Fashion

As the weather gets warmer and the hemlines get shorter, the wedding invitations start rolling in. That’s right: Summer wedding season is upon us once again. And while we love an excuse to go shopping, how to dress for a wedding is a question us bona fide wedding attendees are still having difficulty answering.

How does one find the perfect balance between demure and daring? A wedding, after all, is a multi-generational affair that demands a timeless, and semi-conservative look. No pressure. For the bride-to-be, the wedding day is her day to shine. So how do you, the guest, make a statement without stealing her spotlight?

Florals, one of spring’s most coveted trends, is a classic fail-proof print that guarantees a perfectly feminine look—without matching a member of the wedding party. Erdem showcased the dainty print in a variety of soft sorbet hues on his Spring 2013 runway. A bold floral à la Hawaiian Tropic is just as ideal and fitting for the scorching temperatures to come. Designer Antonio Berardi has proved he knows a thing or two about how to dress for a wedding with his selection of bold hued summery frocks as seen on the Spring 2013 runway.

For more advice on how to dress for a wedding, we turned to our Style Panel members. And advice we got! 13 of our panelists share their tips on how to look cool and comfortable all ceremony and reception long. Sharing our love for prints, Canadian Fashionista’s Amber Desilets recommends a perfectly feminine floral dress while Velvet & Vino’s Becky Kung likes to spice things up in bold vertical stripes. When it comes to colour, Suburban Faux-Pas’ Krystin Lee can’t say no to a classic LBD, but chooses metallic pumps to up the fun factor. On the opposite end of the rainbow, One Chic Mom’s Iva Grbesic chose a bold, off-the-shoulder red dress as her summer wedding frock of choice. If there is one thing all of our style panelists can agree on when it comes to how to dress for a wedding it’s that you should NEVER wear white!

Question 52: Now that summer’s wedding season is here, how do you dress for a wedding? Read the answers now! »

Or jump to: BARBARA ANN SOLOMON, TORONTO | BECKY KUNG, CALGARY | AMBER DESILETS, LONDON | KRYSTIN LEE, TORONTO | KAYLA SHORT, HALIFAX | LEAH GUST, TORONTO | KD FAUSTINO, CALGARY | CHRISTINA CRAVERO, TORONTO | NICOLE WILSON, TORONTO | AMY NELSON, CALGARY | DEANNE MACRAE, MISSISSAUGA | IVA GRBESIC, TORONTO | CARA MCLEAY, VANCOUVER

See these Cannes red carpet beauty looks up close »

FASHION’s beauty editor Rani Sheen is currently at the Cannes Film Festival getting the red carpet scoop on all things beauty. Here’s what she witnessed over the weekend.

The inclement weather at the beginning of the world’s glitziest film festival did nothing for the beauty looks on the red carpet—Carey Mulligan bravely battled sheets of rain trying to derail her pale-pink Dior Couture gown and sleek centre-parted hair at the Great Gatsby’s premiere. However, the sun started to shine on Sunday and the stars took full advantage. Aishwarya Rai (commonly referred to as the most beautiful woman in the world) let her long, brown hair flow in natural waves at both the premiere of Blood Ties and the Cohen brother’s latest, Inside Llewyn Davis. But at Sunday’s gala for 100 Years of Bollywood, the Indian film and actual princess tried a style that quite befitting for the occasion.

In the penthouse lounge at Cannes HQ Hotel Martinez, Aishwarya Rai said she wanted to incorporate a headband made by one of her favourite Indian designers. L’Oreal Paris hairstylist Stephane Lancien said he parted the hair above and below the band and set it like a tiara, pinning it up but leaving a few messy strands out to keep it looking modern and sexy.

At the aforementioned premiere for Blood Ties, a moving Brooklyn-set crime flick about two embattled brothers (Clive Owen and Billy Crudup), director Guillaume Canet’s took to the red carpet with his wife, Marion Cotillard. While she plays a drug-addicted prostitute in the film, she cleaned up very nicely in a dress from the Dior Resort 2014 collection, straight off the Monaco runway. She wore it with a high beehive bouffant and what we assume was waterproof mascara, since after the screening she was—adorable couple alert!—wiping away tears of pride. Co-star Zoe Saldana, who sweetly helped me the day before in the Martinez restaurant bathroom when adjusting my own ’60s hairdo, looked fresh in Valentino and a red lip.

The most covetable hair was sported by Milla Jovovich who has the season’s ubiquitous choppy bob, perfectly tousled. She slinked from her limo to the red carpet in a floral sequinned Chanel dress and smoked out eyes, throwing seductive glances at the throngs of fans.

Every week our Beauty Fix columnist takes on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more. Have a beauty question we haven’t answered? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

I have stretch marks that I’m really self-conscious about, particularly in the summer. Can I do anything to hide them?
You’re hardly alone in feeling painfully aware of stretch marks on your body! Stretch marks are the result of the rapid stretching of the dermis. Men and women alike can develop stretch marks, often from puberty or weight gain. Approximately 50-90 per cent of women develop stretch marks during pregnancy, which makes stretch marks a fairly common concern that ought to be addressed! Try a topical treatment such as Stratamark ($40, Shoppers Drug Mart). This gel forms a thin but essential occlusive barrier on the skin to create an optimized environment to normalize and hydrate the collagen synthesis process, which will lead to repaired skin. The gel is non-sticky, dries quickly and is transparent, so it can be applied any time. Reduced appearance of stretch marks is apparent in as little as a month, which is all the more reason to grab a tube and start applying now!

I’m not really into bright eye makeup, but would like to mix up my look this summer. What’s a simple way to do this?
For those who are truly eyeshadow-averse and not really wanting to stray from the odd dash of liner, I urge you to turn your attention to coloured mascara! When I think of coloured mascara ages ago, it wasn’t terribly pigmented and you usually had to layer the mascara over a white mascara to see any colour payoff. Those days are long gone, thankfully, and this is definitely evident in Chanel’s Inimitable Waterproof Mascaras ($36 each, at Chanel counters) from their summer 2013 collection. The collection includes the standard black mascara, as well as four bright shades: “Blue Note” (deep, electric-blue), “Aqua Blue” (a shimmery light-blue), “Lime Light” (mint aqua) and “Zest” (bright yellow). These can be worn on lash tips for a hint of colour or on their own as the focus of your makeup. Since it’s a waterproof formula, you can rest assured they won’t end up running down your face at any point in the heat, so add one into your summer makeup routine!

I have a medium-deep skin tone and can’t really find bronzer that shows on my skin. Any suggestions?
As I’ve previously dicsussed bronzer for lighter skin tones, it’s only fair that we address other skin tones too! The market is flooded with bronzers that promise to usually be a couple of the following: matte, shimmery, radiant and glowing. What’s difficult to determine is how pigmented the product will be on skin tones that are deeper than the norm, simply because most bronzers are marketed towards medium skin tones. The fact is, people that are darker than medium skin tones do still get colour in the summer and it can be mimicked with a bronzer! Seek out Pixi Bronze Sculpt Trio in “Sunshine Sculpt” ($28, Target Canada), a hefty compact if there ever was one, containing 22g of product (read: bang for your buck!). The beautiful thing about this sizable palette is that it includes a pigmented bronzer best reserved for medium-deep skin tones in half the palette (which seems quite reasonable, given that you can apply it lightly all over the face, or choose to contour with it), as well as a dusty rose blush and a warm champagne-peach highlighter to accent the bronzer accordingly.

I just ran out of foundation and I’m not sure if I should buy the same colour I wore all winter given that I’ll probably get some colour this summer, even if inadvertently. What should I do?
It’s definitely an awkward point in the year to run out of foundation. We all get a hint of colour in the summer in spite of our regimented SPF efforts (and you are wearing SPF every day, right?) so it’s usually the right time in the year to swap out foundation shades. That being said, it doesn’t make the process of choosing the right colour now to suit us a couple months from now any easier! Luckily, science has your back yet again! Almay Smart Shade Mousse Makeup ($17, at drugstores) has that absurdly-convenient-for-this-time-of-year shade-sensing technology that adjusts the colour of the foundation (which is actually grey in the pot—but don’t be turned off by that!) to match the colour of your skin. As long as you’re within your general shade range (four shades to choose from), you’ll be set for the summer even if you get a bit of (safe) sun!

