Me...

Photo by Jared Sych!

I have been a little AWOL as of late what with it being summer and all. Working and trying to squeeze the last little bits of fun out of it have left me Blog poor! One of the things is happening right now and it's in Avenue Magazine! I have the honour of being in the contributor's section since I contributed (I styled the awesome Ania B for the Style Q&A, post to follow!). 


The picture was taken when my pal Jared Sych came over to take my portrait for the cool jobs issue (post to follow!) and they were nice enough not to use anything with a double chin etc. People have been asking me for baked goods ever since.

Style Q&A Mikey Da Roza

This month's Avenue magazine cover features the Style Q&A I styled with  the owner and DJ from Habitat Living Sound, Mikey Da Roza!  This was really fun for me because not only is Mikey super cool but he has a LOT of clothes! It was so fun to go through a guy's closet and put together looks for him, some of which he hasn't worn in a while. He had some really great patterns and such fun colors that I couldn't resist them. Especially since we were shooting in the evening and night you need items that will punch through the darkness. We shot in and around the Connaught area of Calgary where Mikey's bar is. The art Director Mason Hastie and Jared Sych did a brilliant job as usual with the pics and I love it when I get to work with them, it is ALWAYS a super fun time. It was really cold when we shot this but we were lucky to have no snow or rain and I think Mikey did a great job looking like he wasn't freezing!


Check out the whole interview in Avenue Magazine and you can see all the photos on my facebook page.

The Fitting Room

The new We Like We Love magazine is out with the Hipstamatic fashion story that we have been dying to share with you. This began as a way for me to shoot some Alan Anderson pieces that were at Holts and couldn't leave the store. By the time we were done with the first session I knew they were looking pretty special so we kept going! 

Ania B. was good enough to meet me and with wigs from Deva Dave our story took shape. The app actually upgraded a few times over the 4 months we took to shoot this so by the last session I could shoot repeatedly and didn't have to wait for the film to "develop" after each shot! We had to work in sessions since the phone's battery only lasts so long and we were trying to be discreet and shoot in the fitting rooms during off times (Ania in a bright orange Gucci gown, 5 inch heels and a blonde wig is not so easy to hide!). It was a fun experiment and Ania is always dream to work with. It was very much a collaboration and we love how it turned out. None of the shots were retouched and appear exactly how they came out of my phone.

Here are a couple of pages from the magazine and some out-takes of the shots that didn't make it. Check out the whole story and the rest of WLWL #7!

 Dress Gucci/ Jewellery Alan Anderson/ Shoes YSL

Dress Lanvin

Dress Victoria Beckham/ Shoes Christian Louboutin

Dress Gucci

Dress Victoria Beckham/ Jewellery Alan Anderson

And me!

Lara Presber

I was lucky enough to work with the beautiful Lara Presber (LA-RA not Laura or Laira) for the style Q&A in this month's Avenue magazine. This architect turned fashion designer takes her inspiration from architecture which is apparent in her clean lines and fluid shapes. In recognition of this we shot her in the water building in Calgary which has some amazing features like the floating concrete staircase we shot her on. Lara was lovely to work with and if you want to see more of her designs you can visit her shop in Fashion Central (across from the Bay) and you can see the whole article this month in Avenue Magazine.

Antler magazine

Here are a few pages from the Antler magazine spread that dropped last week. I absolutely love what Wilkosz and Way did with this story, the lighting is fabulous. Mad Skillz!   The feeling for spring was so much white so I tried to keep it light with (what has become) my signature pop of color. I especially like it with the white background. I was also using bows and ruffles as a common element to tie them together and keep the message feminine. Alicja Wilkosz did such a perfect job on the make-up with these heavily pigmented powders; so punchy! 

I would like to add a special thanks to our model Sam Ypma and Michael from Mode. It was tough scheduling Sam as she is travelling so much and they both came together and made it happen for us. Thank you! Sam was such a pleasure to shoot and well, the results speak for themselves.

For the rest of this story you can visit Antler magazine or my Facebook page!

PS

After awakening to THIS...

... I immediately began reminiscing about my vacation in Palm Springs a year and a half ago. If I had no commitments in the next month I would be GONE but since I can't get away I thought I would share some shots from our warm weather trip. Dream along with me!

The view from our room at the Orbit Inn

The iconic gas station

An Albert Frey house we toured with the pool coming out of the living room! Oh the magic of single paned living.

So much great modern architecture

Palm trees! Flowers!

The view of PS from the porthole window of Trina Turk's house

The Ace cafe

Love him! 

Eames line-up

My dream dining set at Hedge! Orange! Leather! PLATNER!!

Leah Van Loon - Stylist

I started a fan page. That sounds so smarmy but really I just wanted a place that I could be a bit more off the cuff and share my fashion finds with you and not annoy my Facebook friends too much. You will find some of my work published there and I am TRYING to keep the content different than my Twitter or my blog. It is also a place for us to discuss fashion or ask questions, a place to interact more. 


 In the interest of keeping things varied I will just post a few shots from my recent editorial on The Ones 2 Watch, and you can view the rest on my page --- Leah Van Loon - Stylist!

If you aren't on FB or are just not into it you can also view this story on The Ones 2 Watch.


Photography by Wilkosz & Way
Styling by Leah Van Loon
Hair & Makeup by Alicja Wilkosz using MAC and Bumble&Bumble
Model(s) Aleisia Arkley @ Mode Models & Ania Boniecka @ Next Canada