Bachelor of Arts (not all)

Julie Ann, Patricia Ann, Jayne Patricia, Laurie (nm), Alex James, Megan Skye Courtney, Chelsea May, Stephanie Frances, Amy Jane, Libby (nm), Mary Ann, Shane Daniel, Olivia Jade, Kaeun (nm), So Yun, Jessica Margaret, Merrin (nm), Alana Suzanne, Phebe Hope, Stuart William, Catherine Margaret, Sian Briana, Samuel Edward, Nooriye (nm), Siusega Vincent, Matalena (nm), Rosemary Joy Gawn, Leah Diane, Julia Rose, Aleisha Louise, Leuma (nm), Jasmine Mary, Ann Elizabeth, Lucy Patricia, Karma Sian, Elizabeth Helen, Bridie Jean, Sophie Joy, Kurt Paul, Michaela Colleen, Sharon Elizabeth, Natasha Moana-Marie, Ennety Mharakurwa, Steven Charles Franklyn, Melissa Anne, Shelley (nm), Dorothy-Jane, Lucinda Elizabeth, Holly Margaret, Fergus Lachlan Stewart, Shiona Margaret, Victoria Nyasha, Chloe-Rose Caramela, Melody Louise, Ella Simone, Brittany Christine, Ashley Miranda, Caroline Sarah, Lucy Charlotte, April Dawn.

You name them, we follow them. Whether it’s the self-imposed muses at Kingdom of Style, or the king of street stalking Sartorialist, fashion bloggers are the future.

We’ve shown our admiration for the Susie Style Bubbles, Bryan Boys and Tommy Tons, and Journalists from industry fashion bibles continue praise the mantras of those already on top. But fashion leaders must always be on the lookout for what’s new – what’s hot. Especially when a majority of the fashion bloggers shop at the same places.

The creme de la creme of High street retailers: American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, H&M, and Topshop are forever indebted to the fashionistas who consistently create looks on their blogs that inspire a growing batch of followers. Without this new school of “unofficial” spokespeople, fashion retailer’s net profits would plummet at jet speed.

This post is an ode the new generation of bloggers. They’re young, fashion-forward, and proudly Canadian.

Regardless of how different they are in content, the selected fashionistas have three things in common: high street style, thrift shops and character.

So here we go.(And by the way, all images are properties of the blog owners.)

The Dreamer: Rachel, 16, Serva Me, Servabo Te.

This young blogger loves pretty floral print dresses and far away places. In July 2008, Rachel founded  Save me, And I Will Save You. With piercing green eyes, fiery red hair, and a direct sense of fashion, Rachel updates her followers about fashion finds at Toronto’s vintage shops, and has a knack for binding art, fantasy books and music into her fashion entries. Though she has a passion for fashion, it’s easy to see her cultivating a career in the literary world, maybe with Penguin Books.

The Fashion Creator: Katia, 17, Blinding Bright Lights.

Whether Katia’s venturing european countries or strolling NYC, this Montrealer/Student  is a self-proclaimed “fashion-obsessed vegetarian with extremely high hopes for the future.” Fashion through her eyes is a cluttered barrage of colour, and putting looks together is much like changing underwear – she does it often. Her posts garner a legion of responses, which means she’s becoming a prominent voice within Canada’s fashion blogsphere. Maybe she’ll launch her own line, land a job at Colette or French Elle.

The Fashion Editor: Lea, 13, Lea Likes Fashion.

Don’t be fooled by the pouty demure in this picture; there’s nothing emo about Lea’s blog. In fact, it’s along the lines of UK’s Grazia. At just 13-years-old, Lea’s one of the most underrated yet promising personalities in Canadian fashion – literally. She’s a woman of little words but high on visual content. Noting Alexander McQueen as one of her favorite designers, she’s quick to post pre-season haute couture collections and one-on-one guides of her own daily looks. She’s got the look that will land her in front row of fashion weeks, and she’s got lifestyle flair; she posts food recipes and tips making her a well-rounded blogger. Word to the wise Lea, have you seen MCQ’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection of to die for bags?

