Miu Miu Inspired and Forever 21 in Montreal

The Scene

Snarfed crepes

Scaled Mount Royal for incredible city views

Peeped Notre Dame

Spied street art

And artsy streets

Paid homage to the legendary smoked meats at Schawartz's Deli

Stumbled upon an amazing flight of local beers

Perfectly romantical day in Montreal.

The Outfit

Forever 21 tank and shorts

The Accessories

Louis Vuitton bag

Forever 21 hat

Stuart Weitzman sandals

The Grade

B

The Commentary

I brought a disproportionate amount of shorts for our trip to the east coast. 5 pairs for a 7 day trip...on top of dresses galore. Dresses are my vacation go to. They pack so easy and I can change them up with scarves, necklaces, belts and shoes. Easy. Done.

But for this trip, since I've been in a fashion rut, I decided to challenge myself. I'm cray cray. Instead of just throwing on a dress to huff around in, I challenged myself to create casual and comfortable but still chic vacation looks with separates. No pressure. It's not like I'm feeling less than svelte and there was a major heat wave going on. Ugh.



Debuted these heart print shorts. Heart them. Chose them frankly because my hair was a hot mess and they matched the hat that I needed to wear. Found the shorts at F21 a few months ago and have been dying to wear them. Looooove that print. Clearly a Miu Miu resort 2011 rip-off. Wish I had it in a top, dress, pair of pants, scarf and heels. Added the simple drapey white tank, a big tote and flat sandals. Functional and fun for a long, hot, jam-packed day.

Would've been FEROSH to pair the Miu Miu inspired shorts with these real Miu Miu beauties

Good for standing relatively still peeping celebrities at an InStyle soiree.

Not so much for trying to be an in style tourist huffing around town.

The Inspiration

New Ice.com Website: $100 Giveaway

Lately when it comes to jewelry, I'm thinking more is more.

These are a few of the pieces that are in heavy rotation right now.

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Thanks to the new and improved Ice.com, I'm hosting another giveaway where you can win $100 to shop the great jewelry on their site.  To participate in the contest, you simply  need to visit the Ice.com homepage and answer the following question correctly by leaving a comment on the post: What is the Most Discussed piece of jewelry on the Ice home page? 

I'll be choosing a winner at random on August 26 from all the participants who answered the question correctly. The winner can redeem the $100 prize by simply shopping  using a link that I’ll provide.

. Prize Exclusions:  Not applicable on sale or clearance items, watches, engagement rings or The Persona Charms Collection. Not applicable on taxes or shipping costs, and cannot be combined with any other offer.

Good luck!

Jean Paul Gaultier Exhibit Montreal Museum of Art

As far as museum fashion exhibits go, this summer belonged to Alexander McQueen at the Met. But while I was in Canada I was able to see the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and was completely blown away. It will be traveling to Dallas in November and San Francisco in March of 2012. Run, don't walk.

I was struck by how much of McQueen's collections seemed referential to Gaultier's. Makes sense since Gaultier too was once dubbed fashion’s enfant terrible. He launched his first prêt-à-porter collection way back in 1976. Andy Warhol was among his earliest fans, saying: "I think the way people dress today is a form of artistic expression...Art lies in the way the whole outfit is put together. Take Jean Paul Gaultier. What he does is really art." His work like McQueen's is intellectual, sexually charged, vaguely macabre and often futuristic. It has a point of view. It is art.

The staging of the Gaultier exhibit was equally stunning to McQueen at the Met---room after glorious room of exquisite clothing that you can peep up close and personal. But the Gaultier show had one theatrical advantage: there were 30 animated mannequins who talk and sing in poetic vignettes kinda like that creepy hologram at the end of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. The faces change expressions and their line of sight randomly shifts down to your eye level so it felt like they were talking to you.  OMG, they creeped  me out. As a lapsed Catholic, the mannequins in religious, madonna garb were particularly disturbing. 

As a fan of Madonna the whore, the exhibit is a dream. There were all her amazing Gaultier tour costumes (remember when I made my own version for a Madonna costume party!!???) Among the iconic garments, there are these great stories about the women that influenced Gaultier growing up and even the first corset he designed...for his teddy bear.

 Gaultier has always used designs to tackle gender and transgender issues through provocative, gender-bending styles. But I think he may not get as much credit as he deserves because he doesn't seem like a particularly serious character. Everything he does has a tongue-in-cheek quality. There's something farcical about it so it's somehow not as threatening. Very Parisian.

Gaultier's love of stripes is also tres French. He says: "I've always loved the graphic and architectural aspects of stripes. My mother dressed me in sailor-striped sweaters. They go with everything, never go out of style and probably never will. There were also other influences: my grandmother, Coco Chanel, Jean Genet, Popeye..."  Loooved that there were stripes galore in the gift shop to buy.

Alas I saved my pennies and made due with the free sailor hat everyone got with their exhibit tickets. Made Mr. Diabolina wear one for a picture. He hated every minute of it.

To be even more annoying, I put it back on when we got to the Canadian/American border later that afternoon.  Border guy didn't bat an eye. F.

I wish I had had this Gaultier fabulousness to freak him out instead

p.s. Gaultier will be interviewing McQueen muse Lady Gaga in a CW special on September 12