Sleepless in Singapore

Most of my Christmases are unconventional. When your family lives on the west coast and your sister subscribes to California weather, it's hard to coordinate holiday plans.

Two years ago, we had our family reunion in the crazy town of Las Vegas. This year, my Christmas was spent on a 15 hour flight to Singapore to meet my bf. While he's been working hard over the holidays, I've just been soaking up the Singapore lifestyle and exploring the city. It's nice to have some downtime after such a hectic past few months.

Sunrise in Singapore from our hotel

Sunset over Hong Kong airport (while en route to Singapore)

In Her Boutique: Vincent Park

I met Cara from Fashion Design School and we were the few lucky girls who went to London, England, for the design exchange program (a life-changing, mind-altering experience). I remember our sketchbooks would be bursting at the seams full of research material and images, but our design teacher, Zowie Broach, would always demand more.

Cara opened up Vincent Park with her sister 3 years ago and I've always wanted to stop by every time I was in Vancouver. It's a boutique on Main street with beautifully curated selection of clothing and accessories hung upon industrial drain pipes and vintage furniture. I wish my closet looked this nice. 

Since everything is carefully edited, you can easily find pieces that are special and unique. If you're tired of the mass market fashion in the malls (like I am), this boutique is definitely a refreshing change and worth a visit.

If you enjoyed this series, please also visit my other 'Closet' posts.

beacuse no boutique is complete without Jeffrey Campbells...

covetable rings in repurposed brass

Vincent Park

www.vincentpark.ca

4278 Main St. (at 27th Ave.)

604-879-6665

Holiday Craft Fairs

For the past two weekends, I've been doing the Holiday Craft Fair circuit in Montreal. That would explain my absence from the blog. Let me tell you, I've been getting Craft Fair withdrawals. (Is that even a symptom?) I miss the ambience, friendly crafters, and the buzz of customers around my booth.

Puces Pop was 'poppin' with people on both days and Smart Design Mart was equally fun. Thank you to everyone who stopped by my booth. I met some great stylists, photographers and local bloggers at both shows.

Getting Ready

I just finished tagging, sewing on labels and picking up postcards for the Smart Design Mart Craft Fair this weekend. It starts tonight and I'm still doing some last minute tasks!

Holiday Craft Shows and Pop-Up Boutique

It's been an absolutely busy month! I've been accepted to 2 Holiday Craft Shows and our very first Pop-Up shop for the Holidays. I haven't really been sleeping much as I've been trying to get the new collection ready for the shows, plus a booth display ready! I'll be posting a DIY later about my display for Smart Design Mart.

If you are in the Montreal area, come say hi! 

                                                   Smart Design Mart  / Puces Pop Craft Show and Pop-Up Boutique

Optical Illusions: Trompe l'oeil

Trompe l'oeil is the art of deception, perception and optical illusions to trick the eye.

People normally don't think of fashion designers as trompe l'oeil artists, (it's reserved for painters and graphic artists), but I can't help thinking that fashion designers are in this category too. We're often asked to make waists thinner, or a bust fuller with just a slight curvature of a design line or careful placement of seams. In a way, we are illusionists (the fashion industry did invent Vanity sizing and push-up bras).

I can't remember where I found these images, but they caught me off guard for just a second.

The Golden Hour

I love taking photos when the sun is just setting. Colors turn into warm golden hues at the first and last drop of sunlight during the day. These photos remind me of carefree summers and a heart full of adventure.

via pinterest, original sources unknown

Time Out New York feature

Last week our Raven Feather necklace was featured in Time Out New York's web and print magazine. I just got the copy a few days ago and I must say, it's much cooler in print. If you want to check out the online article, it's here.

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Day of the Dead: Día de los Muertos

If anyone can capture the beauty of death, it's Canadian fashion photographer, Lucyna DanUta Bakowska. Yes, she's Canadian and she's talented.

There's something strangely eery, yet entrancing about these photos. I don't know what she does with her camera or what kind of rabbit she pulls out of her hat, but these photos have me spellbound.

via Behance

wardrobe: Carol Ambrosio
model: Elora B
makeup/hair: Tami El Sombati
photography: Lucyna DanUta Bakowska

Halloween Inspiration: Birds of Prey

Posing with wild fowl is just another day in a model's life and Toni Garn makes it look so easy. Photographed by Greg Kadel for Numero, leather, lace, fur and feathers never looked so good together.

This Halloween weekend, I made some last minute costumes with what I had in my closet. I rocked a Vampy Goth costume the first night and then dug around in my closet for a puffy underskirt and leggings the next night. I managed to find a sparkly cat mask that I couldn't help but wear all night.

I hope you all had a great Halloween weekend!

via Fashion Gone Rogue

wardrobe: Patti Wilson
model: Toni Garn
makeup: Mariel Barrera
hair: Laurent Philippon

photography: Greg Kadel

The IFB Weekly Roundup: Links À la Mode: Oct 27th

Our post with Laura's closet was selected as one of IFB's link for the week of Oct. 27th! Check out the top 20 links below.

Still Evolving

Edited by: Fajr Muhammad of Stylish Thought

THE IFB WEEKLY ROUNDUP: LINKS À LA MODE: OCTOBER 27TH

I love how multi-faceted fashion blogging has become. In the beginning it was mostly celebrity style driven but has evolved to include everything from personal style, social commentary, fun fashion trends and high fashion! While blogging is becoming a staple of our everyday world, fashion blogging is continuing to push the envelope.
Fashion is converging into lifestyle and we are defining the medium and what it means to be a fashion blogger. Check out the diverse links this week that our pushing our craft to new places.