The Society Girl: Olivia, 21, Stylestruck.ca.

She’s got a cute cropped cut and kick ass heels. And when she’s not giving the low down of what’s in her closet, Fashion Blogger Olivia does her own rendition of street stalking. She’s all about who’s who in the Vancouver’s (and abroad) fashion scene. She’s got a positive attitude and wears a bright smile to match. She’s definitely one of those fashionistas you’ll see working the PR circuit for a well-renowned fashion house, maybe Diane Von Furstenberg?

The Glam Girl: Abbey, 16, Abbey Karson Blog.

Abbey’s got enough style to be apart of the team behind über-fashion mags like Pop, or Katie Grand’s Love. Note the british mags mentioned; that’s because she’s cool, maybe too cool to be in Canada. With her doll-like features and semi-beehive hairstyle, Abbey is essentially Britpop to-the-max. The quality of the images on her blog are stunning and the fashion-girl-against-rural-backdrop (except when she is in front of her magazine poster plastered wall) is fresh and exciting.

The Indie Fashion Maven: Siân, 23, Good Stuff Here.

Out of all the bloggers, Siân would probably be the most anti-mainstream, though she genuinely is the most avant-garde. This Makeup Artist from Toronto’s style resonates throughout her blog; she’s one of those personalities you can see getting in with weekly indies like Toronto’s Now! Magazine, or working her magic through commissions from Creative Agencies. She’s an unapologetic blogger, not afraid to voice her dislikes which gives her platform a niche following. And, considering a lot of the fluff bloggers tend to do (myself included), that’s not such a bad thing. If all else fails, she can always become a spokes model for Carri Mundane’s Cassette Playa collection.

Wow. Just, well, amazing. So amazing I momentarily left my Weetabix unguarded and the milk got a head of itself. Soggy Weetabix. On top of everything. What a morning.

Bill, well he usually doesn’t get flustered, but, my God, he was nearly shouting. He was possessed by shouty shouty Vanessa Feltz (you’ve seen her on the London local news, well those of you in London have, shouting, great entertainment is shouty shouty Feltz – IS FAT REALLY FAT OR IS IT PEOPLE’S IMAGINATION – TUNE IN FROM NIIIIIIINE!!!!!).

Poor Sian just looked flustered. She’d never seen 12 inches. She didn’t think it was possible. The largest ever recorded and here she was, looking at it’s after affects. She closes her eyes and wonders what it would have felt like to have been there when those 12 inches came.

They go live to the Cumbria correspondent who is stood in the dark talking over dark pictures and getting vaguely hysterical, in the dark.“You can see the damage,” she witters.

I think you’ll find we can’t. It’s dark. We can’t see anything. Except your eager hopeful face that just screams “Prime time baby. This is my ticket back to big time. Thankyou rain God.”

I doubt it darling. You haven’t even found us a weeping person. Or there must be some bastard in a blow up boat rowing around smugly following the TV cameras so he gets on telly. Or even I could find a woman standing in some water saying it’s Gordon Brown’s fault and that she can’t wait for the postman to get on his jet ski to deliver the mail because then she can ring The Sun up and say he got her son’s name wrong. She hasn’t got a son. But, you know, that’s not the point is it. Brown you bastard.

We’re back in the studio and Bill just looks tired. Sian’s still dreaming of those twelve inches.

“Twelve inches!” says Bill. Sian smiles. Catches herself.

“It’s horrific,” she says. Nice save. She congratulates herself.

And, well, what more can you say, really. Twelve inches of rain, it’s quite a lot of rain. It’s wet, isn’t it? And the rivers, they don’t like it too wet. So pernickety. And 200 people got a ride in a helicopter.

