Friday 30 March 2012

Street Style

March 30, 2012

Rumnique in Fine Arts

Yaw in EME

Zoey was Booked at Passeport on Bernard 

Liam in EME

Street Style

March 29, 2012 - AVP Student Leadership Banquet

Simon was Booked at the Banquet


Jenn was Booked at the Banquet

Robyn was Booked at the Banquet

Allison was Booked with Tori at the Banquet

Thursday 29 March 2012

Kayla

Kayla is Booked


As Karl Lagerfeld puts it, clothes do hang better on a 6-foot-tall model (perhaps that’s why they call it high fashion), but the stick-thin, towering models that walk the runways of Paris and Milan rarely resemble the body types of most people. Yet in covering campus style we see every day how regular people manage to look as amazing and fashionable in their own way as those on the runway do, and Kayla Mann is one of those people. Though she stands just five feet tall, I had never really noticed it before until she brought it to my attention when we interviewed her.

We had been wanting to do a style profile on Kayla Mann for a long time because of her mastery of monochromatic dressing and ability to wear both casual, urban looks along with slightly more preppy business attire (like in her second look) effortlessly.  As a third-year Management student, a large portion of her wardrobe consists of dark neutral colours.  Naturally, these colours make one look thin and tall.  Dark neutral colours are simply more appropriate for Management students as they’re often required to wear business attire for presentations.  Monochromatic colours and textured leathers are able to absorb light and recede into the background, rather than reflect light and stand out as bright colours do.  Maybe this is the secret that makes us not notice Kayla's height. Kayla’s looks are heavily influenced by contemporary architecture, interior design and photography, which contributes to her overall clean-lined aesthetic.  Simply put, not only does Kayla have an eye for elongating garments and patterns, but she knows how to wear clothing without wearing her; Kayla is always the one in control and never lets her clothing overpower her. 

Originally from Penticton, Kayla is specializing in accounting within the Management faculty and aspires to pursue a career in the corporate side of commercial fashion.  Post-grad, she would like to work in more of an administrative role, but still have input in terms of the creative direction of a fashion house in a major city like London or New York. She describes her personal casual style as quite diverse.  She wears an array of brands such as Michael Kors, Alexander Wang, Aritzia and BCBG.  A staple piece in Kayla’s wardrobe is J Brand jeans.  However, her way of dressing has progressed over the years from a more casual, over-sized boarder-vibe to a higher-end, more sophisticated style today.  As a well traveling individual, Kayla admits to being inspired by where she is in terms of her clothing choices.  When she was in Europe all she wore was oxfords.  Neither Kayla’s personality nor fashion choices are static by any means.  Her style is multifaceted and ever-changing from city to city.  

Currently living in Kelowna, like a lot of people we interview Kayla often feels overdressed for school, but she doesn’t let this phase her.  We love that she doesn’t dress to impress anyone, rather Kayla dresses the way she does for herself.   One of the main reasons she has always been interested in fashion is because of her parents.  Blogs such as Highsnobette and Style by Kling have also inspired her way of dressing.  We're interested in how students decide what they’re going to wear on a given day to school, and Kayla told us that sometimes it takes her two minutes to decide and other days she’ll think about it first the night before.  Similarly to myself, the weather is not a crucial factor in what Kayla will wear on a given day (even though it probably should be living in Kelowna).  Instead, what she does is wear multiple layers so that the weather doesn’t constrain her.  

As a Management student who is also interested in fashion, Booked wanted to get Kayla’s perspective on what she thinks of major fashion houses like Jeremy Scott, Alexander McQueen and Versace doing collaborations with more mainstream (or "fast-fashion") brands like Adidas, Puma and H&M.  In Kayla’s opinion, she recognizes both positives and negatives with these collaborations.  For example, she thinks celebrity endorsements and high fashion/mainstream brand collaborations allow companies to economically thrive and give people access to clothing which they would normally be unable to afford.  At the same time, she thinks it takes away from the luxury and prestige of some of the more highly esteemed brands like Versace and McQueen when they produce less high-quality clothing for the masses.  Based on our interview with Kayla and her self-assured sense of style, we’re certain she’ll succeed in her goal of working in a creative/administrative position with a fashion house in the future. 

-Liam

Rejoice Fashion Show


(All photos by: Nothing But Jason)

Strutting comfortably in high-heeled shoes is an obstacle in itself. The task becomes even more daunting when wearing Indian saris or African-inspired gowns while walking down a 50-foot runway in front of 150 pairs of eyes.  Booked attended the Rejoice cultural fashion show last night at UBC-Okanagan.  Having just returned back from New York Fashion Week yesterday, it was a cool feeling seeing what I experienced out of the country back at school in Kelowna.  Upon entering the venue, there was an overwhelming sense of pride and camaraderie both backstage and during the show.  This made for an awesome event along with the exquisite traditional clothing students wore in addition to Dare To Wear Love dresses from Toronto Fashion Week. 

