First cover- ELLE QUEBEC

Really stoked to share the first magazine cover I had the pleasure of styling!  This is ELLE Québec's September 2015 issue featuring the talented singer/songwriter Coeur de Pirate.
For this shoot I was in the awesome company of prolific photographer Max Abadian (we're not worthy!) and hair/make up artist (and creative multi-talent) Andrew Ly.
For the looks I am very grateful for the collaboration with Costume National for the striped suit and to Tanya Taylor for the vintage vibe dress.  Keep reading for the complete credits (yeah, you want to know where those boots are from?!)

Unfortunately there's one little bit of major #buzzkill ... those with eagle eyes can make out that the "stylisme" credit was not made out to me.  The credit was given to a very lovely and talented stylist who was not involved with the shoot, and the unfortunate editorial oversight is now living in print on news stands across Quebec.  The awesome ELLEQC team hastened to rectify online/electronic copies and offered their apologies.  In order not to be too bummed about the whole situation (whyyyyy? in print!) I listened to Krishna Das' soothing Eddie Vedder-esque voice to decompress as I drove to an idyllic plot of land in the country.  I feel much better now thank you.

styling credits:

wool suit: Costume National
t-shirt: James Perse
shoes: Michael Kors Collection
necklace: Jennifer Meyer
rings: House of Harlow 1960 & Aldo Accessories

dress, turtleneck, belt: Tanya Taylor
boots: Filippa K
rings: House of Harlow 1960 & Aldo Accessories

Holiday Gift Guide Cadeau

With the holidays right around the corner, there is certainly last minute gift shopping taking place in full frenzy in the shops and online.
In case you haven't sorted out all your pressies for your family and your besties may I point you towards the 2014 holiday gift guides from ELLE Canada and ELLE Québec that I had loads of fun/stress-filled pleasure to research, edit and style.

As you can see it's a bit of same/same but different-spot the differences if you feel so intrepid.
While I love all the pages, I have a soft spot for the all black/all white mood shot, with a particular jonesing for those matte black ester & erik candles...just in case you were curious.

Joyeuses fêtes!

fall '14 cultural preview

The October issue of ELLE Québec featured a fall cultural preview of the local scene.  I was invited to style the men in this project, who were three easy-going dudes who didn't mind wearing sweaters and jackets in July.  At the top: thespian Benoît McGinnis opened the portfolio wearing pieces from Diesel and John Varvatos (from Holt Renfrew).  Next we had musician Pierre Kwenders, looking regal in a smattering of patterns.  I layered him in pieces from Diesel, Matinique, G-Star Raw, DJAB from Simons, Breed Knitting, kicks from Aldo and specs from Céline.   Finally, the very charming screen actor Victor Andrés Trelles-Turgeon closed the portfolio layered in Diesel, Steven Alan and Michael Kors.

The photography was achieved with the wizardry of Marc Montplaisir and was definitely #nofilter.  Montplaisir has been perfecting his ambrotype photography for more than a decade, finding the balance between the exposure (controlled by the removal of a lens cap) and the chemicals at work in the darkroom.  Above, the exposed glass plates of Trelles-Turgeon and McGinnis sit in a rack to dry and reveal the ghostly images.  This was not a shoot of hundreds of clicks a day from a DSLR, more accurately, each photograph took about three to five plates, and we patiently waited while Montplaisir went to the darkroom to develop the image.

Our three subjects behind the camera

#slowphotography

Festival Nouveau Cinema 2014

The best film festival in town just got underway yesterday and I just took a look at the program.  Holy moly there's lots of good stuff here. A couple of projects I did the costume design for are going to partake in the fun, so check it out!

First up, Turn Off Before Living, directed by Annick Blanc, a dark and steamy film set in Havana, Cuba about a cast of characters living personal lies.

Step Well Pilgrim is a dance film that I had the pleasure of making "butt turbans" for four of the performers.  Director Duncan McDowall was inspired by principal performers Katia Lesvesque and Jonathan Fortin's performance from Cabaret Carmagnole and transformed it to a screen adaptation.

I was super stoked to assist the insane talent of costume designer Patricia McNeil for one day on the set of Félix et Meira.  Directed by Maxime Giroux, the film explores the unlikely crossing of paths of a young mother and wife in the Hassidic Jewish community and an eccentric francophone québecois. 

My one awesome day consisted of transforming about twenty bearded men, from young hip dudes to elderly santa claus-like gentlemen into Hassidic Jews.  With the treasures of eBay Israel and a bunch of resourcefulness, McNeil orchestrated epic movie magic.

swimwear syndrome

It is not this blog's M.O. to feature images of me so this post feels very narcissistic right now. I was asked to participate in a project featured in the August's issue of ELLE Quebec, regarding women's complexities towards swimwear.  The kicker? Find several non-model women who were willing to pose in front of the camera lens in a bathing suit.  While the idea made me extremely uncomfortable, I thought it was important to feature bodies on the printed page other than the VS Angels of the world.  Although, I would be lying if I didn't admit my brain is definitely conditioned to perceive willowy model bodies as being one form of "perfection."  This perception is a concept I play with in my art work with the use of store mannequins and a tongue firmly planted in cheek!

