Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards and After Party - Saturday February 1st!

This Saturday, January 1st I will be attending the Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards After Party in celebration of Canadian fashion and design. The CAFAs are a wonderful opportunity for talented Canadians designers to be recognized for their achievements. Through creating a platform to showcase fashion and design, the CAFA aims to create a stronger appreciation and market for talented Canadian designers. Canadian design needs our support more than ever and the CAFA is just one of the ways that we can ensure creative fashion business models thrive in Canada so that talent can afford to stay here!

The list of nominees is long and the categories many, but there are a few that stand out to me. My Mom and I have had the privilege of seeing many of these designers showcase their work at World Mastercard Fashion Week over the last four years and always find their shows outstanding. These talented designers need our support to continue to build their brands! The categories and nominees of most interest to me are Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong of Greta Constantine for "Womenswear Designer of the Year" and David Dixon for "Outstanding Achievement Award". I will be rooting for them both to take home their respective awards! See the full list of nominees and categories here.

The best part is, you can actually come to the afterparty for the Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards! Fashion parties are always a new adventure full of excitement, daring looks and fabulous people of course! This year's attendees will include: Coco Rocha, Dean and Dan Caten, Gerry Dee, Elisha Cuthbert, Guillemo del Toro, Yasmin Warsame, Mia Maestro, John Chiles, Adelaide Kane and Jonathan Keltz. This event is also a great opportunity to schmooze with key industry attendees at the SEPHORA Beauty Lounge. Guests will be able to create their own custom lipsticks from Bite Beauty in "The Lab" and reeive touch ups from SEPHORA and Bumble and Bumble beauty experts. Visit the CAFA website here to purchase a ticket, join the party and come out to support Canadian fashion! You can still win tickets as well by visiting the CAFA blog here.

Check out some of my favorite shows/looks of Greta Constantine and David Dixon of all time. Do you have a favorite? Hope to see you there!

David Dixon

Original post here

Original post here

Greta Constantine

Grace Undone - Original post here

Summer Pool Part - Original post here

Original post here 

Value Village Finds - Second Hand Treasures

Happy Tuesday all! I love sharing Value Village adventures on Clothes Line Finds! Today's tale is one of two Antheas adventuring out on a cold Saturday morning in Toronto. After a few hours of digging, searching and trying on numerous outfits, both of us left the store with a new bag of treasures to take home. All in all, I left with 5 blouses, 1 beautiful pair of black patent loafers and an amazing pair of dark blue skinny jeans. I purchased all of these items for about $75. This may seem expensive, but think about the last time you went shopping? Even a shirt at H and M or Forever 21 is usually at least $35 (before tax in Canada!), and I wouldn't even dream of being able to find a pair of brand new loafers for under $75 brand new. 

If you're patient and willing to put in some time and muscle searching through aisles of second hand clothing, you can save a lot and look fabulous too! You're even doing your part to save the environment! One of the great things about second hand shopping is that you are less likely to find yourself wearing the same dress as someone at an event and more likely to find a piece with a unique little story/twist that will usually stay in your closet a lot longer too!

If you haven't shopped second hand very much, be sure to check out my Top Thrifting Tips here.

Life is full of thrifted treasures. Enjoy! 

I didn't end up buying this amazing number as it was just too big.

It was $15 and to get it altered would be at least $15 and to me

it just wasn't worth it.

Didn't end up buying the shoes either as I found they weren't in

the best shape. Aren't they fun though?!

Anthea left with this amazing cape - love the color on her!

Exhausted, but thrilled with my new finds!

Anthea is excited too!

Hipster How To: Japan T-Shirts

Happy Monday all! Can't believe the weekend is over already! Time is flying by! If you take a look at my posts from my time in Japan, you will see that two of my very good friends were and still ARE Mindy and Branda. Mindy went back to visit Branda in Japan in the fall and brought back a few of my favorite things! One of the things I requested was a funny Japanese T-Shirt. I still have and wear one of my very favorites, which has a picture of the cartoon character Moomin on it. Branda sent home the amazing T-Shirt below for me and Mindy sent it along and included some of my favorite fashion and gossip magazines :) Such great friends!

