I am in the trenches of cleaning out my basement and studio right now. I have reconciled to parting ways with a lot of my old projects, and the weirdness that I used to make and wear when I was a student designer. As a way of preservation and letting go, I will be blogging [...]]]>

I am in the trenches of cleaning out my basement and studio right now. I have reconciled to parting ways with a lot of my old projects, and the weirdness that I used to make and wear when I was a student designer. As a way of preservation and letting go, I will be blogging about them before sending them to their appropriate graves.

Above is a photo of a coffee filter dress that I made for a recycled materials fashion show in 2001, the summer after my first year of fashion school. I worked as a barista at the time, and me and all the other baristas at Le Cafe in London, ON  saved the used coffee filters. She is a bride, the necklace was supposed to represent coffee beans. The dress had a collapsed square coffee filter silhouette.

The photo was taken by me on a vintage SLR with black and white film. It looks much older than it is.

I will be here Friday and Saturday, selling most of what I have in stock. So if you are in Toronto, do come and check it out.

Open to the public. No admission!
Friday, December 2, 2011
12:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Saturday, December [...]]]>

I will be here Friday and Saturday, selling most of what I have in stock. So if you are in Toronto, do come and check it out.

Open to the public. No admission!
Friday, December 2, 2011
12:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Saturday, December 3, 2011
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Cash, Visa, Mastercard & Interac accepted. Participating designers include FGI members:
Women’s wear: Aime M. Project, Marika Brose, Adrienne Butikofer, David Dixon, Florsfashion, Carrie Hayes, Thien Le, LOVAS, Andrew Majtenyi
Luxury outerwear: Sentaler Studio
Jewellery: Jewellery by Karen, Kristen Laborde, Pangea Collection, Peru Productions
Bags, fur & accessories: Rue Pigalle, My Wild
Menswear: Killigrew, Off the Cuff Resale Designer Menswear
Confections: Saxon Chocolates, FGI Bake Sale
Skincare: Soya Boutique.com

Black duckboots! So hardcore.

I also ordered these pants, which are embroidered all over with little ducks, impossible to tell from the crappy picture but they’re there.  Oh yeah. I may have [...]]]> I’m a nerd. I like what I like. I just ordered these gems from L.L. Bean! Happy Birthday to me. 

Black duckboots! So hardcore.

I also ordered these pants, which are embroidered all over with little ducks, impossible to tell from the crappy picture but they’re there.  Oh yeah. I may have to alter them to make them skinny, we’ll see how they look.  Then there will be nothing stopping their infinite coolness ; )

the embroidery!

the pants!

I was hoping to do this very thing for my imaginary fall 2010 collection. Read the blog post. 

Oh, well. It’s pretty damn interesting how these things always happen to me. I should be recording all my ideas in hyperspace- my little contribution [...]]]> House of Holland, Fall 2011

I was hoping to do this very thing for my imaginary fall 2010 collection. Read the blog post. 

Oh, well. It’s pretty damn interesting how these things always happen to me. I should be recording all my ideas in hyperspace- my little contribution to the big picture.

Might as well let my secret out, I am working on [...]]]> So, I’m pregnant again, due January 29th, another little girl! I am about six months along right now, and am definitely all about the maternity clothes because nothing else is really fitting me anymore. I’m going to start a little series of posts about maternity wear.

Might as well let my secret out, I am working on a maternity line. Have been for quite a while now, although any deadlines I set for myself seem to always be set back due to all sorts of reasons- like pregnancy for one, and real jobs. Loenne has been in Montessori school three days a week since September which has been great for getting back to work. But I picked up a couple little freelance contracts shortly after and haven’t had much time to focus on my own pursuits. All in good time. I am trying to approach my need to design clothing with less guilt, trying to kibosh the feeling that I need to be working constantly. By the time my kids are in school and I have more time, I will be only 34, a perfect time to get serious about a career, if it doesn’t happen before then.

The label is called Future Perfect Maternity.  Why maternity? Well- there’s really nothing that fun or interesting out there. Maternity is where I’m at right now in my headspace, since I’ve had so much personal experience with it in the past short while. I like designing ‘smart’ clothing, having a challenge to overcome and reasons behind my design decisions. Being pregnant and getting dressed is a problem that needs to be solved, and I enjoy that. There are other reasons too like it being a niche market and a simpler business model that I need as a busy mom, blah blah blah. I am excited by the possibilities in maternity wear- ie. woven fabric maternity wear. So much of maternity is your typical wrap jersey empire waist kind of thing, and it’s boring. No more jersey!

For now, I am focussing on one style of shirt. I made them for myself when I went to Vegas with my line and I was seven months pregnant. I take a  man’s dress shirt and recut it completely into a maternity blouse. My focus is on having a really good fit through shoulder and armhole, which gives a nice tailored appearance and feel.  Each blouse is embellished with different fabrics and trims, each is one of a kind. Here is a picture of one in progress, and also my beautiful friend Christine modelling a couple others when she was 8.5 months pregnant.

Although I am starting with the one blouse, I’ve got a lot of ideas on the back burner and I’d like to eventually turn Future Perfect into a collection. My plan is to add a few well designed styles every season, and build that way. Pregnancy is a bit of a fashion equalizer- it’s not necessarily about being on trend, but about looking great and feeling comfortable.  The pieces need to be durable, timeless and adaptable to casual and dressy, and also good for post pregnancy and breastfeeding whenever possible. 

This may be a romantic thing to say, but, I’d like the maternity wear I design today to still be relevant and wearable to my daughters when they are pregnant someday.

Future Perfect Maternity- hopefully coming to a [maternity] store near you in Fall 2011. We’ll see, nooo pressure. . .

All weekend long, The Clothing Show at the Better Living Centre starts on Friday at 3pm. . . Check www.theclothingshow.com for more details.