Model Carmen Dolinsky was wearing clothes representing Germany even though she is of Swedish decent.  Having described her own casual style as “hippy-esque”, it was interesting recognizing how a student’s style can be multifaceted in the way that their personality, individual way of dressing and cultural heritage came together to make a unique look. Carmen believes this event was a good demonstration of how multicultural the UBC-O campus is becoming.  Hosts Emmy Chahal and Mariam Hazhir explained how the event was truly about people from different cultures coming together to not only celebrate their own heritage, but to embrace their fellow students’ cultures as well.  For example model Dialla Kawar, a student of Arabic decent, wore Indian clothing while model Kofi Mireku, a student who was raised in New Castle wore clothing from his motherland Ghana.  It was the common goal of recognizing campus diversity and wanting to support the Stephen Lewis Foundations to help people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa that brought everyone together.   

-Liam

I (Yaw) have always wondered what it would be like to live Liam's life. Now for those who don't know Liam, he is the epitome of what it means to be Booked. He is our one and only in-house model. Now for the rest of the Booked team, we occasionally look to Liam for pointers on how to pose or take a solid picture in our concept shoots.  Yesterday, I asked Liam to show me how to walk as I got to be part of a multicultural charity fashion show that showcased individuality, diversity and passionate students at UBC-Okanagan. The show showcased regions and cultures such as the First Nations of Westbank, Germany, South America, India and my motherland Ghana.  Every garment was exquisite and beautifully made.  I felt like every piece of clothing that came down the runway yesterday had a history, familial story, tradition behind it, or a type of sentimental significance.  While I was sitting backstage waiting for the show to begin, I could attest to every model being nervous but it was a happy sort of nervous. Between all of the organizers and models, there was a common goal to have a great show and have those seats in the audience filled up. Thanks to Liam’s runway walking tips I think I did fairly well.  Overall, we had a great show and it was an incredibly amazing feeling witnessing our UBC-Okanagan community-at-large come out to support multiculturalism, diversity and student creativity.  Take a look below at some of the photos the Booked team snapped backstage and of the show yesterday. 

-Yaw

Amanda in Saudi Arabian clothing and Susie in the Carnival of Barranquilla of Colombia

Kofi in Ghanaian and Larissa in Egyptian attire  

Karim in Egyptian and Satinder in Indian clothing

Payton in Regalia Westbank First Nation and Sandeep in Indian attire

Kofi and Claire in Dare To Wear Love from Toronto Fashion Week 

Neetu in Dare To Wear Love, Dialla in Indian and Elise in Dare To Wear Love 

Susie in the Carnival of Barranquilla of Colombia

Anna in Dare To Wear Love from Toronto Fashion Week

Elise in Dare To Wear Love from Toronto Fashion Week

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Concept Post

Amazing Greys











This is Part 1 of our concept post on wearing neutrals. We didn't really plan to do all grey for this shoot but it turned out all of us had a grey coat on for it sooo... 


We wanted to find an orchard for our final photo shoot of the day but ended up at the hill overlooking Cedar Creek Park in the Mission, and the result is these rad photos by Thomas Bullock. 


While Liam and Yaw can be pretty daring, Tori and I are huge fans of wearing grey and other neutrals.  Neutral colours blend well with pretty much any skin tone and can tone down stark colours in an outfit.  Grey in particular is one of the most underrated colours to wear. It isn't as overdone as black, brown, and navy, and is a much subtler blend than those colours.  While black and white can be used to balance out colour, they are often bold and distinct, which causes the other colours to be made more stark in turn.  Grey and charcoal, however, generally manage to both match and tone down most colours and patterns. 

(Photo credit: Thomas Bullock)

If you want to wear grey by itself, it's possible to mix varying shades and textures of it, as Tori has done here. Because of grey's versatility, she could add various other colour themes on top of the grey base and still have a great outfit.  Picture her look with tobacco-brown ankle boots and a bag.  Now with light blue jeans.  Maybe there's some dark green gloves in there, that's alright too. (I feel like Bob Ross, telling people to put some happy little trees in their painting.)  