On Saturday I went to the Kensington Market with my friend Anthea (yes there is another Anthea)  for brunch and to our favorite Value Village in Lansdowne. I decided to push the fashion envelope and style my T-Shirt a little more hipster than I normally would. I paired it with dark skinnies (thrifted), knee high boots, a brown belt (thrifted), my favorite Land's End winter staple vest, Guess jacket, Encircled scarf, toque from Queen West and clutch from Chapter's of all places! 

These photos were taken after brunch and it was freezing! Trying to take more style photos as of late with my new Canon SL1. Here are a few photos of the look and the magazines I received :) 

We also went to a great cafe in the Bloor and Landsdowne area. It is called the Intergallactic Space Authority. They have a coffee shop and store and all proceeds go to support community programming for kids in the area. Check out their website here. What a fun Saturday!

T-Shirt from Graniph in Japan - Check it out here.

Nicole Richie is very popular in Japan. She was always on the cover!

Always loved these style magazines. The images are so inspiring!

Amazing coffee and great staff!

More Austin - Texas State Capital and the Intercontinental Hotel

Happy Thursday all! Here are some more pictures from my Texas adventure!

This was my first trip with my new Canon SL1. I took over 100 photos a day for 8 days, so you can imagine how many photos I had to go through at the end of the trip. It was beautiful and sunny on the day we decided to head up to the Texas State Capital in Austin. Coming from freezing Toronto, we wanted to soak up some of the warm Austin sun and have a snack, so we went in search of the perfect patio. We ended up on the Intercontinental Hotel patio having pork sliders and Prosecco! It doesn't get much better :)

We also took a tour of the Texas State Capital building and took some time to take some pictures of the grounds. Built in 1885, the building holds the chambers of the Texas Legislature and the office of the Governor. You can read more about it here!

Bridge going into downtown Austin

Austin Intercontinental Hotel

Treasure Seeker Colleen

At the Texas State Capital!

NFL Custom Designed Fashion Helmets for the Super Bowl and My Adventures in Dallas

Saw these fashionable helmets (below) on Fashionista.com and thought this would be the perfect time to share my experience in Dallas and seeing the Dallas Cowboys play live! You may remember my wonderful friend Branda from my time in Japan. We spent a lot of time together when I was living in Okayama. We have stayed in touch and still talk at least once a month! You can see some posts from our adventures back in 2010 here and here.

Branda's brother, Ronald, plays for the Dallas Cowboys and Branda came home all the way from Japan just to see him play in Dallas! I was already planning to be in Austin, so made the road trip with my family to meet Branda and her family in Dallas! Branda's amazing family took me to the football game and I got to experience the game through the eyes of a family member! It was actually very overwhelming! The stadium holds about 80,000 fans and it was jam packed. I really haven't experienced a stadium of that size or fans that passionate... EVER! It was an amazing night and so great to see one of my very best friends who I have known for almost 6 years! Special thanks to her family for giving me such a wonderful and special experience. I will always remember it :)

The cowboys were unsuccessful in making it the playoffs, but they truly played a great game. They fought hard for every play and gave it 110 percent. It was such a close game, but there is always next year ;)

Amazing opening ceremonies :)

Branda ready to see her brother play :) All the way from Japan!

Playing the waiting game!

Cowboys tickets and stadium pass 

Waiting, waiting...

 Loved the white towels

 

Front and center!

The CFDA has partnered with Bloomingdale's and the NFL to design limited-edition football helmets for the upcoming Super Bowl. It is the first time the Super Bowl will be held in New York and so the celebrations, or collaborations rather, begin! The helmets will be up auctioned off on January 15th with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the NFL foundation. Bidding starts at $248 and ends on February 5th. Who's ready to start bidding?! Thanks for sharing Fashionista.com! 

 Alice and Olivia

(Images courtesy of Fashionista) 

Badgley Mischka 

 Betsey Johnson

 Bloomingdale's

Dannijo 

 Dennis Basso

 DKNY

 Diane von Furstenberg 

John Varvatos 

 Kenneth Cole

Marchesa 

 Narciso Rodriguez 

 Nicole Miller

Pamela Love 

 Public School

Rag and Bone