Has Marc Jacobs reinvented the boater?

I'm kicking myself big time because I came across a amazing simple..black..vintage boater at Value Village a few days ago. I walked around with the hat in my cart for a good hour, trying to figure out if realistically I'd get wear out of it this spring. I'm not sure at all why I hesitated in buying it, there wasn't even a price tag involved... I had Value Village coupons, there really was no need for decision. It was a give in that the hat should have been mine. But at the last moment, and perhaps due to lack of spontaneity on my part I hesitated and threw the hat back on a shelf some where. Later to see some other vintage clad hussy pick it up, then place it back as well. I walked over to where she had been, looking for the hat one last time but it was gone. I didn't think she picked it up, maybe she did maybe she didn't. I thought then that it probably fell behind one of the clothing racks..thought nothing less and went on my way.




Once I got home, I started flipping through the latest issue of Lula Magazine. Immediately I began kicking myself, after pages and pages of fashion spreads depicting this most recent trend. Now, after a few days of mourning I've come to realize I don't regret it that much. Following trends strictly is for pussies. People who really don't know how to stick to their own game, and create their own style. Breaking rules and creating revelations. This Mary Poppins, 40's esque style is yet another way to emphasize how dominant vintage style is in play and how most designers can't come up with good ideas anymore. Maybe I want to feel this way because I was dumb enough to neglect that hat. Chances are I'd buy one again if I found another one kicking around VV.



Speaking of the lovely Lula, the latest issue also does a piece on a fantastic artist named Heather Benning who created a life size doll house in the middle of Saskatchewan. Which is amazing, and I would love to trek out there to take a look at it first hand. There really isn't too much information out there about her, but the article in Lula definitely gives much explanation about her serious art installation and deserves a reference. As it is pretty much one of the most amazing things I've seen in awhile.



With another great focus on interiors I also want to make note of the amazing Upside Dive and The Selby. Two sites I frequent on a regular basis. Upside Dive is a local Toronto based show room consisting of vintage and antiques. They sell some amazing goods. I was able to buy a wonderful desk from them a few months ago, as well as a great mohair lion tank top which is pictured above. If you're looking for some great statement pieces for your apartment, Upside Dive is the place to check out. It's reasonably affordable, everyone involved in the place is super cute and they just have a great idea going on. One I wish I had thought of a long long time ago!




On the other hand The Selby is a place for inspiration. You could spend hours and hours combing through this particular website. The archive is highly recommended to check out, as it is a gold mine of talented people who really know how to decorate their digs in ways I've never seen before. It also gives people who live in tiny spaces with little or no money hope that they can turn their space into a work of art. Here are some of my personal favs from the site:

Tracy & Michelle







Daniela Kamiliotis







Guy Blakeslee & Maximilla Lukacs

Carolyn Salas





These two photos came from a amazing vintage store I came across on ebay the other day. What sucks is the fact that I can't remember where this site was..or reference it properly. Which is really lame..because this shop was particularly amazing. Espeacially the photography. If I find it I will credit these photos a.s.a.p

Also..the lovely and amazing Amarina pointed me in the direction of a amazing designer who has been covered on many other blogs..but deserves the credit as well one mine due to her absolutely stunning creations. Sandra Backlund is a designer using a variation of textiles in her work...including hair, knits, and clothes pegs...yes...clothes pegs... check it out..











I also have to bring mention to John Galliano's fall 2009 collection..which absolutely rocks my socks. Half the time I don't pay too much attention to fashion week but when I came across this I knew I could not resist sharing it.











I know for a fact I am over winter..and right now all I want to focus on is spring/summer but some part of me is looking forward to looking like a Russian princess next winter. At least this is highly inspiring and gives me hope for our next season.

Silver Falls

My article on Silver Falls was finally published on blogto.com! Which makes me quite happy. You should check it out here.





I also can't thank the lovely Nicole for contributing with me and taking some beautiful photographs, you should check her out here as well as at the amazing Nerd Girl Pinups. I also would like to thank Lindsay at Silver Falls for her patients and for answering my questions with regard to her awesome vintage store. You should not only check out the store, but her great blog which follows in the footsteps of Silver Falls.

