Be Extraordinary

On November 3rd, I was one of four students chosen to style a six-look collection for a fashion show at Faze Magazine's Be Extraordinary event. We were in charge of pulling the clothes, shoes and accessories to put together our collections based on 6 specific looks we were given: the Fashionista, the Concert goer, the Athlete, the Gala gal, the Life of the party, and the Romantic. Considering I had never done anything like this before, I'm happy with how everything turned out! I had no idea what "pulling clothing from the rack" entailed, and I'm still kind of unsure haha but I guess those are things I'll learn when I begin interning/working in the industry. Since I was the last to receive confirmation that I would be participating, I was allowed to recruit some of my friends as models, so I had two of my former roommates with me, which made it all that much more fun! 

I aimed for a RTW collection, as opposed to a high-fashion look, and named my collection Knockout, to represent my theme of Snow White meets luxe biker chick. I love pretty, girly details like A-line skirts, flowing tops, and sparkles, but I also love the toughness of leather and dark colors against light skin. In terms of makeup, I wanted everything to be fresh-faced and simple, with just a swipe of bright red lipstick on the top lip and deep burgundy on the bottom lip. It's not really visible in the pictures, which is unfortunate, because it looked really beautiful up close! I might try to recreate the look sometime for the sake of taking some close up shots. 

I had never really considered a career in styling, but it was a lot of fun and I have since volunteered to help style/dress more fashion shows like Canada's Bridal Show and the Total Wedding Show, which are both in January. Being so new to the fashion industry, I'm trying to volunteer for as many events as I can, in order to figure out where exactly I want to build my own career. 

the Fashionista sweater & leggings: h&m, tank: zara, shoes: aldo

 

the Concert goer sleeveless blazer & pants: zara, tank: gap

 

the Athlete jumpsuit: Sirens, shoes: borrowed from a friend, bag: vintage

the Gala gal dress: borrowed from a friend, shoes: the Bay 

the Life of the Party top: Costa Blanca, skirt: forever21, shoes: aldo

the Romantic top: mendocino, shorts: Rachel Roy (from the Bay), shoes: aldo

my two roomies who were fantastic models for me! 

 

Me and the other three stylists, backstage. (my crop top is Zara, and the pants are mom's from way back when)

freedom!

So I finally quit my job last week and BOY am I relieved. A lot of people have told me I sound spoiled and entitled when I say I would never do a job that makes me unhappy. They say, "You won't just be handed the job you want" and "When you have to pay all your own bills, you can't be picky." 
      I wholeheartedly agree that sometimes we have to do jobs we don't enjoy in order to support ourselves and/or our families. I do NOT, however, agree that anyone should stay in a place that makes them miserable. My motto is to create my own happiness rather than search or wait for it.  
      I am a firm believer that a positive environment is the most important aspect of a job. Even if it's cleaning bathrooms at a movie theatre (which I have done- and it was probably my favorite job to date because of the people I worked with), a positive work environment makes work a lot more enjoyable. When we're practically forced to work 40+ hour weeks, why not at least enjoy it? :P 

So anyways, I was about a week shy of having worked at my job for 3 months and I couldn't bear to do it anymore. My boss was everything a boss should not be: patronizing toward me, unprofessional- he swore incessantly both in conversation with me and with his customers and clients, and worst of all in my opinion, he was very negative - I could not tell you one positive thing he said in my three months there. 
      I personally don't think swearing or patronizing, among other things, are professional ways to act, however it's every business owner's prerogative to run their business their way- after all, people start businesses because they don't want to follow someone else's rules… It got to the point where I was always stressed out and miserable and at times  fel my blood pressure going up when he was yelling/swearing at people on the phone, and my parents finally urged me to quit (especially with their only being a couple weeks left before school starts). 

I can honestly say that despite missing a steady income, I am so relieved to have quit and I am turning all my focus towards school and building my career. I can't wait. :D 

(this is the most intense outfit post… hat: h&m, dress: f21, shoes: Franco Sarto, watch: Tissot)

lately

1/ Perfect fall outfit. 2/ Wig shopping (not sure what I want to be for halloween, but my costume WILL include one of these wigs). 3/ Sewing leather sleeves on an American Apparel tshirt (really wanted this tshirt from Zara, but I haven't been able to find it anywhere!) 4/ yummy breakfast! 5/ First maddy monday back to school! 6/ The U of T Varsity Blues football team's first game of the year (which we actually won!) 7/ A Mexican bulldog. So delicious.