"lean times and hemlines"

is the title of an interesting article written for the UK's, The Guardian . If you've been living in a bubble, sequestered in a deep, dark cave somewhere in a unexplored faraway land , than you might have missed the teensy, tiny fact that we are in the midst of a recession.

Ever since the "R" word has become part of our daily lives, there have been mumblings in the fashion world as to how the industry will respond to the economic crisis. Bear in mind, the runway looks shown this week at New York Fashion Week were created long before the recession began. So it would be presumptuous to say that designers are ignoring the economic crisis, tossing their well-coiffed heads at the idea of a recession. The article explores the preconceived notion that fashion is influenced by the current economy; that the rise and fall of the hemline follows the activities of the stock market, looking back in the 1930's when hemlines feel to the knees or lower.

It's a good read and while I did agree with some points in the article, I do think that the economy does play some role in the fashion industry, whether it's in merchandising or the consumption side of things. To say that the fashion world exists outside of the economic sphere is to essentially undermine one aspect what drives the fashion industry, which is creating beautiful clothes to meet the demand of its consumer, the fashionista. But I do agree that during troubled times, it is still important to dress up "to present yourself in an optimistic and fabulous way."

Photos courtesy of Fashion-Era

i heart

On Valentine's Day, I went to see the movie, "Confessions of a Shopaholic" with Misch. We made it into a girl's night out and treated ourselves to massive amounts of popcorn and an uber large Coca Cola. After the movie, we had lots of gelato to fill up our tummies.

My review of the movie: I liked it.
I liked Isla Fisher's character as the whimsical and outrageously dressed Rebecca Bloomwood and Luke (played by Hugh Dancy) definitely fits the Hollywood stereotype of the tall, dark and handsome love interest and with an accent to boot! Throw in an accent and that makes anyone 10x more attractive, in my humble opinion. Hee.

Now onto the most important player in the film: the fashion. Loved the bright pops of colour, the use of patterns and bold accessories (chunky brooches, large rings and dazzling purses). Loved the fact that as a natural redhead, they didn't shy away from yellows and fushcia pinks. Loved the boots, the shoes, the loud coats, everything. And I loved the fact that it wasn't too matchy-matchy. 'Cuz once it gets too matchy-matchy, you start to look like everyone else; scared of breaking the mold, scared of wearing different prints and patterns and clashing your colours. A mold that I, myself am trying to break. I've relied too heavily on wearing all black, or wearing some form of a uniform to work: button-down shirt with a sweater or vest over top and pants. I'm slowly breaking out of this habit (and it really is a habit, I automatically reach for the button-down shirts in the morning when I'm getting dressed), and mixing it up with bright colours and skirts and dresses. I definitely need more colour in my closet. It's starting to look a little drab with the amount of navy blues, greys and blacks that are dominating my work wardrobe. I plan to take some inspiration from the movie and start clashing colours.

***

Last Wednesday, I had dinner with Shar and Misch at Coast again. I'm so glad I'm not allergic to shellfish.

overheard

On the bus:

Girl loudly talking on her cell:
"Alexis said 'Don't hate him, ride him,' so yeah... "

name calling

STAR WARS NAME (first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Engdo

DETECTIVE NAME (favorite color, favorite animal)
Red Tiger

SUPERHERO NAME (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
The Grey Daiquiri

STREET NAME (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Vanilla chocolate chip

PORN NAME (1st pet's name, street you grew up on)
Rocky Cambridge

YOUR GANGSTA NAME (first 3 letters of last name plus "izzle")
Engizzle

YOUR GOTH NAME (black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Shark

STRIPPER NAME (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy)
Daisy Sour Peaches

today's conversation

This pretty much summed up the week:

Me: will I see you after work today?

Ian: oh i think so. beers are required today. oh my lord. are they ever required today

Me: It's been a long week for you too huh? I'm thinking cocktails and some nachos will make the world right again

Ian: oh good lord. please. please make the world right again.

today's email conversation

This is what happens when there's not enough work to occupy the brain:

Heather: Ahh, such pretty kitties! Pretty kitties who could easily bite my head off, but still pretty.
I really want to hug one...that's the stupid part of my brain talking there.

Barbie doll: Just grab a tranquilizer gun....

Barbie doll: First one to find a tiger and rub it's belly without getting mauled wins!

Lina: I wonder if rubbing its belly can bring you luck? Hmmmm... Maybe if its a sedated Buddhist tiger...

me: If it's a Buddhist tiger, it's probably a vegetarian.

Lina: ... my massage therapist is a Buddhist and she eats chicken... maybe humans taste like chicken in Tigger's case (Gawd, I have now named him... and identified its gender)

me: A lot of things that aren't chicken, taste like chicken. Humans too, I guess.

Barbie: Anyone else hungry? o_O

me: I feel like eating jerky.

Lina: tiger jerky? now we'll turn the table on him.... grrrrr.....

me: I want to be there when you pounce on the tiger to make it into jerky.

Barbie doll: That's what it gets for being a vegetarian!

Lina: actually once the killing and butchering is completed, making jery is fairly simple... We just have to keep Barb away with her "save the tigers" protest/sign.

me: Yes, but it's the hunting, and trapping part that will be difficult. I'm betting that the tiger will make ya into human jerky before you can turn him into jerky.