• Alex Drake Vintage: Vintage Photography Inspiration
• Being Zhenya: Friday DIY
• Beyond Fabric: Urban Menswear Myth #3
• Brunette Blogging: The Blogger and the Brand
• Cadence and Clementine: A Cut Above the Rest
• Consider Me Lovely: Defying Expectations
• Consumerism Killed My Soul: Arguing for Barbie
• Ethical Fashion Blog: Ethical Fashion Conundrums
• Fashion Dynamite: Soft Dressing
• Fashion Tales: Game Art
• Love at First Blush: In Her Closet- Print Designer
• Oranges and Apples: Workwear, Women & Aging
• Practically Spoiled: Closet Challenge- Lace and Lines
• Shrimp Salad Circus: How to Day- Piano Clutch
• Simply Frabulous: Spend or Save- Low Price High Style
• Snapshot Fashion: Fashion Icons We Grew Up with
• Style. Love. Repeat: The Printed Blouse
• Stylish Thought: 33 Tips on Finding your Passion Today
• The Chic Sheet: The New Geometrics
• What 2 Wear Where: Day of the Dead Hulaween

Halloween Giveaway! - Closed-

Love at First Blush has teamed up with The AntiCraft for a Halloween Giveaway! So if you've been lusting after one of our cuffs, here is your chance to win one!

If you haven't heard of The Anticraft, they are a quarterly web zine devoted to crafters with a darker aesthetic or twisted sense of humor. For your daily dose of macabre finds please check out and follow The AntiCraft Facebook page.

We've also started a Love at First Blush Facebook page! Follow us by liking our page. We will be announcing more giveaways in the future and you will gain instant access to behind the scenes.
Good luck to everyone!

Rules
1. This giveaway is open to US, Canada and International residents
2. Giveaway runs from October 24, 2011 to October 28, 2011 at 8:00 pm EST
3. One winner will be selected at random from entries submitted. The winner will be contacted through email.
4. The winner will win ONE item from the Love at First Blush shop.

How to Enter
1. Leave a comment in our entry form and tell us which item from our shop you would like to win and wear for Halloween. Make sure you enter your email address so we can contact you if you win!

For additional entries:
2. Follow our blog via Google Friend Connect located on our side bar.
3. Join our Newsletter located on our side bar.
3. Tweet about this giveaway on your twitter and include our tag @Loveatfrstblush with our url link.
    Example: I just entered the @Loveatfrstblush and #TheAntiCraft Halloween Giveaway! http://loveatfirstblush.blogspot.com/


***update: The winner for our giveaway is Jena. Thank you to everyone who participated! ***

In her Closet: A Print Designer's Pad

Laura is like the girl that everyone wants to know. She works as a print designer, moonlights as an aspiring rapper on weekends, and writes on her blog, noeud noir. If you're lucky, you can catch her performing live at bars on St. Laurent.

We first met at "The Corporation" while working closely on print repeats, embroidery placements and re-colorations of patterns. I visited her desk a lot as we worked on about 8-12 prints each season.

Her apartment is filled with purple, gold and black accents, very much the same palette as everything in her wardrobe. She has a treasured collection of vintage cameras passed on from her father who was a tailor and a professional photographer. He has left her with some incredible heirlooms, a vintage Rolleiflex and Rapid Omega that appear to be still functional. And sometimes her camera bag functions as her purse.

We took her bike out for a spin, but it was pretty windy outside and her brightly colored Marimekko print dress didn't exactly keep her warm. It did look good though.

For more fashion closet stories, please click here.

Patterned Metallic print nails

Every girl needs a Singer sewing machine

Marc Jacobs Zipper necklace/ Marimekko dress

Sushi Addict

There are a few things that I can't live without and one of them is sushi. It may be because I grew up in Vancouver and sushi shops were as abundant as convenient stores, but here in Montreal, good sushi is hard to find.

Visiting the Tsukiji Fish markets in Japan is hardly fashionable, but you definitely won't find fish that is fresher. Eating sushi-on-a-stick is unheard of in North America and seeing a guy hack up a chunk of Bluefin Tuna is as authentic as it gets.

I miss this stuff. Bad.


Tokyo, Japan, photos taken by my bf


Tsukiji fish market, Japan

Vintage Lingerie and Corsets

Inspiration can come from anywhere, but most of the time, it comes from my lingerie drawer (most I have never worn). Too pretty or delicate to wear, I collect them for sources of inspiration. I'm like that with shoes too.

I have yet to add Vintage Corsets and Support braces from the 1920's to my collection, but they fascinate me in a completely different way. They are loaded with such history, I am curious as to who has worn them and under what types of dress.

They seem to tell a story of their own.

 veramode / bubblepipe

Highlights from Spring Fashion Week 2012

Spring 2012 has returned with embellishment and exquisite detailing that create new textural patterns and forms of fabrication. And no, studs and neon do not seem to be leaving us any time soon.

Though I left my design job last year, normally this time we would be collecting images from the Spring shows, creating boards, and figuring out which trends were the strongest for our department.

I guess it's out of habit I am still doing this, but I also love saving the images to my sketchbook.

This is my kind of Spring. Is it yours?

Source via Vogue.fr

Alexander McQueen

Balmain

Versace

Valentino

Hand me a Clothesline

While walking through the lesser known pathways in Venice, we stumbled along canals filled with colorful laundry, airing out to dry on clothesline. These photos were taken from my backpacking trip in Italy from 2005, but they are still an inspiration to look at now.

Murano, Italy, reminds me of Haji Lane in Singapore. Is it just me, or does every city have a block full of colorful painted houses?

Murano, Italy