You could say it was a tad ridiculous in a country where it pretty much rains every year at around the same time, where it pretty much always causes flooding, and where it pretty much always results in people saying it will never happen again, and where it then pretty much always does happen again, that we can’t cope with a downpour, even now.

Other countries must be puzzled. Poor Holland, it thought it had a monopoly on water-based danger, what with it being flat. But us Brits, we’re plucky. Given the chance, we can fuck pretty much anything up.

*Written before the death of PC Bill Barker was confirmed. Condolences go out to his family.

Looking at the current music industry, I find it interesting how a lot of the biggest stars have attached themselves to one another.  Beyoncé and Jay-Z are considered the golden couple of R&B / hip-hop, and although they are both megastars and extremely talented in their own right (and have lots of independent ventures, and carved out their own careers independently before getting together), it’s the fact that they are together which makes them seem almost invincible.  When you listen to some of Beyoncé’s love songs, you can imagine her singing about Jay-Z; when she has a song like “Diva” which exudes confidence in a hip-hop style, you assume that Jay-Z had something to do with that attitude.  Even if it’s not the case.  Likewise, on Robin Thicke’s new song “Meiplé”, Jay-Z raps about Beyoncé being the “black Brigitte Bardot”.

Running with the Beyoncé example, she teams up with artists such as Shakira and Lady Gaga (whoever’s hot, basically) to cement her status as one of music’s elite.  Just like Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, or Timbaland and Nelly Furtado.  Relationships-wise, remember the furore over Britney Spears and Justin back in the day?  Their relationship elevated them to supernova-level megastardom, and was a massive element in their fame and success.  Interestingly, when they broke up, things just weren’t the same.  I think as members of the public, we like a couple who are balanced musically and seem to fit each other personally – it seems like fairytales can happen.  And when they self-destruct and we’re forced to admit that the fairytale was something created by the public and the media that the celebrities could never live up to, it’s just not the same.  I’m sure that there are some people who would attribute Britney’s entire marriage to Kevin Federline and her subsequent meltdown to the fact that her and Justin broke up, regardless of the reasons behind that breakup or the other factors in Britney’s life that added to her downward spiral (and subsequent resurgence).  I think that the same is happening with Rihanna and Chris Brown at the moment – however good their music / dancing / fashion might be, the fact that they were part of a couple – however much they would deny it to the paparazzi – made them seem that little bit more gilded in superstardom.  Now that they’ve split up, regardless of who beat who, they’re both experiencing some backlash (despite the fact that in both cases, their new material is certainly up to par, if not better, than their previous work).  What’s up with that?

I was thinking about this not because I ruminate daily on Beyoncé and Rihanna’s love lives, but because the same kind of thing has happened at uni.  Consciously or not, several of us within our course have paired off – not in a romantic sense, but just attached ourselves to one best friend.  There’s Pete and Emma, Penny and Daisy, Julie and Clare, among others – and of course me and Mike.  Talking about Mike and me, we’re the unofficial ‘leaders’ of our group – everyone seems to look to us whenever we speak in class, whenever someone needs to volunteer to do something in the group, organising social events.  I dread to think what would have happened if one of us didn’t smoke – we wouldn’t have had the chance to gel so instantly (on the first morning, Mike came up to me and said “Do you smoke?” “Yes.” “I thought it was you outside.  THANK GOD.  I smoke too!” and that was it!).  But I still think that because of the people we are, we would have found each other before too long.  It’s interesting how we seem to attract others around us, be they members of the aforementioned pairs, or others.  At first, there was a pair of the two youngest girls, Jenny and Sian, but as time’s gone on, Jenny has started to explore life on the dark side (i.e. she’s hanging out with me, Mike and Vikki) and loosened up to have some fun.  There’s a sense of charisma and magnetism that pairs who get on well exude without even much effort.  I wonder if those in our group who don’t come out for social drinks, who turn up to uni alone and go home alone, are enjoying it quite as much?  I know that the point of the course is not to have fun and socialise, but I like to work hard and play hard, and I think it’s a good balance for getting the most from this experience.

The funny thing was one night recently when Mike couldn’t come out.  I was still the social ringleader, but I did have a couple of comments such as “So what is Mike doing tonight?”  ”How is Mike?” “You won’t smoke as much tonight since your smoking partner isn’t here.”  Me and Mike texted during the evening (he was sad he couldn’t be there, I was updating him on the scandal and gossip as the night progressed), but I thought it was interesting how people still kinda saw me as the ringleader, but thought that he and me were inseparable to the point of knowing each other’s business inside out.  I told Mike about it on Sunday when I saw him, and we laughed at the fact people seem to have the conception that we cannot exist without one another (I’ve heard one person say “Mike loves you, he follows you everywhere!” when I don’t see it as following, I just see it as a natural gravitation towards one another) – last time I checked, I managed 23.8 years of my life without Mike, and he managed even more without me.

Once you become a part of a “power couple” in whatever sense, does that make you inferior when you act on your own?  As much as I enjoy being part of the “Mike & I” leadership party, I’m still my own person.  Me and Mike have a lot in common, but we’re different in a lot of ways too, and I don’t need him to function.  And vice versa!  I think that having a companion or partner in crime makes you feel stronger, bolder and more confident, but it doesn’t mean that without the other person, you’re nothing.  I wonder what Jay-Z thinks about his position in hip-hop’s elite, and whether this position would be compromised were he to divorce Beyoncé tomorrow.  Sometimes a friendship or relationship brings along with it a certain amount of social bank or clout, but that’s not the sole reason why we should be friends with anyone – we just gel with people and connect from there.  Because at the end of the day, people may see a certain facet of us in the public eye – whether we’re celebrities or just day-to-day people – but behind closed doors or in the privacy of our own relationship, we have that connection for reasons people don’t understand unless they’re willing to plumb the depths below the surface.

i have officially degenerated. i have not used my brains for over a month, engaged in small and senseless talk, and not exercised for the same period of time. what have i been doing? nothing meaningful really. i don’t really want to go back in there. i don’t know what to expect form now on. i’ve still got a long long way to go before i can take a short break. being stuck in a place that you don’t real want to be in sucks. worse is if u screwed up your chances of getting out. yes i have failed. my 1st tp. wouldn’t exactly put it down to bad luck, but it was friday the 13th and luck wasn’t really on my side either. i guess i need to take the blame for not being observant enough. dang. it was so stupid. makes you feel so unfairly treated. but then again. luck has never been on my side. i have had to work hard for everything by myself. i have survived so far. i hope i will continue to. happy times don’t last. there are so many parts in my life which i wished i could go back to. but retrospection isn’t going to get me anywhere. good times don’t last. i just have to wait for the next good patch. hais.

winterleague coming. deadline for registration is on the 18th. i haven’t made up my mind. having it on sundays really sucks. why can’t i be back in school?

Has been reading on forums about flea stalls since I’m interested to start 1 on weekends to get rid of stuffs which I dont need anymore. Clothings, accessories, old and new, post-wedding stuff too. The last time I went to Hui’s home, both of us with Tra had chatted excitedly about how we’re going to book 1 and start doing flea business. It will be Hui and my first time and I was so freaking excited that I repeated twice to Tra, “I’m really serious leh. Weekends, airconditioned stalls, I’m definitely on!” And she replied, “Okok, I shall check it out and let you all know. Most probably it will be mid Oct or something. =)”

However weeks past and we got no news from her. The anxious me finally messaged her on facebook to ask about me and she suddenly threw me 1 website and that’s it. I was SO BLUR. Anyway I went to that website which contains very little information, in short, telling me no more slots la. I forgot how the conversation went with Tra but it was, 不了了之. Haiz, I’m seriously very disappointed when a flea stall wasnt coming soon and more so when people make empty promises. You’re not free to check or book or if no good ones are available, say mah. Dont let me wait down there like a goondu with high hopes…. dampening mah…

I know it’s a small thing la…but cant help feeling sianz. Initially I thought it’s better for her to source because she is experienced in flea-ing. But finally realised it’s always difficult to depend on people lah. So I googled it and god..there are really many types of different sprees. Apart from the different locations and set-up, they also have different profiles and the locations will determine the type of crowd and of course the booth price. Usually 2 get to share 1 booth though I definitely prefer setting it up with Hui rather than some stranger.