Also... my interview with Project Runways Jessica Biffi is up on She Does The City! What a great day!

bird gehrl

This photo pretty much sums up my day today.I had a pretty quiet day off today and I was able to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having right now. Official spring weather if I do say so myself. It reminded me very much of these photos I saw on blog.to the other day. I found the flickr account linked from blog.to and the photos are pretty amazing. Every now and then I find some really great photos through blog.to though most of them are bird oriented..haha. Which is typical. Hopefully my blog is not just going to end up over run with pictures of birds...which so far seems to be a continuing theme. Oh well! I just seem to be in that kind of mood lately. Here are a couple blog.to bird pics that are my favorite:





I have had some time to myself as of late, as Jessie was off to his home town for a visit and then to a Bloc Party concert tonight with one of his coworkers. So I was able to get some spring cleaning done, as well as some mix tape making. So, to go a long with the running theme of my blog I compiled a bird mix simply titled "birdsong". I looked into birdsong after reading some of my weekend book of which I had previously blogged about. I found some great birdsong tracks online which then inspired me to create a themed mix to a long with it. I wanted to share it with the public, so I put the same compilation on to a favtape mix. So check it out here. If you've never experienced favtape before, it's amazing as you can pretty much find any song and stream it online. Making mixes of all kinds. Some times it can be fussy, luckily I had no trouble putting this together.

Here is the track listing:



1. The Beatles - Black Bird
2. Antony & The Johnsons - Bird Gehrl
3. Johnny Cash - Bird On A Wire
4. Neil Young - Birds
5. Wilco - Hummingbird
6. Tom Petty - Learning To Fly
7. Eels - I Like Birds
8. Broadcast - Man Is Not A Bird
9. The Knife - Bird
10. Patti Smith - Birdland
11. Jose Gonzalez - The Nest
12. Tallest Man On Earth - A Field Of Birds*
13. Paul McCartney & Wings - Bluebird
14. Buffalo Springfield - Flying On The Ground Is Wrong
15. Iron & Wine - Flightless Bird, American Mouth
16. Marissa Nadler - Expecting To Fly*
17. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird

*These two weren't on my original mix, I instead had included Tallest Man On Earth's Where Do My Bluebirds Fly which is equally if not more so amazing then A Field Of Birds. I also used the original Neil Young version of Expecting To Fly, which is my favourite of all favourite Neil Young songs. I figured there was probably a bit too much NY on the list..and her cover is absolutely striking and is equally just as good as the original.

Also, check out this great little organization called Project Chirp. I came across it when Jessie & I were at the humane society in the midst of adopting our little Joni many months ago. Anyway, it seems like a pretty cool Toronto based charitable type project that created habitat in our local residential areas and parkland.

And on a side note...


I also can't thank Amy & Ron enough for a wonderful dinner and movie last night. It was delicious....quiche! mashed potatoes! chalet sauce! ice cream! Amazing! Despite the movie being pretty crap, watching episodes of The Office and getting to cuddle with Yma made up for it. Plus, it was a good time all around! Thanks again guys.

Birds & Girls

These amazing pop art prints were made in the 60's/70's by artist Mel Ramos. He is still quite the legend, continuing to create these amazing portraits. I enjoyed the ones featured on Toro, but when I checked out his official website I came across these bird oriented prints which I found even more interesting then anything else on his site. These are fantastic, and reminded me very much of these vintage night lights I came across at the Toronto Erotic Arts & Crafts fair.



These were over all my favorite out of anything I had seen at the show, which was held at the Gladstone Hotel. They were truly original and unlike anything else I had come across before, other items at the fair were good..but nothing really stood out in comparison to these lamps. They were unique as well as affordable. My friends and I all agreed that this was the best part of the show.







Speaking of birds...flora..fauna and the like...I stopped by Type Books on my break at work today and ended up spending WAY too much money on a couple of journals. They were so amazing though that I could not resist them. On top of that, they are one of a kind, environmentally friendly, and handmade out of vintage papers and re purposed books. They have a variety of themes to these journals, but my favorite was the flora and fauna. Other themes include Arts & Crafts, Facts & Figures, Prim & Proper, etc. Be forewarned these babies are on the pricey side though they are prettier then any Moleskine I've ever seen. Check out the Eclecto papergoods selection here. I'm definitely going to see if my wonderful boss Susan at Drysdale & Co. would consider having them to sell in her store on the Danforth. They are beautiful pieces of art work as well as journals. It makes me want to start collaging again...quite badly.

I'd also like to make note that my amazing boyfriend is continuing to grow as a journalist at Toro Magazine. He has even launched his own music channel which he will be curating. I have to give him some mad props for working so hard. I'm sure he's going to take the music section of Toro into a whole other direction, in fact he's already had a great start. Despite the fact that I have been mad jealous since he started working at Toro, he seems to fit in really well there and I'm super proud of him. If you don't know about Toro, check it out.


At one time when it was in print and in its early years it had a huge feature on my other lover Ryan Gosling who graced the cover. That's how I found out about Toro originally and even gave Jessie that issue which I had saved for years due to it's undeniable sexiness. Haha. Gosling is also supposed to be in this months Flaunt magazine, promoting his band Dead Mans Bones.