I could go on forever, really, but the take-home message here is just to wear more grey in your life, simple as that. Moving on from grey in particular, the more general theme of this shoot was light, washed out neutrals.  The beach on a cloudy day proved to be an ideal location to showcase these airy, soft shades.  Admittedly, it can be harder to wear all light colours when you're at work or school than when you're in long grass frolicking with your friends, but it's still doable.  We've deliberately overemphasized the soft shades of cream, oatmeal, ivory, grey, etc. here, but in real life we would do more like Yaw has and throw in some denim and some popping colours to balance out the lighter tones.  It's also possible to add really distinct colours like neon with black or bright primary colours.  Liam's also done a very wearable look here, with a graphic print, sharp black lines to break up the grey, and white pants that make the grey pieces darker and more substantial by contrast. Because of the neutrality of grey, they can pull off bold touches like suspenders, red kicks, fancy sunglasses, and graphic shirts without becoming too overwhelming.


(Photo credit: Thomas Bullock)

Tori and I (Cam) have gone all-in with the washed-out look, but we've incorporated different shades and focused on presenting interesting proportions in our scarves and coats. As with the suspenders example, neutral colours enable you to be bolder in other aspects of dressing, so unconventional shapes and sizes will be easier to pull off in a neutral-based outfit.  As well, grey and other neutrals like oatmeal and cream convey comfort. If someone sees you in all grey, with sweaters and scarves on, they'll know you're getting cozy.  My sister and I have head-to-toe grey sweatsuits that we wear in times where extreme comfiness is necessary. But as you can see from these fancy pictures amongst wind-blown grasses and overlooking a lake, grey and neutrals can be an elegant, rather than slobby, form of comfort. Next time it's chilly out, have some grey pride and put on a sweater or two in weather-appropritate neutral/grey tones to look cool while being warm.    If you need some inspiration, check out this song.  Kayne does light neutrals perfectly in it. 


-Cam
(Photo credit: Thomas Bullock)

Grey is the staple colour in my wardrobe. I hate to wear colours that jump out at people, so grey seems like a natural fit. I have always been drawn to grey with light pink (probably because I spent a significant amount of time in a ballet studio). To me grey is an extremely feminine neutral, and because of this I always steer towards it rather than black, navy, or brown. I tend to steer away from wearing colour and because of this I prefer grey because colour doesn't seem as harsh with it. While I find grey to be feminine I also love men in grey, as it can also come off as really masculine (think Madmen style grey suits). The crisp-ness of grey wool with a freshly pressed white oxford shirt is about as professional as you can get, and a plain grey tee with nicely fitted jeans is both confident and casual. 


In these pictures we have done cozy winter looks, grey also looks unreal when worn in warm weather. To me nothing is better than grey and white with a good tan. Obviously we all love us some grey, they are versatile, classic, and crisp yet can also be edgy and daring. In other words, grey is awesome - wear it! 

-Tori

Protip: Wearing grey can come off as boring or safe (especially according to Rachel Zoe) but it can also look perfectly clean and chic. When wearing greys try to add in something unexpected. Don't let your greys be boring. Adding in a colour or an unexpected silhouette is a great way to do this. 

Protip: Wearing multiple shades of grey comes off as rich and well layered. But not all greys go together, be aware of undertones and texture. Mixing dark and light greys is the best way to do this, as well as making sure that you add in interest with texture (like a knit or a wool). 


Examples of greys/neutrals in and around fashion shows:

(Alexander Wang & Badgeley Mischka SS08 on RunwayDaily


 
(Markdsikes & NewYorkModels


(Details

Sunday 25 March 2012

The Find

Hunter Boots



COSTCO HAS HUNTER BOOTS! I'm not sure if the rest of the world will be as excited about this as I was. Yesterday one of my best friends told me that if rumours are true we could be proud owners of Hunter Boots for a mere $89.99 (instead of, say, $130-150, which they often retail for) - so naturally today I forced my mom to take me, and to my delight the rumours were very correct! These boots have been rising in popularity steadily for the past few years, and this is one trend I can fully get behind. Unlike the Ugg trend, Hunter boots are stylish and reasonable (and actually work as boots). The grips are great for rainy and icy conditions, and with all of the accessories that are made specifically for them (like the adorable cable knit inserts complete with logo) they can be made appropriate for every cold weather condition. I suggest that you all RUN to Costco to pick up a pair before everyone else finds out!! When I was there we grabbed 4 pairs; I got mine in green and my mom and two best friends got black. 

-Tori

Vancouver Fashion Week

Vancouver Fashion Week - Day 2 (Friday March 23)



Fashion Week was an eye-opening experience; we saw beautiful people with goals and ambitions not just for the clothes they were about to see on the runway, but for art in general. Day two at Fashion Week I couldn't help but see people expressing themselves - not only the designers, but our fellow bloggers as well as the media and the people that came to appreciate all the hard work presented in each collection. No one held back in wardrobe choices on Friday night, there was a general feeling that we were all there to take in the collections and the designers did not disappoint in the slightest. 


