in metal even. i feel bad because they look like gorgeous arielle de pinto pieces (which i could never afford) but she’s way more betterer and talented than i will ever be with metal chain manipulation. and besides, this is a friendship bracelet, which is totally different than crochet.. right?

we’ve also been generally having fun times in the studio, doing shoots, sending out vintage to the discerning and the stylish, and most importantly, playing in boxes:
and eating

and getting portraits done

:

winter has also not been going away

AND THERE IS A NEW PARK IN MY HOOD:

thrift score:

i’m especially excited for the master guide.

this is the corridor outside of chloe’s studio. just in case you haven’t seen her blog yet you should, it’s art and music and beauty tips for your brain: scroungy glamour

i need a better system. i love you google calender but i’m thinking an old school moleskin is still better than any new-fangled contraption or in any case better than trying to rely on my thinker’s rememberfying.
but for now writing on the hand is an ongoing dadaist haiku.

the whippersnapper also turned 8 so we went to see the lorax in three dee. it was so good. i wept, i cried, and i didn’t doze off like i usually do in any dark warm seating area.

“a tree breaks the way it leans, so be careful which way you lean.” – dr seuss.



we also have some visitors. they’re like living squeeky teddy bears. i am officially on team guinea pig as of now.

here’s the documentation:

thanks to the former headquarters boutique we have a pro open sign and everything.

there was so much great stuff for the sample sale!

i LOVE supayana‘s baby line. i just wish it was big enough for me!
i was lucky and got to do a trade with angie for some of the norwegian wood samples.

here’s brooke from citizen vintage (and all the gals actually, but brooke was the only one who got caught in the cross hairs of my lens) came by to support us. it’s not really a very descriptive pic, but she is wearing maybe my dream back pack. overcome with envy.

brooke and i were boot buddies

i could not get over this lady’s amazing detachable fur hood.

and to continue with customer appreciation shots (taken to mean we appreciate some awesome stuf whether we’re wrangling it or not), the best bags winners are:

floral on rugged backpacks on adorable men? darn tootin’!

I can’t wait for the next one!

In the mean time come join me in going to this loft sale in my hood:

some of my superfavorite vintage sellers (young captive, tarantula sisters, new wave natives, darklands) will be selling. these gals know how to have fun and make money simultaneously. i’ll see you there!

i don’t know if i’ve ever told you why i haz etsy shop. so here goes:

i like buying stuff. i grew up digging through bins of used clothings and learned to identify silk, wool, cotton and linen before i was in double digits.

the two places i’ll go to if i’m feeling stressed or upset is a hardware store (my father was a handy man/carpenter) and the thrift store (my mom was a journalist, but we generally got pretty much everything from the thrift store growing up). we weren’t poor, we just never had a lot of cash. there’s something calming and reassuring about these two places for me: things to fix with and things to look nice in, and my super favorite: thrifted tools and clothes from hardware stores. but that’s probably it’s very own post..

i think my mother’s being from finland had a lot to do with my love of the thrift. for a long time the tradition of craft and design was something that most finns were, if not personally adept at, they at least knew about. most farmhouses had looms and it felt as though anyone of my mom’s generation knew more about making fabric than folks of the same age on this side of the pond. there was real value in items, their longevity was prized over their novelty. linens were handed down from one generation to the next, everything was mended and once it was in too poor shape to keep using as a sheet or a pair of socks it would be recycled as a rug or the wool would be reclaimed and felted into boots.

there’s a real ingenuity in scarcity that is valuable to me. so much of the world of necessity now if fueled by sales and marketing and i think we’ve lost touch with what need means.
and i don’t want to glamorize rural not-so-long-ago life. i don’t think it’s better by a long shot. life was hard, non-stop work fueled by a sheer determination to perserve and a genetic inclination towards potatoes and pickled herring. there are just some things we’ve forgotten and neglected that maybe we should re-examine and integrate into our lives.
for instance: leaches.
The Joke.

