17th Edition of Montreal Fashion Week

Get ready for the latest edition of Montreal Fashion Week presented by Sensation Mode, in collaboration with P&G Beauty.

Next week, Marche Bonsecours will be hosting 3 fabulous days full of fashion in the heart of Old Montreal. From October 13th – 15th, more than 20 local, national and international designers will be introducing their Spring/Summer 2010 collections for the 17th edition of Montreal Fashion Week. Designers include Andy Thé-Anh, Dinh Ba, Eve Gravel, Soia & Kyo, Helmer, Denis Gagnon and many more. For a full list of designers click here.

In addition, back for the 4th consecutive year, Le Showroom will be showcasing collections of designers from some of the most fashion forward cities in the world such as, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Tokyo, Paris & More! They create a perfectly inviting environment for local and international buyers to conduct good business.

Also, for the second time, Montreal Fashion Week in collaboration with La Vitrine.com offers you the chance to get last minute fashion show tickets to see them live. Tickets are $25 each, and can be purchased online at http://www.lavitrine.com/

Montreal Fashion Minds will be attending this season as well, so stay tuned for all the details!

Preloved Music

We were recently invited to an event for POP Montreal International Music Festival held at the Preloved shop on St.Laurent Street. The event was to support up and coming indie bands like Rakam, Vertual Vertigo and Silly Kissers.

POP Montreal was founded in 2002 by Daniel Seligman, Noelle Sorbara, and Peter Rowan. It is a festival created and supported by people, who have a true and genuine love for music and live performance. It is a 5 day event showcasing more than 400 artists. This festival doesn’t only show off musical talents, it delivers all kinds of different art forms and events; for example artisan and visual art exhibitions, fashion shows, film screenings, and a couple of fab all-night parties. POP Montreal gives a huge boost to the next generation of musicians and artists and allows fans, curators, critics and record labels to see a whole new breed of talent.

“Pop Montréal has retained an integrity, ingenuity and playfulness that is truly rare – if not utterly unique.” - Montréal Gazette

The event was really fun. We jammed out to some beats while we enjoyed some cold (free) beers. Can’t get any better then that on a Thursday night!

First up we saw Vertual Vertigo, a trio of rappers accompanied by their DJ. Their sound is reminiscent of the classic 90's golden era hip hop , combined with eclectic new production.

Where others tend to rap about jewels, cars and violence, Verual Vertigo's lyrics are true stories about love, life, travel and the quest for better living. Their interesting style and energetic stage presence definitely had everyone in the store bobbing their heads to the beat.

Between performances, we took a look around the Preloved store to check out all their amazing, one of a kind pieces.

Preloved is a small clothing store located in the Plateau area of Montreal. It was founded by Julia Grieve and Creative Director Peter Friesen. And what you ask makes them better then the rest? They create one-of-a-kind clothing from reclaimed vintage fabrics. Their motto: Our passion is design and our philosophy is sustainability. Can’t go wrong with that!

They have made quite the name for themselves and have a very impressive fan base of models, actors and musicians such as Hillary Duff, Maria Menounos, Anne Hathaway, Christine Horne, Kate Hudson and Daria Werbowy. Their next step is to create an accessories line, and home collection as well as working on their recently launched children’s line ‘me*me’.

After our peak at all the fabulous clothes, it was time for the Silly Kissers, a local, Montreal-based ‘80s synth-pop group, who also had the place jamming. They opened with their song “Love Tsunami”, a hit that had all their fans singing along. Their fun, funky tunes continued through the night and provided everyone with a feel good vibe.

After leaving Preloved, we spotted this awesome 70's style hippie van! We decided we had to take photos...

... and then the hippie showed up and wanted a photo with his van too! LOL!

PS. Mr Hippie... if you're reading this, email us... we missed the nacho party and should chill another day! :D

All in all, it was a good night for Montreal Fashion Minds. We enjoyed some indie music, cold beers and made a new friend!

Aldo Continues to Fight Aids...

As we've previously mentioned on Montreal Fashion Minds at the beginning of September....to launch its 2009 ALDO Fights AIDS (AFA) campaign, ALDO's amazing designers have created a series of tote bags to benefit YouthAIDS.There are three collectible, limited-run reusable AFA Tote Bags that sell for only $10 each, and 100% of the net proceeds support AIDS education and prevention programs in South Africa. By purchasing these limited edition tote-bags, you can help raise money in support of YouthAIDS and become apart of a global fight against this pandemic.

Just to remind you... The first of the 3 bags, "Getting Lost" was launched on the 1st of September, and is currently available in Aldo stores, as well as online.

This month, the fight against Aids continues, and the latest tote-bag, "In the City" will be available tomorrow, October 1st, at all ALDO, ALDO ACCESSORIES and ALDO Outlet stores, as well as online atwww.aldoshoes.com/afa .

Be sure to check back in November for the final version of this super fab tote collection!

As we always say, Montreal Fashion Minds is a big supporter of fashion for a cause campaigns, and we hope you are too! There's no better feeling then shopping and giving back all at the same time! So please head to your local Aldo store and pick up a bag today!

Christy Turlington for Yves Saint Laurent FW 09/10

Supermodel Christy Turlington is the new face of Yves Saint Laurent for their Fall/Winter 2009/2010 ad campaign, and at 40 years old, she’s still looking as stunning as ever! Beautiful face, fierce poses, and a bangin’ bod! (If only I could look like that at 24, let alone 40!)