How can I start to target and treat the aging of my undereye area? I’ve been noticing some crepiness developing and I do not like what I’m seeing!
In spite of how much water you drink, how much sunscreen you slather on and how well you take care of yourself, aging is obviously inevitable and will begin at some point in your life. If it has begun to show in your eye area, don’t despair! If you’re interested in blurring the appearance of fine lines while treating them, look no further than Estée Lauder Perfectionist [CP+R] Line Smoother ($72, esteelauder.ca). This non-irritating, lightweight treatment is packed with an amino acid and protein complex that promotes skin repair, as well as peptides that aid in collagen and elastin production, resulting in smoother skin and reduction of fine lines.

See all the Cannes 2013 red carpet photos »

The 66th annual Cannes Film Festival is underway and the never-ending parade of red carpet dresses certainly makes it one of the top sartorial events of the year. As a twelve-day film festival that hosts multiple parties, photo calls and premieres each day, A-list stars and international icons bringing their best looks to the French Riviera. To help keep track, we’re rounding up the top looks from the Cannes 2013 red carpet so far—and we’ll keep adding more as the festival continues.

Arguably the most anticipated movie of the year, The Great Gatsby, had its European premiere at Cannes last week—and the red carpet was filled with outfits just a glamourous as the film itself, including Cara Delevingne’s sultry Burberry laced ensemble and Carey Mulligan’s Dior Couture gown.

Meanwhile, Emma Watson turned heads last week at the premiere of her latest film, The Bling Ring, in a stunning Chanel gown. Earlier in the day, the wizard-turned-fame-obsessed-teen (that is, on screen!) showed off an equally stunning burgundy ensemble by Christopher Kane.

Over the weekend, Jennifer Lawrence left her bow and arrow behind as she and the rest of The Hunger Games cast promoted the second installment of the popular franchise, turning heads at a part for the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. As the face of Miss Dior, the Academy Award winner showed off her incredible figure donning multiple strapless outfits by the fashion house, including a white bustier gown with a Warhol print on her skirt.

Two other Academy Award winners, Cannes Film Festival juror, Nicole Kidman and French actress, Marion Cotillard also turned to Dior as their choice for their red carpet looks. Both opted for colourful ensembles: Nicole Kidman wore a heavily embroidered couture gown for the Cannes 2013 opening ceremony while Marion Cotillard chose a strapless dress with bold colours for the Blood Ties premiere—and that Dior gown was shown just two days earlier in Monaco at the label’s Resort show.

Photography by Carlo Mendoza; Hair and makeup by Margot Keith; Model: Daphne/Plutino Group

Alright kids, this hair tutorial is a fun one. Considering that she’s the cover of our Summer issue, it only made sense to take inspiration from Lana Del Rey for a hair tutorial. While she’s often spotted styling her hair in loose waves or a deep side part (both of which we just happen to have tutorials for as well: waves here, side-part here) Lana Del Rey’s fondness for the ’50s and ’60s mean she’s sported a bouffant more than once. The video for “National Anthem” is all about the Lana Del Rey bouffant and she wore her hair up for much of her summer festival tour in 2012.

While the thought of attempting to add a few inches of volume to your hair may seem overwhelming, the bouffant is easier to master than you may think. If you can tease your hair, you can do a bouffant. This bouffant hair tutorial was created in conjunction with Toronto-based hairstylist Margot Keith, who knows a thing or two about adding impressive amounts of volume to even the sleekest heads of hair. She’s also made learning how to do a bouffant totally foolproof. Read on for our complete step-by-step hair tutorial.

Photography by Carlo Mendoza; Hair and makeup by Margot Keith; Model: Daphne/Plutino Group

How to do a bouffant:

1. Because the bouffant is all about volume, give your hair some help by setting it with hot rollers. (Bonus: It helps put you in the ’50s mood!) If you don’t have hot rollers, curling your hair with a large barrel iron also works—just make sure to use a curling iron that’s 1.5” or larger.

2. Section off all the hair that sits at the crown of your head and begin to tease with a natural bristle teasing brush. It may seem overwhelming at first, but if you work through the section piece by piece, a very mailable “pile” of hair will start to form. Once you have enough volume, pull this section back and secure it loosely with an elastic ponytail holder. This hair is the “stuffing” for your bouffant.

3. Now take the hair that frames your face and brush it back, overtop the pouf of teased hair. Use the teasing brush to smooth this hair as you go—the idea is that the un-teased hair should cover over the “stuffing” and hide any bumps or tangles. Secure this hair to the first ponytail you created, using another elastic.

