Backstage with Laura Siegel and a little bit of Sid

Yes, I know. I suck at pumping out blog posts. And yes, I realize that blogging about Fashion Week almost two months after the fact takes away from the newsiness of it all but come on people, I'm a busy girl. With the constant running around and hours and hours of fashion writing for the Post, I just haven't had the chance to pay attention to my lovely little blog. Fear not! I now have some free time and I will use it to bring my readers up-to-date on all my fashion adventures! Yaaayyyy I'M EXCITED!

First things first, remember that National Post feature I wrote about the behind-the-scenes of the Laura Siegel runway show? Well if you don't, scroll down a bit.. it's all there. During the commotion and last minute fixes backstage I managed to record a little video of all the fun. Check it out! (Please excuse the terrible quality.. I have zero knowledge of techie things like how to upload a video...pffffff I'm an idiot I guess)

Isn't backstage stressful? Who knew, right? And ISN'T LAURA ADORABLE THOUGH! Congratulations girl! Everything worked out in the end and all was amazing.

Day 2 of Fashion Week was definitely super fun. Not only did I get to run around backstage with the Laura Siegel crew, I had a pretty amazing view of the Sid Neigum show from my front seat. I wrote a review of Sid's crazy Matrix-meets-Samurai fall collection for the National Post. If interested, give it a read.

Greta Constantine S/S2013 and my lifetime supply of gum

During Toronto Fashion Week, I was asked by Dress to KILL magazine to interview the two creative minds behind Greta Constantine. The designer-duo didn't actually show their Spring/Summer 2013 line during the designated World Mastercard week of fashion wonders. Instead, they opted to hold off till November and do their own thing in Toronto's cobblestoned Distillery District. I wrote a little something about their line for DTK so take a look here if you're interested in sexy form-fitted dresses for spring 2013. Also, their wonderful PR people put together a fun behind-the-scenes video for us, which is also up on the DTK website.

Stephen Wong and Kirk Pickersgill of Greta Constantine
Photo: Toronto Life

The PR team also took the time to personally send me a box of goodies as a thank you for the interview. Receiving packages full of cute stuff is always super exciting, especially when all the cute stuff is FREE (mouhahhahah!). The Greta team collaborated with 5Gum so now I'm basically swimming in the stuff. Good thing I'm a gum person. I also got a great lipstick. It's bright pink - perfect for spring. Thanks guys!

The mystery box 

Gum fest!

Freebies: Greta Constantine scarf for 5Gum, metallic silver IPhone case, nail files, blue and black nail polish, Maybelline lipstick, and every flavour of 5Gum

Pink Maybelline lipstick - Gonna be a favourite this summer.

The Weather Girl...

In non-fashion related news, I did something funny recently.

Yesterday, Toronto had a little taste of Montreal-winter. It was cold and it snowed and Toronto had a melt down. Everyone freaked out, traffic was ridiculous and the weather was THE topic of conversation. It was -16ish, (baby food for a Montrealer like myself) and yes it was nasty and yes everyone had to pull out the parkas, mitts and beanies and yes it was uncomfortable but WHATEVER it's Canada. All this to say that once I made it through the storm** and got to the office (I work for the Ryersonian now woohoo! Final year internship!) I was pulled aside by the RyersonianTV manager and told that I had 15 minutes to prepare a script because I was the day's weather girl.

And the Weather Girl award goes to....anyone but Elayne.

AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPEND..... pure awkward elayne-style improv... how embarrassing. There are so many things wrong with this newscast. It's kinda really funny. Enjoy!

http://www.ryersonian.ca/tv/#.UQAkwM73dHc.blogger Click on the January 22, 2013 video.

Camera caught my death stare. As usual.

The Collections Day 1: Laura Siegal, Chloe comme Parris

Day 1 of The Collections was amazing. I got to see the three best lines of last season all in one day. It was a great intro to what ended up being almost a full month of fashion. The hard-hitting lines were sent down the runway first and all I could think was : dessert before dinner? Amazing.

Laura Siegel
First to hit that hardwood runway of the gorgeous loft space, were the models of Laura Siegel, all of whom were Bohemianed-out in drapey earthy fabrics and large beaded statement jewelry. The S/S2013 line kept its LS pattern-loving, flowy-fabric, layering-love flare and there was not one piece that I didn't want to immediately have in my possession. The desert-inspired pallet of neutrals and greens was paired with overzied straw hats, beautiful wood beaded jewelry and some super cute backpacks. This collection is for anyone who loves layering, crochet pieces, and flowy maxi skirts and dresses. My very favourite piece of the Siegel collection is the pair of drop-crotch crochet pants. So perfect for the beach. (What a terrible thing to say...It's currently 5 degrees outside... Damn you Toronto.)

Photos: Elayne

Chloe comme Parris

The Gordon sisters kill me. I sat front row with my mouth open the entire time and if you were in my position you would have had the same loser expression. The line was just as gorgeous as ALWAYS. The girls kept the CCP edge with long flowy silky maki pieces and badass jewelry and accessories. There were also a few mansuit-inspired pieces that were fierce beyond words and accessorized with chains to give them that extra little grungy detail. The collection highlights were most definitely the print pieces (the patterns at CCP are always next level. Think dark, Victorian-meets-kaleidoscope tapestry) and the use of blush pink leather. A show-stopper : the pink biker jacket. As soon as that thing came down the runway, phones went flying up and Instagram, Twitter and Facebook suffered from a major seizures

Here's a little runway video clip I snagged from the front row. (yay IPhone!)

Parris and Chloe Gordon of Chloe comme Parris
Photos: Elayne

Editor-in-Chief of Ryerson Folio Magazine

Hi everyone! I'm back on the blog-horse. Woohoo! I know you've all missed me dearly, and I apologize for leaving you high and dry with no elayne-fashion to read... pfff (don't worry, I realize I'm not exactly the blogosphere's biggest contender) BUT I TRY! The more you blog, the more people read. The key to a blogger's life. I am officially taking my blogging seriously again! So be ready for some fashion updates because guess what(!) FASHION WEEK (*cough* more like month but whatevs..) IS HERE!! Stay tuned for some of my runway reviews and style posts!

Brittany Paquin and Me
photo: by Eden Millar 

Sissy love
photo: Brittany Paquin

But before I get ahead of myself I have an announcement to make. In late August, while I was still home in Montreal enjoying my fashionless days of over-sleeping, bartending, and being a shit, I got an unexpected phone call from my Editor-in-Chief at Ryerson Folio Magazine (where I work as the Fashion Editor). He had big news for me. He was stepping down and he wanted me to take his place! I've been promoted to Editor-in-Chief of Ryerson University's first arts and culture magazine! I've been working with the most amazing staff of editors, illustrators, writers, and photographers for the past three months and even though it may be a lot of work (especially since I am currently in my final year of university and drowning in course work) I am really loving every minute of it.

photo: Tyler Webb
Ryerson Folio staff

A few months ago the Folio team put together a party at Ryerson's new IMA gallery on Spadina for the launch of our Fall issue (which can be found online on the Folio website.) Trung Ho, the founder and original EIC of the magazine, wanted to make the big announcement at party and told me to prepare a speech....I'm not very good at speeches. I believe the term is word vomit. Anyway I dragged my sister and my biffle Brittany Paquin to the launch for moral support. They thought it would be funny to film my speech... guess they were right. Enjoy....

Matis, Mifsud and Me for Ryerson Folio

Last semester The Ryerson Folio team worked super hard to get the first ever physical issue published for all the world (more like Ryerson population) to see! Apparently it looks amazing (I haven't set foot in Toronto since end of term and so I have not actually seen the magazine BUT IM EXCITED ANYWAY!) and I congratulate my fellow masthead members for all their hard work!

Check out the online version on the Folio website!