Find me in booth 521, which I will be sharing with Elly from Clothing Brand Experiment. We were across the aisle from each other [...]]]> It’s that time again, folks!

All weekend long, The Clothing Show at the Better Living Centre starts on Friday at 3pm. . . Check www.theclothingshow.com for more details.

Find me in booth 521, which I will be sharing with Elly from Clothing Brand Experiment. We were across the aisle from each other at the last show- she is funny and her hoodies are awesome! Great boothmate qualities. We did a clothing trade at the last show, and I have been loving my hoodie ever since, which has a great fit and a really interesting colour combo. 

I am selling off everything from the Butikofer label that I’ve ever made at clearance prices!! Because- well, I am not going to be designing contemporary womenswear any longer. I  have decided to move on and have been slowwwwwly getting my new project together, but with motherhood and pregnancy, everything keeps getting pushed back. Anyway, more on that later.

COME TO THE CLOTHING SHOW THIS WEEKEND!!

www.theclothingshow.com

Getting organized . . .

ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS!!!!!

This morning, while perusing my favourite fashion blog, Auntie Fashion- what’s the first thing I see?  My jug, reinterpreted into a dress by Marc Jacobs [...]]]> I bought this jug in Value Village yesterday. I was really attracted to the colour combo, and thought it would look lovely in my kitchen.

This morning, while perusing my favourite fashion blog, Auntie Fashion- what’s the first thing I see?  My jug, reinterpreted into a dress by Marc Jacobs for his Spring 2011 collection. WTF!  How did he get his hands on my jug?

The colours- love, obviously. But I probably would have made the dress less jug like. To each his own.

Synchronicity dude, I tell ya.

I was on Project Runway and the challenge guidelines were to use fresh produce to make a dress. I had access to a kitchen and about 10 convection ovens, and I concocted a fruit leather dress in 12 hours! How amazing would that be- imagine the pretty [...]]]> I had a nice little day dream today-

I was on Project Runway and the challenge guidelines were to use fresh produce to make a dress. I had access to a kitchen and about 10 convection ovens, and I concocted a fruit leather dress in 12 hours! How amazing would that be- imagine the pretty yellows, oranges and red ‘leathers’ I could come up with by mixing different fruits.

I googled ‘fruit leather dress’ for the hell of it and found this- of course it exists! It looks like she used those fruit leather snacks you can buy at the grocery store.

This makes me excited to see my version, which I am thinking will be a little Balenciaga Spring 2008  inspired. I am going to keep my eyes peeled and my ears tuned for any fashion competitions involving biodegradable materials. And prize money.

To break it down for you, all you thousands of people who [...]]]> This past weekend I had a booth at The Clothing Show, something I’ve done twice a year for the past five years. The show has been getting worse and worse every time, and I am scratching my head trying to figure out why.

To break it down for you, all you thousands of people who are reading this, who were also not there- The Clothing Show is an event in Toronto where clothing, accessory and streetwear designers, showrooms, vintage dealers, and other *randoms* can get a booth  for a nominal fee(read, less expensive than other similar venues) to sell their wares.

Five years ago, The Clothing Show was like a mall on boxing day. Seriously! I remember the first time I did it, remarking to my boothmate, “Holy Shit! This Mo-Fo is bizzeeee”  But, the attendance has dwindled noticeably every show since. I have sold more and more every time I do the show, which is why I keep doing it. I also love being able to experience first hand who appreciates my line, to see what they like and don’t like. For instance, this past show, everyone was all over a few pieces from my fall 08 line. Maybe I am ahead of the curve, or maybe they liked the price tag, which was below cost for me.  I’ve learned- people are willing to take a chance on something out of the ordinary if the price is right.

This is what I’ve come up with, to make The Clothing Show better! Because it has such potential!

- The organizers need to edit. The show would improve 10 fold if it was juried. At last falls Clothing Show there were more than one booth selling sheets. Sheets! What the hell does that have to do with fashion? And at this show, there was someone selling blenders. The only relation I can come up with between small kitchen appliances and fashion is. . . I got nothing. What is wrong with this picture?

-Way too many booths selling pashminas. How depressing to be selling $10 pashminas, and competing against 12 other booths trying to do the same. Same goes for cheap Made In China garbage.

-Advertising. There were more than a few moments of standing around with other booth holders, arms crossed, lamenting the suckage, trying to figure out why there were no people at the show- contrary to the fact that the organizers had advertised like never before. I think their advertising is way too general. They need to focus on the deals. The average Clothing Show shopper is only looking for deals, that’s the nature. So why not advertise that way? Every local designer in the house is practically giving their goods away at wholesale, or below.

-Where are all the locavores? Most modern folk are adept in preaching their personal standards of only shopping local- but where were they this past weekend? At least 100 of the 300 booths present were Made in Toronto designers. The advertising should reflect this, do the locavores just not know that it’s a one stop shop for eternal salvation in the 100km radius heaven?

-On that note, the public needs to be educated on what it costs to make clothing in Canada. If it’s say, a cute dress, and it costs less than $100, and you’re buying it from a local designer- that is a serious deal. Exclamation point.  All people involved in the creation of said dress are probably making minimum wage.

-There were so many unique and wonderful things for sale at The Clothing Show, made by the people that were hanging around all weekend in their booths, and I am not sure if they are getting the props they deserve. Has fashion become so uncherishable?  I am all for buying less and appreciating more, so why not patronize a venue that may surprise, delight, inspire you?  Maybe it will be worth something someday, after you’ve had your fill. This time in our lives will be history someday, afterall.

Thank you to all the women who stopped in at my booth, tried something on, talked to me about my work. I loved being there, it was exciting and interesting and I will do it again.

In September, I hope to see you there!