It was fun sketching portraits last night at the spring 2012 Shop Til You Drop event by LOULOU magazine! It took place at Fairview Mall a.k.a. the mall that defines my teen-hood. It’s been my longest-running neighbourhood mall and where I had my first retail jobs at Esprit and Club Monaco. Ah the memories…

I must have a thing for two-toned lip colours since several portraits turned out that way. The event was super lively as shoppers formed LONG lines for swag bags, giveaways, yummy bites and of course, my portraits. Here are photos from my first Shop Til You Drop sketching event in September 2011.

 

LOULOU Magazine’s Shop ‘Til You Drop Spring 2012
Thursday, April 26 2012, 5pm – 9pm
I’ll be sketching from 5pm – 8pm on the upper level near the soft seating area by Aritzia and Guess.
Fairview Mall
1800 Sheppard Avenue East
Toronto, ON M2J 5A7

Thanks to Rock-It Promotions, I can cross “attend fashion week” off my bucket list! They kindly invited me to fabulous Canadian outerwear designers Soïa & Kyo and Rudsak‘s FW12 shows at the semi-annual Toronto Fashion Week at David Pecaut Square.

Inspired by Canadian fashion illustrator Danielle Meder, I saw this as the perfect chance to try my hand at runway sketching. She’s right about one thing: the sketches end up very rough as it’s nearly impossible to capture a model strutting full speed down the runway! I did my best and the experience was raw, somewhat chaotic and fun. It’s certainly two nights I’ll never forget! My highlights were spotting model / Canada’s Next Top Model runway coach Stacey McKenzie, Project Runway Canada winner Evan Bidell, getting my picture snapped by style bloggers (a first for me!), and seeing fashion blogger friends Marcus Kan, Noëlly Sam and Anne Cayer among others.

I brought animator friend Selena Dizazzo as my +1 to Soïa & Kyo and fashion illustrator Lisa Kiyomi to Rudsak. Sadly, I accidentally deleted photos from the Rudsak show so I’m only able post photos from Soïa & Kyo. (I’ll never prematurely empty the iPhoto trash can again!) Official runway coverage can be seen on the Toronto Fashion Week website.

 

I was invited to sketch guests last night at the Marlon Durrant party. It took place in Toronto’s Distillery Historic District. The event was full of elegantly dressed party goers, great food, drinks, and the entire neighborhood was decked out in merry holiday decoration. I ended up meeting several colleagues of colleagues! Thanks to Danielle Meder for referring me for the gig. Photos below:

 

Had a great time yesterday sketching at the historic George Brown House for an engagement party. Everyone was in good spirits, well-dressed and happy to get their portrait on! Here are some highlights.

 

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending The Art of Sales at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre thanks to blogger extraordinaire Casie Stewart. She gave away two extra tickets + lunch in a contest and I was one of the lucky winners! What made this even sweeter is the conference featured TWO of my favourite innovation / career advice authors / speakers: Seth Godin and Sally Hogshead. Both were captivating, spoke brilliantly and I love their books to death.

My gift to Casie for taking me to this amazing event!

More lucky folks who got to see the show! L-R: Sheryl Worth (Casie’s first boss after uni!), Casie, moi (I’m not sulking, merely mid-pose), Teresa Randall and Dan Levy (who took the photo).

Seth Godin‘s in da house! His book “The Dip” helped me put things into perspective after college.

So happy to meet Sally Hogshead! Her book “Fascinate” (one of my faves) talks about unleashing triggers that intrinsically make you fascinating.

Cool inspirational art by Switchvideo, an event sponsor. I got “Be An Artist” and “Make Mistakes” pegged.

The first and only time I’ve been to Topshop was in New York two years ago and it was love at first sight. I’ve since longed for a day when I can visit one Toronto, my home city. Such a dream became reality this past weekend as I finally visited the new Topshop / Topman at Yorkdale Mall! Even the in-store music was taken right from my playlist – back to back Friendly Fires, Strokes and Lykke Li? I’m in heaven.

Needless to say, I fell in love with too many things to name but played it safe (this time) and only got a pair of double seamed stockings and a lilac lipstick named “On the Town“. The visit also inspired me to create sketches of some of my favourite things. Think I’ll be back soon for some holiday shopping!

Boyfriend tried on button-down shirts in plaid and chambray, corduroy pants and woolly cardigans. I for one dig the cardigan layered on shirt look.

Teal’s the deal. Love this dress, these shoes, and this clutch.

Can’t go wrong with a bodycon zippered dress, funky sunglasses, rocking necklace and leopard heels.

The next day, I had a fashion shoot / video interview with Toronto blogger Marcus Kan. He told me to dress and accessorize it up so I went with a Material Girl asymmetrical jersey dress with mesh cutouts, Forever 21 vest, layered Topshop and Jacob stockings, and Aldo shoes. Accessories include a Fashion Whore necklace and Tarina Tarantino ring. Last but not least: behold my new haircut!

The event itself was fabulous with endless waves of delicious hors d’oeuvres, open bar and funky music thanks to the DJ. Here are highlights from the night: