autumn

i know its been a while since i last posted pictures of me and my mates up to our shenanigans, but unless you live in the tundra that toronto becomes around october, you wouldn't understand the painful bitterness the artic winds carry when they get swept down from santa's hood. ergo not only does the bank account contribute to the hermit like behavior, now its also in cahoots with the weather to keep me indoors. its not like there's a smooth transition from summer to autumn that helps you prepare for the dreadful cold days ahead. one day you're stepping out in shorts and a t-shirt, and not even a week later you're frantically digging for your winter coat, scarves, gloves, and long johns. the latter causing a bit of a problem since fashion gets in the way and there is no way i can fit a waffle knit long underwear under my skin tight jeans. i've been in canada for almost twenty years and i still dread the day when daylight savings starts because i know it'll be at least five months of windchill factors, dirty slush, early sunsets, cabin fever, and freezing my arse off at the bus stop when i have to be at work at some ungodly hour in the morning. i know everyone says that fall is their favorite season because they get to accesorize and wear nice comfortable sweaters and boots and all that jazz, but i'm a summer kinda guy. i like my beers in the park and riding my bike and not feel like my freezing toes about to fall off. i'm bitching now and its only november. by january i'm gonna sound like i'm writing a suicide note. i think i'mma make like a bear and hibernate till april.

p.s. see me looking like a ninja on the third last pic? that was taken only a few days ago. and yes that's snow on the ground. and with the windchill that night it was -10 degrees celsius. i say bring it on global warming. it almost makes me want to not recycle anything ever again.

the woman who fell to earth

POP: winter 2008
photographer: josh olins
stylist: katie grand
model: natasa vojnovic
despite putting a celebrity on the cover, an american one at that, i must admit that while the cover was extremely lame (drew barrymore is cute and all, but she has no business being on the cover of pop magazine) this fucking editorial starring the always super impressive natasa vojnovic blows my freaking mind. yes the ziggy stardust/glam rock bowie has been referenced a gajillion times before, but to use one brand exclusively for this spread, especially one like dolce and gabbana who is the last designer(s) you would think about when u picture david bowie back in the day shows just what happens when you have a brilliant photographer, a brilliant stylist, and a model who can method act her ass through a shoot resulting in a performance that could rip the oscar off julia roberts' hand. you must realize by now how much of a fan i am of natasa. seriously, youtube her and see how much she gives infront of the camera. it'll warm your heart. but anyways, yes, this edit rocks. and despite the unfortunate cover, there is also a spread of asian modeling sensation liu wen decked head to to in junya watanabe; chanel iman actually for once looking aight; and lastly, one inspired by giles deacon's recent pac-man collection starring a whole bunch of babes and one of my most favorite models from the nineties emma balfour. come to think about it, emma would've been a terrific bowie too. anyways, natasa plus emma, same magazine = dope!

eric lebon

while hip hop fashion in america basically consists of guys wearing clothes a million times too big for them and usually from a clothing label "designed" by a rapper, paris based designer eric lebon makes hip hop, and urban inspired fashion that hands down, trumps every single urban clothing line out there. these might not be the kinda duds fiddy cent or lil' wayne might be rockin', but the influence of urban culture in lebon's clothes are so apparent but without the lameness of generic hip hop attire. you won't see oversized logo's or cheap fabrics in his clothes. him being french whose steelo is a gajillion times better than us sad north americans, he has the ability use urban culture as a point of reference and materialize them into clothes that doesn't lose the look of its influence, but is also not inclusive to it. his clothes transcends beyond urban fashion because there is a sophistication and intelligence behind it. any one can appreciate these clothes. especially to the growing market of young males that are more style conscious and who has grown up exposed to the popularity of urban culture. if kids today can wear eric lebon instead of rocca wear, my eyes would be so much happier.

naomi campbell

how to describe naomi campbell. apologies for sounding crude, but in the words of a straight man (which i'm not), a walking hard-on. but i can't really disagree with that analogy because she does have the most perfect body ever created by god with legs that goes on and on and on without looking like a toothpick like today's crop of models. she has those thighs that look strong enough to crush wal-nuts but without beyonce's thickness. plus you can probably bounce quarters off her ass and her bodacious bod still kicks mega ass even at the age of thirty seven. she started her modeling career at the age of fifteen when she was discovered window shopping at covent gardens in london. her graceful movement which was the byproduct of her dance background made her a favorite among photographers and fashion designers. her first real major breakthrough came in 1988 when she became the first black woman to land on the cover of french vogue. it was during that time when the supermodel era was beginning and naomi was part of the holy trinity of modeling which included christy turlington and linda evangelista that could command mega bucks for their time and designers were willing to shell out the dough. gianni versace reportedly paid the trio $30,000 each for a single runway appearance. when george michael released his video for his single freedom in 1990, he cast naomi, linda, christy, plus cindy crawford and tatjana patitz for the video and introduced these heavenly beauties to the general public (although i should add that this wasn't naomi's first foray into music videos. she was cast as a back-up dancer in bob marley's "one love" video and the culture club's "i'll tumble 4 ya"). shortly after wards naomi landed the cover of time magazine which wrote an article on the supermodel phenomena and gave her even further exposure. as the supermodel era reached its peak, stories about naomi's incessant tardiness and aggressive behavior started to circulate. with john casablancas, the CEO of elite models sending a mass mail to everyone in the business informing them that naomi has been dropped by the agency before they have actually told naomi herself. after that incident, it wouldn't be long before the words "naomi" and "cellphones" would forever be intertwined. i'm not going to go through that because thats general knowledge. and episode of E true hollywood story about naomi dedicated a good half hour on that subject. she has since attributed those behaviors from an addiction to cocaine. so as dave chappelle channeling the spirit of rick james famously said "cocaine is a hell of a drug". so i forgive her. even though she has since been charged with aggravated assault twice just these past few years. well at least cell phones aren't as bulky and heavy like the ones back in the days. after all the bad publicity about her, what many might not be as familiar with is that naomi is quite the humanitarian. she has raised funds for causes like helping the victims of hurricane katrina, the AIDS epidemic, the lack of representation of models of colour in fashion, and a whole bunch of other worthy causes. i may never want to apply to be her personal assistant, or at least not go to work without a helmet, but i still think that this bad ass is one of the nicest girls in the biz. really...when was the last time you've seen a model organizing a fashion show to benefit charity. naomi, naomi, i thank the heavens there is someone like you.

to russia with love

to celebrate the tenth year anniversary of vogue russia, a total of thirty one designers were commissioned to design their very own matrioshka. that world famous russian dolls that hides up to seven smaller, duplicate figures inside it. which i think is the cat's meow and is pretty fuckin' rad and so on point with the whole shindig. personally my favorite is the martin margiela and the giles deacon one. it was really fun guessing who did who. although i will admit that since there were a few lesser known russian designers involved with this project, i didn't get a perfect score. which is also extremely tempting me to start buying russian vogue because there are some pretty dope russian designers and they actually have some pretty dope editorials. but i don't think i can afford yet another hit on pocket monthly seeing that i've gone by way of eating spam and mr. noodles to satisfy my hunger. but anyways, if y'all want to know who did what then just click on the picture. sometimes i wish these sorta things don't just come in limited edition and actually get mass marketed because i really want to collect them all. you know, like g.i. joes or thundercats action figures.
and on a totally different note. at around midnight i saw some people already camped out outside the h&m at the eaton center for the CDG launch tomorrow. for someone who is about to experience the hullabaloo that happens when the door opens for one of those things for the very first time, they're in for the shock of their life. those things gets proper mental. actually i might as well just tell you the story. so a couple of years ago when viktor and rolf collaborated with the retail giant, i was there when the store opened and there was this giant of a woman who literally shoved her way through the door and almost knocked out the president of h&m canada who opened the doors for the occasion not thinking about the stampede that was to happen when you let it in about over a thousand people who's been waiting outside the cold for hours. this women then basically ripped the whole wall down and stripped everything bare and finally realized that she is holding way way way too much stuff and it was getting impossible for her to move. she being the crazy woman that she was, she flopped down, i'm not even exaggerating, a good fifty garments on the floor and just laid on it so no one could touch it. eventually since she was blocking the whole aisle a poor worker had to assist her and carry most of her garments while she grabbed even more stuff. now this is where it gets even funnier. the viktor and rolf collection only went up to size fourteen, and this behemoth of a woman was seriously not a size fourteen...not even close.