Lina: ... this is why a trip to the zoo in the VERY late evening (wink-wink) is so crucial to this operation....

Barbie doll: The midgets. Send the midgets. It's a amazing what a midget on a sugar high can do.

Heather: and I thought I was crazy....you guys beat me!!

me: Not crazy. Merely thinking outside of the box.

Lina: .... thinking outside the cage.. grrrrrr

Barbie doll: Yet, oddly enough, also outside of the funny farm. At least momentarily.

me: I want a midget now. Clean my closet for me, do my homework, grocery shopping, the possibilities are endless. Where can I find a midget? Or should I leave candy out in the open and do a stakeout?

Lina: ... do midgets taste like chicken?... if we cant eat'em, maybe we can use them to serve drinks in a movie theatre.... think about it... :p

me: The tigers might think the midgets are chicken nuggets. They might not last too long.

Lina: what dipping sauce would be good with midget nuggets?

Barbie doll: They are going to want fries with that, aren't they?

Lina: ... yeah... small fries

Barbie doll: How to end up with your own midget army:
- find a weird American friend. Don't ask me how, I seem to attract 'em. You need to find your own methods.
- get a weird Canadian friend to mock the state that your American friend is from. You know how patriotic Americans are. Get em real riled up.
- Once your friend has upset the American, throw in a couple more jabs, but the timing must be perfect. eventually, they will send a midget army to invade
- once the midgets arrive, subvert them to your will using Timmy's. One taste of Canadian yumminess, and they are yours to command. Keep feeding them on a regular basis, and send them out with the dog to exercise them.

me: Interesting. Is there a way where we can skip steps 1 to 3, go down to the States and bribe a midget army with Timmy goodness to come back home with us?

Barbie doll: Praps, but then you don't have the joy and pleasure of mocking Americans. And seriously, you don't want to do this on their home turf. There are armed rednecks down there.

me: Armed rednecks can be pacified easily enough. Yell 'bonfire' and they'll roast anything they can pierce a stick through. And while they're looking for the bonfire, you can make a getaway.

Barbie doll: Okay, so we basically just need to head to the US, start setting a number of fires, make sure something besides us is within stick-piercing distance, yell a few things, stand back, mock the rednecks, then carry on with our supply of Timmy's in an attempt to get our own midget army, so we can bring them back and send them off to kill and properly butcher a tiger, in order for us to have tiger jerky. I wonder what the import tax on midgets is...

me: Claim them as our children.

Barbie doll: We now have a strange American calling US weird and saying there is something in the water up here.

me: This strange American, does he have midgets?

Barbie doll: 5 in the closet, they are stackable....

me: I will exchange 5 cups of Timmy goodness along with a donut/muffin for each cup for his 5 midgets.

me: 5 Timbits for 5 midgets!

Barbie doll: I think we should get the midgets to train the koala in sumo wrestling....

Lina: but wouldn't that make them Japanese midgets?

Barbie doll: EVEN BETTER! then they can make us sushi.

me: Maybe there Japanese immigrants who are midgets and living in the USA?

Barbie doll: Okay, so we now need an Ewok from Dubai, and a dwarf from Shanghai and our eating experiences should be complete. Oh, praps an elf from Cannes too. Oh, and a mother from Florence. (Yes, it's all about the food...)

Lina: ... what about the special needs cousin from NFLD.... eh...

Barbie doll: can he cook?

me: Who cares? It has a Newfie accent! Send it down to the USA and watch it confuse the heck out of the Americans. It'll be our secret weapon.

Barbie doll: BRILLIANT! A secret weapon! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!

******

I had a gift certificate for Coast seafood restaurant (courtesy of Style Spy from the holiday shopathon last Christmas) that was itching to be used, so I invited Shar out for some wining and dining tonight. Since we had time to kill before dinner, we stopped by a few boutiques along the way. Ended up in Fine Finds and with a 10% discount card, I purchased a lovely pearl bracelet and a beaded ring (there goes my 2 month shopping probation!). We had the Signature Coastal Platter (West Coast oysters with tobiko mignonette, citrus snow crab claws, cherrystone clams and honey mussels, BC shrimp and smoke squid springroll, mirin soy marinated ahi and albacore tuna, grill-popped oysters with goat cheese and bacon and smoked salmon and cream cheese croquettes with maple mustard) for dinner. There was also a special cold appetizer platter which was ginormous and mango margaritas (special of the day) to sip on. Who knew smoked squid and raw oysters would taste so good? The drinks were good too, not too sweet at all but with a hint of mango as the aftertaste. We also got a little dessert platter as well to finish off the meal: Banana and chocolate flourless torte with roasted banana on top, peanut butter bar (peanut butter mascarpone mousse, dark chocolate glaze and wafer crust) and 3 cheese French-style vanilla cheesecake with spiced honey and orange reduction.

Whew, that's a lot of food!

Mango margaritas!

Great way to end the night!

street art

It turned out to be a sunny (but still cold) day, so I headed downtown to do some graffiti hunting and this is what I found:

Dealing with the big questions of life.

Who says graffiti isn't art? Ask Van Gogh!

Meow!