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Holt Renfrew Contemporary Correspondent Competition

The Holts Contemporary Correspondent search is underway in three Canadian cities, and one of our Vancouver stars needs your vote to win! Two finalists in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are battling it out through a series of fashion challenges until August 2nd. Votes cast by the public each week will determine who secures the coveted position in each city.

Stylefinds editor Shallom Johnson is one of two finalists, narrowed down from over 300 applicants, for the Vancouver Contemporary Correspondent position – but she needs your votes over the coming weeks to win the job!

The challenge this week was to turn an outfit from drab to fab using accessories – here’s what Shallom did:

Using the same dress, she changed her look entirely with accessories:

Voting for the first week is open until Wednesday, so be sure to visit the Holts Facebook page, become a fan and vote. It’s really simple and you’d be making this fashionable girl’s dreams come true – I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more than Shallom. She’s one of the hardest working, positive, inspiring, creative and amazing women I am privileged to know.

VOTE NOW!

Published by Terri on June 26, 2009 in Fashion. 3 Comments

Ready to Run?

this is what we want to do to your runners. espaciovictor photo.

As I made my way back to Vancouver from years living abroad, I spent a week in New York where I noticed a strange new trend. It literally had me laughing out loud in NY, so I was shocked, appalled and pretty disgusted to this trend thriving and seemingly accepted here in Vancouver.

I don’t have a vendetta against running shoes. I jog, and when I do I put on my running shoes for protection, comfort and appropriate arch support. The issue I have with running shoes is that they’re EVERYWHERE! They’re in pubs, shops, restaurants and on people who I can safely bet have no intention of running. They’re being worn with jeans, dress pants and even skirts! They don’t look cool, match what people are wearing or make any sense at all. It drives me crazy, as I really like shoes. Comfortable or not, I like my feet to look good. I’ve spent that last year in London walking 40 minutes to and from work in heels. Why? Because they look great and after a while, you get used to them. It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey…and you never know who you might meet on the journey. And I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be caught in running shoes.

Active gear in general has far too large a presence in Vancouver. I recognize that it is a very active city. Everyone seems to be riding bikes, hiking, smoothie drinking and generally keeping in good health. I wonder what came first – Vancouver’s natural orientation towards an energetic and healthy lifestyle, or lululemon?

It appears lululemon is in with the government. A secret underground partnership that ensures the sun rises in the east, perhaps? EVERYONE wears lululemon, and more often than not when they have no intention of exercising! When I exercise I sweat, go red in the face, and I don’t smell good. Why would I want to spend $200 on an outfit to get yucky in? Oh wait, because I’m not actually going to sweat in it? Well that makes even less sense. Maybe I should start wearing a swimsuit to do my grocery shopping. After all, they say it might rain this week.

I’m not saying London and Sydney don’t have their own faux pas’ because they do. Sleeveless t-shirts on would-be hot Aussies….you get what I mean. London suffers from metrosexual overload. I like a guy who gets ready to go out quicker than I do and that’s not easy to find over there. But the point is, Vancouver needs to smarten up about this athletic wear obsession. Establishments should tighten up their dress codes, and violators should seek help from their quasi-fashionable friends and invest in some decent pairs of footwear.

If you think you might be in need of assistance and have nowhere to turn, email us at info[at]theconveyorbelt[dot]com and we’ll point you in the right direction.

Published by Jenn on June 19, 2009 in Fashion. 3 Comments

Thrift Store Scores: v. Kajillion

I haven’t been uploading photos of my favourite thrift store scores lately, but let me assure you there have been plenty of amazing finds! My latest obsession is vintage bags – it’s becoming a bit of an issue, as I’m running out of storage space in my studio to store empty luggage.

I must take a rare and brief moment to complain about the severe overpricing at all the Value Villages and Salvation Armys out there. The clothes stink more than an acceptable amount, and 99.99% of the items are grossly overpriced for such ragged condition. I’ll take the smaller stores with radder stuff at cheaper prices, where volunteers allow all the profits to go right back to the charity they were intended for, thanksverymuch. Steveston is one of my prime destinations – I try to go about once a week nowadays.

Cases in point… cowboy boots, exactly my size at 8.5, for a whopping $5:

And this lovely sweater jacket, which was a bit ugly as it had fringe along the bottom and at the ends of the ties, but I simply cut that off when I got home and now it’s spectacular – not bad for a $6 investment:

For all you kids out there who loved and appreciated the big clothing sale I did with Shallom from Stylefinds a couple months back, you’ll be happy to learn there is another event on the horizon. We’ve been stockpiling new goods, and saved all the great stuff that remained from the last sale. Stay tuned for more details, but expect a date in July sometime…looking forward to sharing our wealth of fine finds with you…

Published by Terri on June 17, 2009 in Fashion. 2 Comments

NYFW Day 5: What I Wore

Wearing: kdon black dress (not pictured, I don’t think we got any photos of this unfortunately), kdon jacket, larry scarf, Erin Templeton bag.

Taken in the lobby of our apartment building in the Lower East Side, on our way to Assembly for the launch of Raquel Allegra’s FW09 line of beautiful hand distressed tees. The store was amazing, filled with so many treasures. Raquel was a doll and gave us a personal walk-through of her line.

Lots of lovely and fashionable people at the shop – we met another girl from Vancouver who now works for Zachary’s Smile – and they are having a sale starting tomorrow, for any New Yorkers reading!

raquel allegra

iPhone photos courtesy of Kris Krug! When are they going to put a flash on those things?

Published by Terri on February 18, 2009 in Fashion. 2 Comments

NYFW Day 4: What we Wore

Goofing off in front of the tents.

Terri: deadboys clubhouse shirt (white), vintage shirt, secondhand boys’ tuxedo jacket, American Apparel disco pants, larry scarf, parts by heather necklace, diba shoes.

Shallom: larry cowl, Obakki jacket, Mandula obi belt, vintage skirt, Erin Templeton bag, Seychelles boots.

Here we are at the back of the tents, on our way to the W Backstage Lounge for the House of Cassette presentation. We got attacked by photographers when we stopped for this shot.

Terri: In addition to above, also wearing a Mastermind jacket here.

Inside the W Backstage Lounge, which was a really cool space. Met the designer behind House of Cassette, Peter Lee, and he showed us some of his favourite pieces from the line. We also ran into Dee and Ricky, who make these really cool lego brooches that were picked up by Marc Jacobs last season.

Published by Terri on February 17, 2009 in Fashion. 0 Comments

NYFW Day 3: What we Wore

Terri: kdon dress, Obakki leather jacket, larry scarf, Fiveleft tote.

Flo: Not sure

Shallom: deadboys clubhouse jacket and shirt worn as hood, Motherland t-shirt, Tiger of Sweden leggings, unidentified pants, Adhesif chains, Erin Templeton bag, Dominic Designs earring necklace.

On our way to a much-needed breakfast in SoHo after a ridiculously fun night out with about 12 folks from Vancouver.

Published by Terri on February 17, 2009 in Fashion. 0 Comments