currently finland is flooded with the same stores you find in any large city anywhere in the world and i wouldn’t say that folks of my generation are any more knowledgeable about craft and design and quality than anyone anywhere else.

in any case, the mad obsession for crisp cottons, beautiful wool and creamy silk definatly came from my mom. her aunt was a textile artist who was also an incredible designer and an impeccable seamstress. my grandmother regularly designed and made or had local seamstresses make her wardrobe, in keeping with the fashions of the day. i have a lot of those pieces still and i get the impression that there just was no shitty fabrics in that day and age (the truth is the quality fabrics last, the lower quality ones are probably enjoying a new life as a rug somewhere. i hope.). absolutely everything is in brand new condition, the cuts are beautiful and flattering and everything is 40+ years old.when my mom moved to canada she had trouble finding the same quality clothes here for acceptable prices, so thrift shops quickly became where she did the bulk of clothing and bedding shopping.

it’s such an integral part of my upbringing i find it always sort of magical and creepy how there are full size runs of clothes in “real” retail stores. i loathe the idea of having the same clothes as other people (and while it is absolutely true i resemble my peers in style and inclination), there is just something so compelling about finding special-ness amid the troves of discarded garments, it’s like my own little bit of insignificant autonomy. it’s so slight, it’s so imperceptible, but it’s this teeny tiney gesture of dissent and i employ it often and with fervor.

i try to buy stuff that isn’t made in sweatshops, and isn’t using depeleting resources or making things worse. i love buying from indie designers, because i think supporting skilled craftspeople is really important, and i’m lucky to know so many amazing designers.

i really love vintage, anytime i see something new on the runways or in the stores i get right on etsy and find the pieces that inspired the trends.
i can always find something better quality for a way smaller price.

i don’t want to sound sanctimoniousness and totally full of myself, i just see the connection to goods and the reality of of how they’re produced getting more and more distant and i dislike it.
i fear it.
it’s like we’re all ignoring the very real implications of

i-want-stuff
+
i-don’t-want-to-pay-what-it-would-cost-for-me-to-produce-it
=
troubs

not only do people not know how to make things anymore, they don’t know how to tell if something is ok quality or not.

so.

that was a really long winded way of saying:
BEHOLD: LOOK WHAT ALL IS TUMBLING INTO THE SHOP

it’s that time again

we can sense the end of winter but it’s not quite warm enough to dress like spring.

and to that end our busy studio hive have once again come together to host vintage mart, and as great as the last event was, this one will be even better. why, you ask?

we’ve got quite the stock pile of vintage, but we’resifting through it and only offering the very freshest, timeliest pieces for the end of winter and the beginning of spring. great fabrics, beautiful cuts, one of a kind beauties, and enough accessories to.. alleviate a lack of accessories that has plagued you up until now!

And we have shoes

AND there will be booze

AND THERE’S A FREAKING SAMPLE SALE!

that means you can have a booze get special vintage and pick up amazing pieces from norwegian wood, supayana, elaine ho, tyson bodnarchuk and broundoor! and you can come and shoot the shit with me! i’ll be so pathetically grateful i’ll make you a friendship bracelet. i’m not even joking.

so over the week i’ll try and give you an idea of what all is in the works.

for the sake of sheer immodesty, i’ll start with me and some of my more resent aquisitions that can be found on etsy, so that if you cabn’t physically make it, you still have a chance to partake.

just click on any picture, it’ll take you straight to my store.

thanks again to my superbabe model Charlotte! she’s gearing up her very own vintage empire and also models for my studio buddy ceasar pony and my neighbourhood buddy newwavenatives.
she’s the sweetest and makes my work more fun. thanks buddy!

here are my current favorites:

the top one i think is a hand-me-down from my mom or dad. i’ve had it forever and probably always will.

number two is a recent thrift that i got off borahstyle on etsy. it’s amazing, all heavy with the craziest hardware i’ve ever seen on a belt. originally by ralph lauren.

the third one i got at the chosen in toronto. i always feel like a girl scout when i have it on. and it’s a perfect fit for carrying my cards

the fourth (and grubbiest) is my hands down fav. i love it so much i may have to buy another one so i can have one pristine one and one really worn in patina-ed one. the belt hook is a horse hook (for picking junk out of you’re horse’s hoof while riding) and i LOVE the nude color of the raw leather. automatic sweetheart has a couple different styles on top of which, her etsy shop is brimming with beautiful leather goods.

For christmas i treated myself to a zana bayne harness. for someone like me who doesn’t like fussy details much they’re the perfect balance between a practical garment and a statement piece. i basically want all the raw leather pieces, or all of the pieces in raw leather, as quickly as the old bank account allows. also read her blog. this gal is one of my favorite style inspirations. it’s not something i strive to imitate, it’s by and large not something to be slavishly recreated, but i really admire anyone with the balls to conform to their own beauty ideals.

but, back to waist crowns, or as they are more commonly known, belts:
i even made a belt treasury on etsy.
it’s not an obsession.
it’s a creative outlet.
right?

i went to drawn and quarterly to redeem my gift certificate. no matter how big it could possibly be it could never be enough. i am greedy about books. i want them all.

for now i got the john waters and the illustrated element of style for me and the how to draw cute animals for urs.

i’ve also been making bracelets, basically friendship bracelets from leather cord, and if i do say so myself they are really awesome. if you want one let me know and we can set up a trade.

and don’t forget to get 15% off until midnight on valentines day with the discount code hibernation

i found gold snakeskin high waisted pants.
and it seems as though they are versace.
and even if they weren’t i’d still be trying to figure out how to squish myself into these over the top traffic stopping beauties.

my favorite find was this cozy heathered smoke wool cardigan. i love the shaping of the sleeves and the angled vest ..lapels? what the hell does one call the bottom front part of a cardigan?
if it has no name already my candidates are :
1) snubs
2) bittles
3) dends

and yes, i’m posting my lovely finds to the shop every day so swing by and get a 15% discount by entering the discount code hibernation until Valentines day at midnight.

vintage mart is also planning a huge sale on the last weekend of february. nothing clears out those ok-winter-i-get-it-you’ve-made-your-point-already-blues like a little retail therapy. stay tuned for the details or swing by the vintage mart website or tumblr!

even so, i have managed to leave the house

montreal does this neat thing where it plows snow and removes it completely, trucking it to some snow and ice mountain. in the picture below you can see the after on the left and the before on the right.

even when i’ve been at home i’ve resolved to spend less time aimlessly drifting on the interweb and more time making stuff, having adventures and bugging my family.

and by making stuff i mean knitting and friendship bracelets.

and by adventures i mean finding the yummiest stir fried greens i can find in china town.

adventures also include going ice skating at the old port. i can’t really skate myself, or more accurately i lack the enthusiasm for public humiliation in sub zero temperatures.

so far this is my favorite spot due to aesthetic agree-ability- it’s right on the st lawrence, there’s a proper heated building for watching and changing. and there is cocoa available in the ajacent resuturant.

in any case buddies,
the days are getting longer.
i keep thinking i can smell the ice melting.

here’s my best of list for the year

1) james franco

2) codeine

3) http://laphamsquarterly.tumblr.com/

4) lolitas with the ochman clan

5) playing dress-up at the studio

6) the occupy movement. i’m not sure protest is really conducive to change, but it made for some good talks.

7) bridesmaids

8 ) talapia at the swan

9 ) daiya cheese

10) john maus

11) spring time midnight bike rides

12) http://castlcrnrs.blogspot.com/

13) curb your enthusiasm

14) http://www.lettersofnote.com/ and http://www.listsofnote.com/

15) negimiso japadog

16) http://www.imrevolting.net/

17) peter schilling major tom

18) another earth

19) n+1

20) virgin suicides soundtrack

21) http://www.mistermort.com/

22) late summer back alley beer drinking with buddies

23) http://weirdfriends.tumblr.com/

24) WTF with Marc Maron

25) the coffee at boulangerie des co’pains d’abord on rachel