For the ELLE QC shoot we were asked to self-style, so I am wearing with great pleasure a bathing suit from Eres and all jewelry by Pearls Before Swine.  Enjoy some quotes from myself and two fellow non-models in the story Gaëlle Leroyer and Simone Fortin.

Mathieu Quesnel

The July issue of ELLE Québec's culture section features a portrait I styled with actor Mathieu Quesnel.  This charming man (of vague Chris Martin resemblance) has a Denys Arcand feature in the can and an Émile Gaudreault film hitting screens right about now.  Gaudreault's Le vrai du faux centers around a soldier dealing with post traumatic stress disorder, inspiring an army feel with the styling.  Photographed by Daniel Cianfarra, Quesnel wears a marbled print shirt by DUBUC, khaki trousers by Dolce & Gabbana, and a belt from Denim & Supply by Ralph Lauren.

belles au naturel

For the June issue of ELLE Québec, I was asked to participate in the styling of a portfolio of Québecoises personalities to highlight the fifth year of Canal Vie/ELLE Québec's Journée sans maquillage (No makeup day).

This cultural phenomena that has also taken place in schools and the workplace has been recently propelled by the advent of social media.   I'm not sure if I'm surprised to learn that many a young teenage girl does not go to school without makeup as her armour.  Or that showing one's "real face" is something noteworthy.  But I get it. Culturally we have become attuned to seeing women with a "full face," imperfections begone, makeup/Photoshop rule, and reality is perceived through a screen or a printed page. If only Marshall McLuhan were alive today!

Which brings us back to our photo shoot where I had the pleasure of styling makeup free television personality Rebecca Makonnen and actress Marina Orsini.  Photographer Marc Montplaisir captured these two awesome women in simple striking monochromatic portraits.  Makonnen pulled off a structured asymmetrical Halston Heritage dress with ease while Orsini gravitated towards a silk top from BCBGMAXAZRIA paired with a summery pant from Icône by Simons.

hashtags of note:
#NoMakeupSelfie raises £8M for Cancer Research UK, read two different takes here and here
#WokeUpLikeThis : empowering self affirmation or not so #humblebrag?

Viviane Audet

For the February issue of ELLE Québec I was pleased to style the triple threat singer/songwriter/actress Viviane Audet in a portrait session with Daniel Cianfarra.  The mandate was lingerie and fur, in a laid back kind of way...That luscious pop pink coat was courtesy of Natural Furs,  the pink and blue slip is from Studio La Perla (La Perla's younger sister brand), and an inky blue black one piece from Princesse tam.tam.  The end result? Audet's easy going vibes portrayed that really cool girl just hanging out at home in some fur #nbd.

Marilyn Castonguay

I was super stoked to dress the super talented actress Marilyn Castonguay in a very casual/cool/chic style.  Lensed by Daniel Cianfarra for the ELLE Québec December issue, this was a mandate very close to my heart!  The look was composed of skinny distressed jeans from Diesel, ultra loose, wide necked t-shirt by Splendid, a perfect perfecto courtesy of Mackage, and a sparkly 'thorn' pump by Saint Laurent Paris-it is the holiday issue after all.

Marie-Soleil Michon

The october issue of Elle Québec's culture section features the very charming television personality Marie-Soleil Michon, shot by Daniel Cianfarra at the Centre Phi.  I had the pleasure of pulling some looks for Michon who was a pro: focused and so easy to work with. The look we finally settled on was a fits-like-a-glove cotton dress with an elbow length sleeve and that awesome paint drip pattern by Jonathan Saunders.  Over the dress, we threw on an oversize coat from Topshop and finished it off with Prada suede booties. Click, click, click and we were done.

La Maison du Pêcheur

The September issue of Elle Québec's culture section features four actors (styled by yours truly, lensed by Julie Artacho) who star in the soon to be released La Maison du pêcheur, a film chronicling the encounter of the young revolutionaries in Percé that would culminate in the October Crisis of 1970.

For those not from La belle province, let me just say that politics and language are at the heart of this culture despite being made out to be all about a cool artist/music scene by the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin etc, which I would argue stems indirectly from our politics.  While Québec politics is too dense of a subject to be covered in this post, whether one considers the FLQ terrorists or freedom fighters, what was imminent in this province was change for a distinct society in an anglicized/Canadian mold.  While I don't condone any acts of violence, what I keep in mind is: it is never that simple.  My brain first started processing these complicated ideas when it was twelve years old, upon meeting the grandson of Pierre Laporte in high school, where the history I had learned in class was staring at me in the face.

tiff.festival'13

Super stoked to learn that two projects that I did the costumes for will be playing at the juggernaut of a festival: the Toronto International Film Festival (tiff is alot easier no?)

First up, Daybreak or Éclat du jour directed by Ian Lagarde about a group of kids on bikes, rebellion and pack mentality.  Some behind the scenes images here.

Film number two is The Sparkling River directed by Felix&Paul.  This 3D short has undergone various incarnations and had received the Guillaume Corbeil touch in its final stages.  We shot this many many moons ago, and I have yet to see the end result!

