FASHION Diaries
Talk Is Chic
Sarah Casselman shops and trendspots in style.
Whether she’s attending events or checking out the latest finds around the city, our fashion market editor, Sarah Casselman, is always scoping out the fashion scene. Get the inside scoop on what's on this FASHION editor's must-haves list.
Diving into poolside glam
Posted on July 12, 2007
Into each and every fashionably frenzied life, there comes a time to recharge the Energizer Bunny batteries. A time to find inner Zen, not the closest H&M. A time to acquire more chi than Gucci.
Recently, between drowning in work deadlines and tossing out a life preserver to save my sinking Visa (the summer sales had turned me into a trend-driven Tasmanian devil), I decided it was time to breathe and reboot on a stylish summer vacation. Unfortunately, the closest thing I had to the smell of sea air was the Michael Kors Island fragrance wafting over from our beauty department. But with my mind wandering from Mainbocher to Maine, and with no immediate getaway appearing in my crystal ball, the question was raised: In the summer, what is a city girl to do? The answer: Find a higher power, or rather tower. Destination: The Four Seasons Hotel’s rooftop pool for a little stylish summer sizzlin’.
Categories: Girl About Town
Do the Charleston for charity
Posted on April 16, 2007
Like any true fashionista, I am obsessed with all super chic treats in the world of wardrobe and other wowable finds.
My amour du jour is the recently rehabbed darling of the New York fashion scene, Marc Jacobs, and his Spring 2007 ready-to-wear collection. With its bejewelled headbands, dainty drop waists and megawatt metallics, it is official that the ’20s are trendy again. But where can a dame don a cloche hat and a flapper-inspired frock without looking like a Louise Brooks blunder? The answer arrived on my desk last week, and this dame thinks it is going to be the cat’s pyjamas.
You are cordially invited to…
Categories: Girl About Town
Day four – TGIF
Posted on March 21, 2007
After a late night (12 a.m.!) at the J.Lindeberg fashion show, hosted by Elmer Olsen Model Management at the Ultra Supper Club on Queen Street West, FASHION realized two things the next morning:
- Sunglasses and a slick of bright lipgloss do a feting femme good
- Blazer-wearing boys (in the show and the crowd) are on our style radar
Categories: Runway Report
Day three – Front row and fancy-free
Posted on March 19, 2007
Despite a few fashion casualties (felled by fierce-looking boots on sore feet), too much caffeine and too little sleep, the fashion pack turned up today looking perfectly turned out. Inside the Liberty Grand, spirits were still high and the ankle booties even higher. On with the shows…
Categories: Runway Report
Day two – Ruby Tuesday
Posted on March 16, 2007
Looking to spot some gems today, I was armed and ready with my Fashion Week essentials: Starbucks, a cellphone and sunglasses. After popping in at the Tevrow + Chase showroom to view the fall lineup (watch for print blouses, adorable bubble skirts and fab egg-shaped coats—j’adore!), I raced back to the Liberty Grand to join the fashion pack for today’s runway roster.
Categories: Runway Report
Day one – In Grand Style
Posted on March 15, 2007
Question: Has spring already passed me by? With the weather at a balmy 10 degrees and a cream Burberry duster coat sweetly whispering “spring” in my ear, I am already thinking about the new collections and knitwear for Fall 2007. On the (stilettoed) heels of the fall international collections in Milan and Paris, Toronto’s L’Oreal Fashion Week has officially begun with all of its fanfare, fashionistas and fabulousness.
Categories: Runway Report
With the band
Posted on February 26, 2007
Every morning on my way to work, I stop off at the local coffee shop. Truth be told, I need a serious shot of caffeine before I can think couture. Standing in line, listening to the bountiful beverage preferences, I begin to think about making choices. As we do at Starbucks, over time we tend to develop favourites: clothing, trendy or timeless; men, creative or corporate; lipstick, natural and nude or pucker-up pink. So when designers crowned the newest member of spring’s It list, I made the choice to get with the band…the headband, that is. After all, with the easy, natural hair on the runways this spring, a head-turning band is just the “hairapy” the doctor ordered.