4. Balance out your bouffant by lightly teasing any hair around the pouf. Once it looks like everything is in the right place, spray on a healthy amount of your favourite hairspray—and you’re ready to go!

Model wears top, $49 by Joe Fresh

Photography by Mike Marsland/WireImage and Michael Bowles/Calvin Klein

See these Cannes red carpet looks up close »

It’s only day three of the 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival and the glamour just keeps on coming. In keeping with the trends we saw throughout this year’s award season, many shades of champagne are coming down the Cannes red carpet. Standing out from the set are two raven-haired stars, Eva Longoria and Rooney Mara. Donning different styles of form-fitting gowns at their respective Cannes events, both of these leading ladies flaunted their amazing figures and classic beauty on the red carpet.

Though she was not the star of today’s premiere of Le Passe (The Past), Eva Longoria definitely knows how to make an entrance at the Grand Palais at Cannes Film Festival. As one of the brand ambassadors of L’Oréal Paris, Longoria looked every bit of a golden girl in a heavily embroidered gold gown by Zuhair Murad, from the Spring 2013 Couture collection. Complete with a floor-sweeping train and a low cut back, the ex-Desperate Housewives actress gracefully worked the red carpet showing off her toned back (and her Celtic tattoo!) while posing for the cameras. Allowing her intricately designed dress to steal the spotlight, she finished off her look with cat eyes and neutral pink lips, with her hair tied back in a low ponytail.

Besides the film premieres and photo calls, the Cannes Film Festival also hosts a number of parties, including last night’s Calvin Klein Women In Film party. Right on the heels of being named the face of Calvin Klein’s new fragrance, Rooney Mara celebrated with the fashion house alongside Carey Mulligan and Nicole Kidman. Departing from her usual all-black or all-white dress code, the Academy Award nominee surprised us in a simple-yet-elegant champagne-coloured cocktail dress by Calvin Klein and a pair of Prada peep toe nude heels. She accessorized with a simple Jennifer Meyer bracelet on her forearm. With her hair slicked back into a neat bun and a touch of pink on her lips, Mara shared a softer and more feminine side we hope to see more of.

See all 21 Topshop Festival items here »

Just in time for this summer’s music festival season, Topshop is launching an interactive campaign called Topshop Festival. Inspired by the energy of the ever-growing popularity of British music festivals and its fashion, the campaign includes music, movies and, of course, must-have products. Even better, Topshop turned to Kate Bosworth—a Coachella devotee who’s always embraced the festival fashion trend—to help create some items for the collection. It’s not a collaboration, per say, but more of a Bosworth-approved edit of the Topshop Festival collection.

Working with the Topshop design team, Bosworth created items that extend the actress’s style and work hand in hand with the Topshop brand. The special 21-piece collection consists of signature pieces ranging from neon printed shorts, fur lined vests, gladiator sandals and even feathered wings. And before you click through to our gallery of all the Topshop Festival items—you may have already seen them: Bosworth wore many of the items at this year’s Coachella festival.

If acquiring Kate Bosworth’s impeccable festival style is not exciting enough, the actress also stars in a short interactive film that will launch on Topshop.com. The interaction is the best part: every item Bosworth is wearing in the film can be clicked, shared and purchased! Now that’s taking shopping to a whole new level. And for Toronto-based fans of festival style, select pieces from the collection are now available at Topshop Queen Street and Yorkdale.

Image courtesy Calvin Klein

Rooney Mara has once again teamed up with David Fincher, but this time it’s for a campaign for Calvin Klein’s newest women’s fragrance, Downtown Calvin Klein. Described as a perfume for “women that live by their own rules,” Mara’s no-nonsense persona and demure, moody looks make her a natural choice for the face of the brand.

The perfume—which is described as a balance of feminine woodsy scents with soft floral notes—hits counters in July, just as the Fincher-directed campaign will debut on television screens across the country. Mara and Fincher have worked together on both The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network and the short film for Downtown Calvin Klein will have a similar cinematic appeal. The black and white campaign (which is set to Yeah Yeah Yeahs song “Runaway”) shows Mara traversing through New York City and “living in her own world, breaking away from the ‘expected.’”

But until it debuts, the only glimpse we have is through the Downtown Calvin Klein campaign image, which shows Mara with slicked back hair, a subtle smoky eye and—in keeping with the season’s trend—velvety smooth skin.