For those of you don't know, I am the fashion editor at Folio. For the first issue, I pushed to make sure the fashion section was top notch and as vogue-esque as possible. None of this sad model/bad makeup/H&M clothes/whoever photographer business. I wanted professionals. And that is what I got.

Thanks to designer Lucian Matis (one of Ryerson University's famous fashion alumni), from whom I pulled the majority of the pieces I used to style our glorious runway queen Mikayla Mifsud, Folio's first ever fashion spread looks absolutely FASH ON baaaaaybeee!

Greatest thing about styling: secretly wearing (for only 5 seconds of course) that designer piece you've been drooling over since you first saw it on the Fashion Week Runway. Woooohooooo! I got to wear the Lucian Matis lace gloves! The exact ones I obsessed over and wrote about for Dress to Kill! ....I wore them for about 10 minutes...for the ride back to the studio. BUT STILL! SOOO SICK.

Here's a little behind-the-scenes video of the shoot. ENJOY!

Ryerson Folio Magazine Fashion Shoot - Behind the Scenes from Ryerson Folio on Vimeo.

Biko and the OOAK show for Dress to Kill Magazine

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Corrine Anestopoulos of Biko jewelry at the Toronto One of a Kind Spring Show and Sale. The Toronto-based jewelry designer launched her Spring/Summer 2012 collection, entitled A Light Odyssey Into Tomorrow online (at ilovebiko.com) in February. The new colourful designs are a great addition to this modern nostalgic jewelry brand.

The pieces are bright and fun but still have that antique-trinket-vintage amazingness to them. I put together this little video montage.. sorry about my terrible editing skillzz. (Tried something new. Maybe I should stick to writing.) For more on Anestopoulos' new collection read the profile I wrote for Dress To KILL mag.

photos: Elayne

More on Andrej Pejic

Guess The Globe and Mail caught on...

Here's another video about my new favourite supermodel

Pejic's FASHION magazine spread in the Feb 2012 issue
backseatstylers.com

A Whole New Breed - 2012's new favourite model Andreji Pejic

Andrej Pejic is the newest and biggest thing in the modelling world and is gracing the cover of FASHION magazine's February 2012 issue. Last year Pejic walked in the Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2011 couture show, stomped down numerous runways during New York Fashion Week last February and has worked with the likes of Steven Miesel and Juergen Teller - two of the biggest fashion photographers.

Andrej Pejic - FASHION magazine February 2012 cover
models.com

Andrej Pejic is a 20 year-old male model.

Pejic - for S Moda for El Pais, october 2011
photo by Jonas Bresnan
models.com

Pejic- cover of Out Magazine, dec 2011
photo by Gavin Bond
models.com

Pejic- for Arena Homme + (Gucci), fall/winter 2010
models.com

Pejic- Thom Browne men's, f/w 2012
thombrowne.com

Due to what Gaultier dubbed Pejic's "out-worldly beauty", this Serbian-born Austarlian model has made himself known not only to the world of male modelling but to the female one as well. His extreme androgynous features have made it possible for him to be booked for countless female campaigns. His first big break in feminine-dress was in 2010, when Carine Roitfeld, the then editor-in-chief of French Vogue chose him to star as the lead model in an editorial shoot, where he was dressed in garments from Fendi's womens line. With that he was launched into the world of androgynous modelling. At just 19 years-old he had already modelled for Marc Jacobs, John Galliano, Paul Smith, Raf Simmons, and Comme Des Garçons.

Pejic- Jean Paul Gautier Haute Couture, january 2011
models.com

Pejic- French Vogue editorial, september 2010
photo by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott
Pejic's claim-to-fame

Pejic- Marc by Marc Jacobs campaign, s/s 2011
womenmanagement.blogspot.com

 In August 2011, New York Magazine profiled Pejic while he was working on the cover shoot for the magazine's Fall Fashion Issue. For further info on this ultra beautiful pretty-boy and soon to be top model read Alex Morris' article. There is also an awesome behind-the-scenes video of the cover shoot.

Pejic- New York Magazine's Fall Fashion Issue, september 2011
photo by Brigitte Lacombe
models.com