2011 Remembered

As 2012 starts, I am filled with memories of the year past. I feel extremely lucky to be able to live the life that I have experienced over the past year. Starting out the year in Canada and being featured on CHCH Morning Live TV show was quite an adventure! You can see my "behind the scenes" video here!

After returning to Paris, Fashion Week was next on my timeline. I got invited to my first fashion shows and even found myself sitting front row at some of the venues! I got to mingle with celebrities, fashion writers and editors and loved every minute of it!

Spring time was filled with small trips in and around Paris. Monet's house in Giverny was one of the places I visited, and won't soon forget. It was beautiful and filled with spring flowers.

I spent my birthday eating cake at Laduree with my parents, then shopping in Chanel with my boyfriend!

The summer went by quickly spending 3 weeks in England, and small vacations to Venice and Ibiza with my boyfriend.

I wrote a series of articles for Canadian magazine, "A Needle Pulling Thread," and continued to make and sell jewelry from my website www.glimpsebeads.com

Before I knew it, Paris Fashion Week was here again and I was invited to some of the Spring/Summer 2012 collections. I was thrilled to be going to shows again, and enjoyed every minute of seeing the clothes come down the runway. I also love getting to see celebrities and famous editors at the shows! I photographed celebrities such as Uma Thurman, Jessica Biel, Leighton Meester and Jared Leto!

Attending fashion week, I was lucky to be featured in the Hamilton Spectator newspaper along with my jewelry inspired by the runway looks! During fashion week, I was also able to meet a couple of fashion icons! Anna Dello Russo and Rachel Zoe were kind enough to stop and talk and take a couple of pictures with me!

I spent Christmas in Canada with my family, but made it back in time for New Years Eve at the Eiffel Tower! It has been such a wonderful, adventure packed year! I can only hope that 2012 will be just as exciting!

Issey Miyake - Paris Fashion Week

I can't believe I am still catching up with posts about the shows I attended at Paris Fashion Week! There was just so much inspiration to share and write about, that it is taking a while to go through all of it and get it posted!
One of the larger shows that I attended at Fashion Week was the Issey Miyake show held in the Jardin des Tuileries. After waiting in the hot sunshine for over 45 mins we were finally allowed into the massive tent where the show would be held. Thankfully there were cold water bottles and hand held fans waiting for us once inside the venue.
Once the show started, I quickly realized it was worth the wait! The theme of the collection was "Bloom Skin." It featured light, nude tone clothes with vivid colors symbolizing a woman who possesses both gentleness and strength.

The show featured a series of different looks all pertaining to flowers. It started out with a section titled "Bud," which symbolized an innocent bud waiting to bloom.

As the show went on, you could see the transformation of the flowers from a bud, growing stems into blossom, then full bloom. It was a beautiful show full of color and flowing fabrics. Using Japan's advanced weaving technology and Kyoto's traditional printing techniques, the silky soft fabrics showed delicate color gradations.

Semi transparent textures were created using a traditional dye house in Kyoto, which uses a special process on fabrics knit with two types of fibers. One fiber is dissolved, creating a sheer while the other maintains itself as a printed color.

The hat and head pieces in this show by, Christophe Coppens, were also a beautiful whimsical addition to the wonderful clothes. One reason why I liked this show is because they stayed true to the original Issey Miyake brand by manufacturing in cooperation with local craftspeople and creating pieces that are only made-in-Japan technology and ideas.

The Many Hats of Fashion Week

From hats to fascinators and headbands, there were plenty of head adornments to be seen at Paris Fashion Week. I captured these street styles outside of the Chanel and Guy Laroche shows.

Models, Off The Clock

Ever wonder what the models look like off the runways of Fashion Week? I took a few photos of the famous faces after some of the shows. You can see that some of them still have the hair and makeup fresh from the stage. From Ruby Aldridge to Freja Beha I captured some great shots of the models straight off the runway! These models were taken outside the Hermes, Valentino, Issey Miyake and Chanel shows.