Sun Shining on the Nightshades!

A few weeks ago, I was asked to send my Prom 2010 predictions to Heather Toskan at Sun Media. The girls I've been teaching are really into big volume and short hemlines, so I told her what I thought girls would be wearing this year. I also told her I thought that black was over but sequins and vintage are in. She writes:

Bury the black and stand out in shades of fuchsia, coral, turquoise, aqua, red, blue and gold. Celebs also know that vintage looks can also be the most unique....

...Many current prom dress trends draw largely on the styles of the 1980s with lacy, sequined and other glittering fabrics of the era.

“Fashion-forward girls are really into playing with volume right now, so the one shoulder might have a big ruffle or ‘80s pouf on it. Hem lines are getting shorter so it makes sense to have more happening at the shoulders,” says designer-seamstress Irene Stickney, of The Make Den, a vintage-inspired sewing studio in Toronto.

You can read the entire article here.

Make someone's day...?

Arielle lost all her sewing supplies because of the earthquake in Haiti. You can find out how to send her sewing notions in Haiti here.

Press Pass for The Make Den!

My Lady Gaga sewing workshop made it into the Star recently, and the PACT Prom classes that I'm teaching were in the Globe! You can read the full article here and here.

WOAH bike fees?

So although I am on the west coast, I have been very interested in the electoral stuff going on in the municipality of Toronto. I like municipal politics, they are much easier to participate in/see results. Not only that strong cities make strong countries. Back when I was a kid in Cabbage Town (before the yuppie parade moved in...), my mom was in a brunch club of sorts and so was Barbara Hall. So maybe it was me listening to local talk over scrambled eggs and juice that made me into the politico I am today.

There is hot debate on city infrastructure, and it is being focused on bike lanes. On his facebook Dave Meslin posted this great article "Bike fees: Misinformed, misguided and a step backwards for Toronto." He starts off by quoting this article in the Toronto Star "Bike lanes divide mayoral candidates" by Robyn Doolittle. Meslin, using straight up facts de-bunks some theories on rich, suburban car-owner vs. downtown poor biker. The bi-line is "Conflicting views emblematic of divide between right and left". Are they really? Or are politicians just making up lines so we can stand on sides? The bi-line got me thinking about one of my favourite TED Talks, "The Real Difference Between Liberals and Conservatives", and dives into the moral matrix behind this divide.



My favorite quote by Jonathan Haidt: "This tribal mentality is so deeply pleasurable, that even when we don't have tribes, we go ahead and make them." Or in our case we make a bicycle gang.

Evolution of a Bike Gang Jacket...

In the beginning, we used old jean jackets. We hacked the arms off to make them into vests, and then Mzungu silk screened 'Deadly Nightshades' onto the back of them. This was back when the bike gang was pretty much a big, over the top inside joke for the four of us. (Not the world famous, loved-but-feared bike crew that we are now).
We had alot of fun in those jackets...


Eventually the bike gang grew to five members, and then seven... And we knew it was time for a new gang jacket.


And we had even MORE fun in those jackets. They became our most beloved piece of clothing, our trademark, our seafoam green pillows when we passed out at a party. Hells, they even got knocked off by American Apparel. But now, the DNS have moved on past the step two jackets. Now, we need... (dramatic pause) STEP THREE JACKETS! (*bum bum bum*).
We're working on them night and day in our secret Nightshades Lair. Stay tuned...

Missed Connections

The Bike Edition

Vancouver

"Riding my bike, saw you walking"

"Girl waving at guy on bike :) - m4w - 35 (Lonsdale)"

"biking in pink - w4w (Adanac bike route )"

Toronto

"Bike bell gang at A Clockwork Orange - w4m (The Bloor)"

"Bike Pirates, The Redhair Beauty. - m4w"

"poetics not in sight"

Rihanna rings like a bike bell in the night...

Teaching Sewing...

I always swore I would never become a teacher. My mother was an english teacher, and my father was the head of the math department at my highschool. I was doing math puzzles before I could talk and to this day I have an uncanny ability to score really high on IQ tests without trying at all. I went into fashion because I wanted to make things, not teach.

But lately I've started giving sewing lessons at my studio, and much to my surprise... I really love it! It's awesome to watch people learning a new skill, getting excited about stuff they've made themselves - and when people tell me that they learned how to sew with me, I feel really good! I was often disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm in my teachers at university. I imagined that they would all be Edith Head look-alikes who eat slept and breathed fashion. But more often than not they were slightly bored by their jobs and definitely disillusioned by the fashion industry. I never want to be that kind of teacher. I want to inspire people to create and to experiment and enjoy themselves. I want to be patient. I definitely don't want to discourage or dishearten them. I want my criticisms to be constructive.

I'm writing this here so that I have a record. I want to remind myself that learning a new skill can be daunting for people and that it is a privilege to be helping someone to learn that skill. Fingers crossed I won't forget that!

this could basically be our mantra...

HEAVY CLAMBAKES!

This night started with us girls just chilling... you know singalongs to 1987 hot and nasties and some very compelling chitter-chatter.


Then off to Jenn's party at Tota (that re-vamped gutterpunk bar at Queen and Bathurst)... Titled, Heavy Clambake, slamming digs were pumped out by the infamous and DNS favorite, FAWN of Tight Knit.

WHAT A NIGHT!

Here's some evidence...



(this was the only guy I was compelled to chat with, purely based on his amazing sunglasses ofcourse)

Not many eligible bachelors, so i was convinced that all the hotties around just decided to blow off men in general...