Turlington will be the 5th major supermodel posing for YSL’s ad campaign since creative director; Stefano Pilati began working with Photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for the Fall 2007 season with Gisele Bundchen. Following Gisele was Kate Moss for Spring 2008, Naomi Campbell for Fall 2008, Claudia Schiffer for Spring 2009, and now Christy Turlington for Fall 2009. Who could be next? Linda Evangelista? Cindy Crawford? Only time will tell…

Check out these stunning photos of Christy and the latest YSL Collection….

Photo Source: http://www.trendnista.com/

Open Letter to Joanna…. Happy Birthday you fabulous human being!!

You and I are have just entered our third year of friendship (officially today) and I was naturally feeling just a bit on the sentimental side. I know it's a bit unlike me.... NOT! Why is it when I get to thinking about how long our friendship has been going on I get so mushy feeling and all warm and fuzzy feeling? I guess a lot of it is because some of my best memories in my life are with you. I read a quote the other day and it said, "Best Friends are Sisters that God forgot to give you." I thought about you right away... I thought about how much more intense our lives would have been if you and I had been real sisters (twins??? LOL)... born in the same family. Can you even imagine how that would be?! LMAO!


A birthday is a special time that comes only once a year. It gives you an opportunity to look back on your accomplishments to date. It gives you an opportunity to reflect on your present projects. It gives you the opportunity to look ahead and plan on a future that will fulfill all your hopes and dreams. With that said… it’s crazy how much we’ve accomplished this year, how much we are working on together right now and what we will achieve in the future. We’ve been each other’s rock and motivation for everything in our budding business and I’m proud to call you my fabulous best friend and partner.


For your birthday, as side from my awesome gift, I wish you much success in the future, along with health, love, peace and prosperity. I wish you the best in everything you do, with or without me (LOL). You are, truly, one fabulous human being and it is an honor to know you and to be apart of your life. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you… and us.


I hope that as we enter this 3rd year as friends, it marks the beginning of many more years together... and I pray that sometime soon (after all this hecticness) we are able to set aside some time for just us to get together and celebrate this awesomeness!


I love this saying and feel it fits us so well… ‘A good friend will always bail you out of jail, but a best friend will be sitting next to you saying, 'damn, that was fun!’ That's the kind of friends you and I always have been and will continue to be until nothing is left of us but this blog.

I love you my fabulous friend! Always and forever!
Happy Birthday… 24 on the 24th ; )!!

With All my love,
Yussie
xoxo

Here is a little dose of your fabulous fashion style…

Supastarz!

DIY: Fab Summer Dresses for Cheap!

This summer I was invited to two weddings, and all I could think of was ugh... more money to be spent. I had some dresses but nothing I thought would be really appropriate outfits for the weddings. So I decided to go out on a mission to find some cute, affordable dresses.


I went into Sirens and headed straight to the sale rack... and lo and behold, it was jam packed with all kinds of fun, summery dresses. I picked out a couple of them, and made my way to the dressing room with my mom and sister. The first few were a straight up 'hell no' and then I tried on this black strapless dress with a peek-a-boo underskirt of pink satin and a scalloped hem. The size was perfect and the fit was stunning... the only problem was the large black eyelet pattern on the chest with pink satin beaming its way through... gross. I looked at the price tag and saw $15 and for that prince, I decided to go for it, and use my Montreal Fashion Mind to redesign it myself into the perfect dress.


The next dress I found was this gorgeous 50s inspired ultra colorful, floral patterned strapless dress. I fell in love right away. It fit, almost just right, I just felt it was a little flimsy in the boob area and needed some more support. So again... I looked at the price tag and saw $15 and decided for that price I could take it home and adjust it to my liking. It was two great purchases that cost me 30$ flat (I have a discount card as well that covers tax :D)


I went home and sat and stared at the dresses for a while, trying to come up with an ingenious plan to make them fabulous. I started with the black one, as that wedding was only 2 days away. I knew I had to start by covering the big pink flower in order for this dress to be a success. I cut out a piece of black satin fabric I had, in a circle a little larger then the eyelet part of the dress. I took a pencil and stuffed the black fabric through one of the little holes and smoothed it out to cover the entire pink underlay. I then sewed all around the edges of the circle and voila! In 15 minutes, I had transformed my 15$ dress into a fabulous one of a kind party dress!



After that dress was a hit, it was on to number 2. For this one, I decided to hit up my local seamstress, who has helped me in the past. I told her it was a little large on the sides my chest and flimsy with lack of proper support. She measured the dress to fit like a glove and then we both talked about a solution for the support I needed. Strapless dresses can always be iffy, especially if you're planning on dancing all night and have a larger chest. So, we decided to add some wire piping on the seams of the bustier part of the dress to have it hold my girls up (LOL). Four days and 8$ later, I went back to check out the scene and was pleasantly surprised to see that the dress was perfect! In the end I paid 23$ for this dress and have no complaints!

I outfitted both dresses with my 6 inch Michael Kors patent heels, pashmina (2 for 15$ @ Ardene) and my black and gold clutch I thrifted at Salvation Army. Both dresses were a hit and I felt fabulous in my chic but cheap outfits! Never underestimate the sale rack, your creative mind and motivation to be fab on a dime!

Cheers!