A Good Weekend & My Mini Fashion Essay

I had a great weekend.
I love this picture. I took it while we were being seated in a gorgeous restaurant- it was at the back of the bar and I love the complementary colours of the orange and blue reflected and highlighted in the glasses. The linearity of the architecture is broken up by the fluidity of the glasses which distort the black lines. That's my art blurb for the day. :P


I have this tradition with my cousins who live in Oakville, where I'd stay overnight at their place once during the summer. And we do the following activities:
-Go to Oakville downtown and waterfront
-Go to Moxie's at Square One and shop
-Watch a movie/ rent a dvd
-Eat big


Of course all of these can't be done within a course of two days so this year we rented The Libertines- a Johnny Depp movie. It was quite-er- interesting and disturbing. A lot of sex scenes which were really random and a disfigured Johnny Depp who has some flesh and gut eating disease. Haha.
Well the highlight of the sleepover was when we went to this just opened restaurant called 'Spencers at the Water' which overlooks Lake Ontario. It's just beautiful and the architecture is stunning. It's all glass with wood ceilings and this awesome wooden door that opens on a pivot.
Anyway we sat inside since the patio was full. We were initially just going to see the menu but got sucked in by the hostesses (we saw the prices on this review was $20-$60 so we were concerned). But I decided to share a pizza with Jen so we could splurge on dessert. It was funny because most of the people there were lingering and ordering martini after martini. Our waitress was surprised when we ordered five desserts (out of seven) per person rather than sharing. She was quite amused by the fact we stressed over the sweets rather than the entrees themselves.
Jen: Cappucino ice cream profiteroles with milk chocolate
Viv: Strawberry shortcake (cookie) with ORGANIC vanilla ice cream
Auntie Annie: Apple creme brulee with lavender
Jon: Sticky toffee pudding
Me: Passion fruit cheesecake with white chocolate and coconut froth cream.


Omg there were so many photo opts. I took millions of pictures of the interiors, exterior architecture and the desserts. They were gorgeous:

Yeah I went camera crazy there. There was a pool below the restaurant where kids were wading in and men were playing with remote control sailboats. It was nice. Everything was very transparent, clear and seamless.

Anyway I saw 'The Devil Wears Prada' again today with my cousins and aunt who had never seen it but love Meryl Streep (and the boyfriend is really cute). They really enjoyed it too- I think the best part was the very end- oh the schizophrenia.

I was thinking the other day and during the movie but now I've seem to forgotten most of it- how fleeting good thoughts are:

The Chloe Paddington sent a tsunami over the world of fashion with it's over-the-top gold padlock and key. If you go to First Markham Place or Pacific Mall, you will see countless renditions of such a bag. Floaty summer frocks were donned paired with elongated wedge shoes to ground these gravity defying gowns. Every girl now has a pair of leggings be it turquoise or teal or fuschia or canary yellow. But what happens when tights become 'out'? Women all around will put them quietly away in their wardrobe lest some fellow fashionista spreads rumours about how 'unfashionable' she is. We pick up the latest Vogue: "Dresses of the Season! Killer Heels! The Latest in Couture!" and we sigh, knowing that we'll quickly have to catch up with what fashion dictates is in the next 'It' thing, afraid of being 'left out'. We are tired of catching up, pursuing what the magazines say is trendy but we can't help desiring what everyone else is coveting. We consume and go through trends quickly in the pursuit of what? This year the Fendi Spy bag next the Balenciaga so-and-so or the Dior this-and-that. The lace tops at Chloe set all mass production stores afire in order to recreate that innocent, wide-eyed girl-look. Belts are in this year to proclaim that long forgotten indent that women have and men don't, and next thing you know it, they'll be deigned the 'untrendiest' item of the season. Scrapped and discarded, they'll sit littered in the back of our closets until twenty years later when they'll reemerge become in again. Sweater dresses will be in this fall as well as plaid and balloon skirts. And then we'll quickly discard these trends when next spring arrives in search for the next 'It' thing. We dress and adorn ourselves in silks to polyester, drape our necks and ears with diamonds to costume jewelry and we follow trends like hungry wolves looking for the next rabbit to devour. And all in the pursuit of what? Why do designers- who deign themselves 'the artists and the influencers of the fashion realm' continue to follow trends themselves and end up having different versions of the basic plaid skirt but in the end- still a plaid skirt? Couture dresses start at a mere $50,000 to unspeakable amounts of money. We look at the woman- this year it'll be a form fitting pencil skirt and blouse, next year a sheath dress to cover the entire body, and the next a billowing shirt with a lean skirt and the next a flaired denim jean with a tight top etc etc.

Despite what fashion dictates and its madness to keep up with the latest trend(s)- it always comes back to one thing and one thing only: its ceaseless appetite to reinvent and pursue the definition of the female form. We drape, dress, swathe, cut, crinkle, ruche and hem the clothes to find and enhance the beauty of Eve's body. We are fascinated by its structure and how we can make it look different every season. What was splashed on the front of Vogue- that floaty skirt with hand-embroidered crystals in a midnight blue which was oohed and aahed at by fashionistas globally will be admired for some shortlived time, which will soon be labeled ("oh she's wearing that skirt. Everyone knows who made that". There is a certain snobbery when it comes to identification of clothing), then scoffed at and finally discarded for another skirt but this time in a tulip shape in white silk with pleated detail (because we are all sick of the 'bell' shape- we are now drawn to how the tulip shape exaggerates the hips rather than downplay them like the bell one does. It is also more structured and defined rather than romantic and floaty).

Yes though fashion and its followers are cruel and always fastpaced, we will forever be captivated by the nature of the human anatomy. If trends come and go, they are centered around finding the definition of beauty- which is absolutely wonderful. Trends are called 'trends' because they are ceaselessly trying to find 'The Perfect Beauty' which obviously, does not exist. Trends and fads prove that 'The Perfect Beauty' is not real by reveling and admiring the belted hourglass shape then switching to the boho Olsen twins- ratty layer-upon-layer look. Though they are usually seen as rutheless and relentless in forcing consumers to take upon another look, it is always searching to define and perfect its definition of beauty. And how easily it forgets that it cannot be found in the trends passed- twenty years from now, boho will be in again and we will all take out the peasant skirts from our closets that are now scoffed and looked down upon and wear them as if they were the new 'in' thing.

But in the end, fashion is fascinated by the glorious design of the woman's body- much more so than men. Designers design and create art and decorate what is already and will always be- art. But the things that dress the Original Art are easily disposed of with time and a new idea/concept/piece of clothing is erected and draped upon the sculptural form. Classic and timeless is God's creation of Adam and Eve, while we circle in a mad frenzy to find something suitable and fitting for such masterpieces.

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Hey that wasn't a bad mini essay, Sam. You can think otherwise. That's as deep as I can get. My apologies if it's nothing CS Lewis worthy.