.





Called the Jess Way jumper, this little number is made of vintage corduroy pants, and lined with - wait for it - old bedsheets!

I'm so glad to see that one of Canada's most progressive labels is back on its feet. So the next time PETA gets all up in your grill for wearing your nana's fox fur stole, know that there's an earth-friendly alternative that will still garner jealous stares from the other girls in the office.

Posted by LUKE

September 4, 2008 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quick, Keira, trade wardrobes with me!





Photo courtesy of justjared.com

Posted by KATHERINE

September 4, 2008 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This just in and I LOVE it! Nylonmag.com has a preview of Jonathan Saunders' new line for Target and I want it ALL!!! Well, maybe just the jackets... And the dresses... And the cute skinny jeans. Anyway, I digress. The point is, guess who's going to be making a run over the border mid-October for a new fall wardrobe at ridiculously reasonable prices. Watch this space for the smugly pleased-with-myself-because-of-my-cute-new-outfit follow up blog.

Posted by SAM

September 4, 2008 2:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Horror of horrors - you stepped outside this morning in your favourite white pumps only to realize that Labour Day has come and gone. As every little boy and girl knows, one of the greatest faux pas on the fashion calendar is to wear white after Labour Day. Why? Because that's the way it's always been, right?

Well, we at FF aren't having any of it. My dandiest pair of shoes are brilliantly white, and I'll be damned if I have to retire those puppies the moment September arrives.

So the question is, where did this arcane fashion dictum really come from? After a little digging, it appears its genesis is in the land of Southern belles, obvs! The Blanches, Scarletts and Violets of this world have a long history of being class conscious. As nouveau riche families emerged onto their scene in the first half of the 20th century, southern American social codes such as only wearing white between Easter and Labour Day were imposed in order to preserve the aesthetic integrity of society folk. Pshaw!

Of course, blushing brides have always been allowed to wear white at whatever time of year they get hitched (so long as they qualify to wear the colour in other respects).

And then there's winter white (cream-coloured wool, etc.). You certainly won't be committing sartorial suicide should you decide to sling an ivory Chanel purse over your shoulder in January.

But at the end of the day, I say you should wear what works best with your outfit, regardless of the season. Blanche and her compatriots can choke on their mint juleps for all I care.

Posted by LUKE

September 3, 2008 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Economic theory anyone? It may sound a little on the dull side for a fashion blog, but when paired with the length of hemlines, it gets much more interesting... The classic "hemline index", invented by the Wharton economist, George Taylor, in 1926, suggested that the better the economic times, the higher the hemlines - and the reverse obviously being that a slumping economy sees longer looks as the trend-du-jour.
Is it any wonder then, that this summer's biggest trend was the maxi-dress, and the "floor sweeping styles" taken up by everyone from the fashion-set to Hollywood "it" girls, and ultimately to chain stores everywhere? Given that this trend was first seen in the summer collections shown last September/October (when the economy wasn't yet so bleak) it seems designers had the edge on Wall Street with this one. And, if we're to trust their supposed clairvoyance, fall fashion is singing the same long song. The New York Times Fashion Pulse recently posted that "though short skirts still live, a slew of forwardthinking designers, including Marc Jacobs, Marios Schwab and Junya Watanabe showed strikingly new long-and-lean looks for fall."

Photo from NYTimes.com

So, in these lean times, how to get consumers to spend becomes the question of the day - enter the "supers" -Linda, Naomi, Claudia and the rest of the one-name-wonders have returned to save the economy... well, the fashion economy at least. Apparently a recognizable face is reassuring and makes us want to spend? Really? (The Guardian this week, stated that since Evangelista appeared in ads for L'Oreal, sales have increased 20% over 18 months)

Naomi Campbell YSL Campaign, Photograph by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin

Claudia Schiffer Chanel Campaign, Photograph by Karl Lagerfeld

Linda Evangelista Prada Campaign, Photograph by Steven Meisel

Current fall ad campaigns have Linda Evangelista for Prada, Naomi Campbell for YSL, Claudia Schiffer for Chanel, and the September Issue of Vanity Fair has paid homage to the original supermodels in a retrospective photographed by Mario Testino.

Photograph Michel Comte for Vanity Fair Magazine

I'm trying to get my head around this - so supermodels and hemlines are really related to mortgage crisis, credit woes, job crunch and shrinking global economy? Ok... sure. But, will the economy improve? Well, let's test the theory shall we? With the Spring/Summer '09 shows just about to begin, keep an eye out for short skirts and lots of leg... Oh yeah, and a super-model or two.

Posted by KEREN

September 1, 2008 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)