I had checked out forums and did some minor research with some friends and people online. It’s really not easy because the good booths were all being booked very very fast. What’s bad is that Hui seems very very busy these days. Poor her. I doubt she can find time to set up flea stall with me because you need time to pack all the stuff. I’m still so green in flea-ing, how I wished I got someone to guide me. Haiz. Though the main aim is not to make giant big-ass profit, but I also dont wish the sales to be pathetic. It’s most demoralizing. And I feel I ought to be responsible for it if I’m the one who pick out the stall.

Gra, Ser might be interested but they’re always so busy. Currently there are some hot booths on 26th Dec 2009 and 30th Jan 2010. Christmas special and Lunar special but I’m contemplating whether I wanna sacrifice either 1 of these holidays….I doubt Hui can too.

Oh damn…I suddenly remembered SL might be experienced in flea-ing because I think she did before. Alas…but she’s also so busy with work now..doubt she can join me too. =( Anyone interested to join me…drop me a message…

(P/S Ya..I just realised the header image can be changed. And the only panorama pictures I had are the wedding photoshots, so this is just 1 picture which I’ve uploaded and plucked it there. The size fits perfectly! So Easy! I’m not that pro to stitch all the different pictures into 1 manz… But they just appear blur even though I tried cropping or resizing. Sigh.)

the have-not-been list:

-living a life

-reading: from sch readings to beyond sch text

-talking crap, just pure crap wif the Qs.

-without muscle aches

-eating, drinking, bathing, sleeping without anything troubling in mind

-pimples-gone

I wonder sometimes who came up with the whole need for formalities? Why do we need to dress a certain way, to write stuff using certain choice words, to behave in a certain manner, and to some like myself, to “turn on” this whole other persona that befits a particular type of situation that calls for it?

People who know me well know that me wearing formal attire is something very rare, and to some people, think it’s something that never happens for me. But yet, there are situations that call for me to dress formally, much to my dislike, simply because it’s what people expect you to be like. It felt a bit artificial to me, because I was pretending to be something I’m not. I’m usually quite informal and casual, and to some extent sometimes callous, because with some people I feel comfortable being that way and sometimes I expect them to just “know” that I don’t mean ill but rather it’s just how we sometimes usually talk to one another. But situations change, and suddenly, it becomes inappropriate and we have to become somebody else, to adapt to this new situation that requires a whole new “you” that really isn’t “you” you.

Yet, this whole need to behave in a certain manner is so embedded in many of us that the lack of it in a setting we expect this formality to take place sometimes just feels a bit inappropriate, much to my surprise when it hit me recently. I realised that my dislike for having to be a certain way that I usually don’t like to associate with, is something I am starting to appreciate now that it’s not there anymore. It’s yet another one of those things where once you don’t have it only you start appreciating it. It’s sad, but it happens.

Thankfully sometimes there ARE opportunities for a do-over, although they are never so easy to accomplish. But I guess if you really want it, sometimes these troubles are worth it. The whole, suffer now enjoy later mambo jambo that we have all been brainwashed into accepting as facts of life.

Sometimes I wish life wasn’t so complicated. We could just make simple choices, and have simple consequences, and live happily ever after. Maybe that’s why people invented formalities. So there are these set guidelines that hopefully everyone follows, and everything will work out properly and we’ll all live happily ever after.

Dang!