The Booked team was so excited for day two, after a day of shopping and a photo shoot of a great friend we put our game faces on and watched five impeccable shows. Every design was brilliant, hand crafted and showed the designers interest. 


When the show began there was a murmur in the crowd until the first model hit the stage, then it was quiet for about ten seconds - all you could hear was the music that had been chosen for the show, the model owned the stage and everyone became hypnotized by her beauty, but after those ten seconds the work begins. Sara and Tori picked up their camera and began to snap away, Cam penciled in thoughts while we both critiqued the design until the model got to the front of the runway. She posed either giving a smile, a smirk, or dead eyes - either way the sound of one hundred cameras went off and all you hear are flashes. The model then picked up her head turned around, giving her viewers the full design. One thing I learned from fashion week is that a piece is not done if it's not expressed from head to toe: every designer looked to decorate their model from the tip of her head to her feet. 


After the shows we finally worked up the courage to introduce ourselves to  the people whose style we had been admiring for the past two days, and discuss the show and our ventures. Clothing has always been a means of expression for me, a way to get out my shell, and every person that we got a picture of seemed to express themselves in a way that gave a glimpse of who they really are. If they were spunky, if they were an artist, or even if they just came to support a friend their particular look gave us a peek into who they are.     
-Yaw

 Erica

Viranlly and Richard

Unknown 


Megan and Clarissa

Sara

Yaw

Tori

Cam


Friday 23 March 2012

Vancouver Fashion Week

Vancouver Fashion Week - Day 1 (Thursday March 22, 2012)




After an extremely long trip down Highway 3 (the Coquhalla was closed due to concern for avalanches) we made it to Vancouver at 9:00 - just in time to miss all of Wednesday's shows. So today we were even more excited to head down to the Chinese Cultural Center to see an amazing showcase of Canadian tallent. 




Yaw, and our friend Sara that came with us, are staying in Yaletown and I'm staying at Kits beach, so after a few wardrobe changes I hoped on the bus to meet them so we could all head there together. Excited couldn't even really describe what we all were feeling right before we left. When we got off the bus and waited for my iPhone to tell us where to go we almost walked right past the Chinese Cultural Center, where Fashion Week is held. If it wasn't for Sara spotting an unusually fabulous bright turquoise blazer we probably would have walked right past. When we walked into the building there was a sign that said 'Media Pass Sign In', we all looked at each other a little embarrassed as we realized that that was us. We got our passes and got to forego the line, and as we walked in the usher told us that we would be seated in the second row - a much closer view than any of us anticipated. After we sat down we all sat in silence as we took in our surroundings, which we later discussed as a mix of amazingly fabulous fashionistas mixed with people who had not ounce of style. 




Just being in a space with so much creativity and passion was amazing. We were so inspired when we left the show that all we could do was talk about how create new outlets for our creativity, and how thankful we are to have people to share that aspect of our lives with. 


We will be posting more about specific shows and the outstanding style that we saw at the shows in the next week... but we wanted to give a quick update of how amazing the past few hours were! 


-Tori


Vancouver Fashion Week… WOW. When Booked got invited to Fashion Week we all were flushed with different emotions. At first we were excited, then we were nervous, then back to excited again. We pondered if we belonged, and only after we got our passes and sat in our seats, did we feel situated. Fashion week is like no other. We asked ourselves what sort of clothes do we wear. Are we supposed to dress up or have an ease to our look? After Sara got used to her height and Tori brought swag to her look did we realize that fashion week is not like any place we’ve ever been. It’s the only place you can come wearing outlandish colors and mask it with a blazer, bow ties to fur, stylish jeans to gowns. Fashion Week can also be the very casual everyday street-style we love that is also accepted. 

When we sat down I felt very over my head, but also humbled to be there. My night got better when I got to sit beside this amazing woman from Sudan. This adorable, shy lady named Sadia gave me a glimpse into her life when she told me about her daughter whom she adored. Her name was Susan Puno, and her mother came to see her model at one of the shows. She told me about what it meant for her to come to see her, how much she loved all her children, her beliefs on education, and how Africa can be sufficient with the use of education. I agreed and couldn’t stop smiling, but the moment I truly knew I had to tell the readers about her was when she got a call from her daughter after her show. When the mother saw her waving, she blew her a kiss and her daughter caught it and put it directly to her heart. This made me think of how fashion week is about more than the clothes; it is about a dream. A dream to be happy and love every moment we are given. So from Booked, we love this dream.

-Yaw

(Susan Puno for Leigh Rose - Photo from Vancouver Fashion Week)