Here I will take a moment to say that a dear friend, Daniel Allen Cox has co-written Gerontophilia with THE Bruce LaBruce, Canadian queer filmmaker/artist extraordinaire.  I don't know how many more excuses I need to go to tiff now.

Work It: Moving Images

Other than eating salad all the time, I have occupied my time by providing wardrobe to some moving pictures.  It's been good times, but busy times hence the (slight?) neglect of this blog.  Here's some images to make up for it; many of them are from my Instagram feed, feel free to follow (click to your right) if you fancy what you see!

If a cube truck that kind of looks like a moving truck parks on your street for a many days in a row, they are most likely part of a film production.  I've spotted this cube on my street with some crows on it, and took it as a non-ominous sign.

Instagram pics of director Eduardo Menz's customized macbook.  Digging through the drawers of costume rentals.

On set at a call center.  This project was shot on film (awesome!), which is becoming more of a rarity.

More instagram of the crew looking on to our young actors on bikes for the first day of another shoot.  Our script supervisor is all geared up.

Arts & crafts! Customizing bike bells as parting gifts to our young actors.

 The lovely ladies of la regie.  A set dog cozies up in sandbags after a long day.

More kids! On this project I had to protect the young actor from the breaking of a (real) glass of milk.  Slippers, socks, ace bandages, raincoat, plastic poncho, protective eyegear! Check! Check! Check!

Super sloooooow motion! 240 frames per second!  The multiples of pyjamas I had made for the milk explosion. Check!

Expo Shoot Studio

Shoot Studio held their annual vernissage showcasing their roster of photographers.   Above are some images I styled for Sandrine Castellan, portraying the relationship of sisters.

Les Rendez-Vous Du Cinéma Québecois

Les rendez-vous du cinéma québecois is upon us!
It's no secret I'm a huge fan of the movie making side of life and les rendez-vous is a nice showcase of homegrown films of the past year.
In no particular order I will throw down some of my picks from the festival.

In the category of "I can't believe I haven't seen these films yet-what am I waiting for?"

Clockwise from top left:
1. Monsieur Lazhar, fiction feature film, director: Philippe Falardeau
2. Surviving Progress, documentary, feature, directors: Mathieu Roy, Harold Crooks
3. Marécages, fiction, feature film, director: Guy Édoin
4. Café de Flore,  fiction, feature film, director: Jean-Marc Vallée
5. Inside Lara Roxx, documentary feature, director: Mia Donovan
6. Inni, feature documentary on Sigur Ros! director: Vincent Morisset

In the category of "Shorts I've already seen but love all these directors so I have to give them shout outs"

Clockwise from top left:
1. Sanctuaire, director: Andreas Mendritzki
2. Washed in Blue, director: Tom Fennario
3. Surveillant, directior Yan Giroux (and ps. I did the wardrobe on this short. It's a great film that just had a screening at Sundance. High five!)
4.  A Film Portrait on Reconstructing 12 Possibilities that Preceded the Disappearance of Zoe Dean Drum, director Eduardo Menz
5. Drat, director Farzin Farzaneh
6. Vent Solaire, director Ian Lagarde

And last but not least in the category of "It will probably be difficult to see these films outside of a film festival setting (unlike films by Denis Coté-whose Bestiaire is supposed to be awesome!) "

Alejandro Jodorowsky Grand Rectum de L'UdFOU 
feature doc directed by François Gourd
Ummm...Jodorowsky is a mad genius. What else is there to say? Have you seen El Topo?!

Un 14 Juillet å Marseille
feature doc directed by Yan Giroux (again!)
An experimental hand is given to this doc with lots of long takes. Sign me up!

A New Suit

Some of my favorite words are: "Mel, can you come shopping with me?"

To this, I am most happy to oblige, especially for the male contingent.  Don't get me wrong, women's apparel is varied, exciting and made up of infinite combinations, but most menswear for the non-fashion risk-taking set has more conservative parameters and conventions that I think are fun to work within.  Did I mention that I love menswear?  Enter Mark: a multi-talented artist, makeup/special effects guru, and a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen.  The time had come for Mark to replace the dormant and ill-fitting suit in his closet.  This was our mission and I'm a sucker for men in suits.

While we had planned on multiple stops for our shopping spree, our first destination proved to be a winner.  We went to Michel Brisson and quickly honed in on Tiger of Sweden for their slim cuts and budget friendliness.  Mark went from skinny jeans, converse, black jacket and tuque combo (one of my personal favorite day uniforms) to navy/black suit with a subtle plaid pattern, grey Filippa K shirt and black Tiger tie.  Shazam!  Oh and of course we tried the suit jacket with Mark's checkered shirt and black jeans-and as we say in Quebec: C'est winner!

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Snap Magazine's 15th issue was launched over the weekend at the Eastern Bloc.  Here is the photograph by Sandrine Castellan in which I dressed the young Eliott in shepherd style.

The Horse Latitudes

I was doing wardrobe on a film directed by Duncan McDowall, here is a photo with the awesome Robert Naylor.