The Wonderful Weekend Book

I briefly mentioned my birthday in my last post. What I didn't mention was the awesome goods I recieved for my birthday. Which included a mix of vintage and glorious books. I recieved The Wonderful Weekend Book by Elsbeth Thompson. Something I had been eyeing at Type books for awhile, buy never took the time to purchase. What's enjoyable about this book is the inspiration it gives you through out the seasons. What with living in a city, the Weekend Book gives you inspiration to bring a bit of the country into your home. Which is something I'm always in search for, espeacially now that I don't have a cottage to venture to in the summer time. I'm always looking for ways to get back to nature. This book is very British, but it has given myself as well as my boyfriend Jessie some ideas to keep ourselves occupied on days off that seem worth while, productive, and over all interesting. Some cool things I want to try out from this book include celebrating Lent. I've never followed to many religious practices, but giving up a vice for awhile (we've limited ourselves to a week) seems cathartic in a way. I've decided to give up spending money frivilously for a week, and that includes no eating out..making meals regularly and packing lunches. Jessie has decided to give up eating meat for a week. Which will be interesting! Jessie and I have also discussed waking up early and going jogging around the neighborhood together. Which will be another cool activity. We also have to take advantage of the park, fit with a track right behind us.

Other interesting ideas from the book for the spring season include, "Hear The Dawn Chorus" which means waking up incredibly early to go to a local forest area and listen to the birds wake at dawn. I would love to wake up to listen to birdsong one morning, if I can manage waking at say 4:30/5am. But I am sure it would be quite the experience. Supposedly you can find tracks of birdsong online as well. Which is what I may resort to. Also, creating a nature table is also on my list. Which is basically filling a vase or plate with various found objects. Or collaging using found objects such as twigs, shells, feathers, flowers, etc. Another reason to go beach combing soon as well. I'd also love to do a spring detox for a couple days, where in I'd cleanse my body of it's toxins while focusing my diet on vegetable soup and tea for two days. Anyway, I think this book will come in handy and comes highly recommended.

I just had the wonderful experience of celebrating my 24th birthday this past week. It was exciting and I got some amazing gifts and treats from my wonderful friends! I also had the wonderful oppourtunity to head back home for awhile, and do some serious outside Toronto thrift shopping which is always amazing. Speaking of birthdays and vintage... I had been awaiting the arrival and birth of Market Publique. A new website that just launched on the 8th. It is focused primarily on selling vintage clothing. It also has some differences in comparison to say Etsy, or other online shops including the oppourtunity to choose whether you would like to sell your items in a auction format like Ebay, or just at a set price. Which to me is really fantastic. I had followed the Market Publique blog for quite awhile, as well as their etsy shop and was excited to finally see the final product. Any who, I am definitely thinking of switching over to this format..despite loving Etsy so much. I love the idea of having a site focused primarily on vintage clothing and accessories. This definitely suits my needs a little better. I had hesitated listing new items on Etsy lately in hopes that Market Publique was something I was interested in. So, look forward to a new Tomorrow Never Knows. I am not sure whether or not I will leave Etsy, as it would be nice to balance both and because I don't think I want to cut my ties entirely.

It's also funny because in the new issue of N.E.E.T Magazine I came across an ad for something similar to Market Publique, that being Fashion Junk. Perhaps not as visually pleasing as Market Publique but still quite interesting and worth browsing. I love the fact that it seems vintage is blowing up like crazy lately at least here in the West. I think the popularity of vintage in Europe has grown excessively and espeacially due to the economic crisis finally taking it's toll vintage may really get its oppourtunity to shine in the mainstream.

Anyway, here are a few of my favourite picks from Market Publique....






Also, speaking of great vintage style I caught a bit of Wild At Heart on tv last night. Which is probably one of my favourite David Lynch films, what with Blue Velvet coming a close second. It was also one of the first David Lynch films I had seen next to Eraserhead. Watching it again after having now seen the two seasons of Twin Peaks definitely made me realize how interconnected the film and tv show was. A great part of the Twin Peaks cast is involved in Wild At Heart due to Lynch filming both at the same time. You also get Willem Defoe and Crispin Glover together in this film...which makes this film even more odd then Lynch's usual..if that's even possible? This is also probably one of his most stylish films I have ever seen...with every character wearing bold statement pieces. Sailor wearing his amazing snakeskin jacket, and Lula's body con. wardrobe mixed with a variety of lingerie.



Willem Dafoe in probably one of his creepiest roles ever! & Nick Cage in one of his best films ever.



If you haven't seen this film, then you better get out there and see it. Especially if you enjoyed Twin Peaks or anything like it.