Categories: Girl About Town
Hitting cruise control
Posted on January 18, 2007
My name is Sarah, and I am a window shopaholic. Like a fashionable fish, I swim toward the many shiny lures—a chain-handled bag, a platform shoe, or a to-die-for dress. So, last week as I stared at my pale reflection in the travel agency glass, I knew instantly what I needed (besides a serious sweep of blush): a sigh-inducing island getaway. It was time to hit cruise control. What could be better than sun, sand and a suitcase full of the latest resort collections?
Categories: Girl About Town
New year, new you
Posted on December 25, 2006
Fashion felines everywhere know that change is inevitable, be it their address or their dress. But come New Year’s Eve, when the holiday revelry mixes with a little regret (beaucoup de chocolat et champers), some things do remain the same. After the clock strikes midnight—the kisses have come and gone, and the Veuve has vanished—we heave a sigh of relief that the holidays are over, crawl under the duvet and pen a list of our shiny new annual aspirations. For most lovely creatures, this means transforming into a modern minimalist gal. A time to partake in the “less is more” school of thought.
It is at this time of year that I always delight in rereading Diana Vreeland: Bazaar Years, a collection of the former Harper’s Bazaar fashion editor’s “Why Don’t You?” columns, which she later called “absurdities.” Au contraire, her witty and whimsical ideas are the perfect catalyst to start thinking out of the closet. For example: Why not “wear loose velvet gloves in wonderful colors—the right hand in violet velvet, the left in burgundy? These gloves at the theatre emerging from a beautiful fur cape would be very effective.”
Categories: Girl About Town
Haute for the holidays
Posted on December 19, 2006
When it comes to making an entrance (or an exit) at any posh holiday party, chicettes everywhere turn to the Fab Five:
- The LBD (little black dress)
- The bold cocktail ring
- The hot shoe
- The statement bag
- The mini “glam” slam (polish, primp, perfume)
Don’t be the strife of the party–plan your outfit in advance to avoid becoming a part of this fashionista folk tale…
Categories: Girl About Town
Bringing sexy back, Italian-style
Posted on December 7, 2006
When Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” he must have been referring to the weeks leading up to the holiday season. A frazzled yet fabulous time filled with eggnog, Amex bills and excess.
So naturally, what happened while riding the subway last week (while visions of Holt Renfrew danced in my head) came as a great surprise—a divine intervention. Pasted above an ad for a shopping mall, I noticed a sticker that read, “Consumption does not fill the void.” And suddenly, standing there with my parcels (a haute hostess prezzie and a fab new pair of bejewelled strappies to deck the halls in), I wondered: When did consumption begin to consume us?
Categories: Girl About Town
Casting my blues ballot
Posted on November 15, 2006
In light of Toronto’s recent mayoral election—for which I dutifully cast my vote while doing a modern-day spin of Jackie O: a pink cropped wool jacket with 3/4-length sleeves, oversized sunglasses, pearls and a pair of skinny jeans—I have been thinking a great deal about polls, platform statements and promises.
Categories: Girl About Town
The queen scene
Posted on November 3, 2006
The signs were everywhere: my preference for pastels, my delight in delicious little cakes and my royal flush, courtesy of my new blush, “Penny Lane” by Nars. But it wasn’t until I sat in the chair at the hair salon and cried out, “More volume, more, more!” that it occurred to me. My beaucoup de frou-frou could only mean one thing–I was in the midst of a Marie Antoinette moment. And despite being guillotined by my own credit card during this mania, I still yearned for more glossy, glistening goodies.
Categories: Girl About Town
Day five: Very fashionably late…
Posted on October 25, 2006
The final night of Toronto’s L’Oréal Fashion Week may have been on-trend, but it definitely was not on time. After waiting a full 1 hour 15 minutes, the lights dimmed and the music started. I put down my prosecco and picked up my pen…on with the show.
Categories: Runway Report
Day four: All work and no play…
Posted on October 20, 2006
Despite a few stiletto-wounded whimpers overheard in the show lineups last night, the energy was still electric après a full four days of the FDCC’s Canadian-cool Fashion Week. While the shows (thus far) have ranged from dazzling to disappointing, one thing is certain: All work and no play makes fashion a dull industry. Hence, the word on everyone’s collagen-plumped lips ce soir was: after-parties!
But before we can mix ’n’ mingle in our Manolos, I hear the call of the styled…
Categories: Runway Report
