Fashion Rio - Acquastudio FW 2010

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I must admit that I did not know much about Brazilian fashion until recently, but those are my first steps in self-education. :)

Rio de Janeiro fashion week happened earlier this month, and I finally went over the collections. I love the fact that with just a few clicks I have the whole season in front of me. Although I do not speak the language, I managed to navigate the extensive Portuguese fashion site to find pictures and video of the Rio FW 2010 collections. I enjoyed the shows very much, and I learned a few words in Portuguese too. "Desfiles" means "Shows"! "Temporada" means "Season"! "Inverno 2010" means "Winter 2010"!

This illustration is of two looks by Acquastudio FW 2010. This label really stood out. I was amazed by the creativity and imagination of the brand designer, Esther Bauman. The gowns and cocktail dresses have wonderfully creative silhouettes - each dress is unique and complex. But despite the avant-garde construction, the dresses look easy, fresh and almost-wearable :). I love the romantic and soft feel of those dresses. Another thing that I love about this collection is that the clothes look fantastic on the runway and move beautifully with the models. Check them out in video here.

I chose to illustrate a soft pink bubble dress with black string detail, and the black asymmetrical sculpted dress with glistening lines.


My Brazilian readers, please help me with my discovery: What are your favorite fashion designers in Brazil?

Straight from Berlin - Schumacher FW 2010

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I was following the Berlin fashion shows, which finished on Saturday, and I really enjoyed the collections! This is the first time I check out the Berlin shows, and I loved finding out about the talented German designers and their collections. The Schumacher collection was amongst my favorites - it is so elegant and beautiful, with fine fabrics and exquisite contraction. See the fashion show here.

Illustrated here is the finale dress from the Schumacher FW 2010 show. I love the deep emerald colour and the modern style of this dress. I took a romantic twist by accessorizing this feminine dress with beige Moschino Cheap And Chic Vertigo clutch and shimmery platform pumps from Elizabeth and James. My model is wearing an amazing headband from Toronto based brand cocoboudoir, available on Etsy. It is made of white satin rosettes, accented with vintage black crystal beads. Absolutely lovely!

The Kaffiyeh and The Tutu - Givenchy SS 2010

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The beautifully geometrical Givenchy SS 2010 collection got rave reviews from critics this season. I am not a critic, but I am in-love!

I am always drawn to prints and patterns, so of course my favorite designs in this collection are the original Arabic kaffiyeh prints - like the softly draped pantsuit on the left.

And I never realized that I can like a tutu as much as I like it here, on the right! It is not childish or overly girly, it is tough and edgy and sophisticated. Always innovative!

Illustration for your Donations to Haiti Relief Fund

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What can you do to get your hands on this specially made illustration dedicated to the Haitian people affected by the earthquake?

The first 15 people, who starting today will donate any amount to an authorized Haiti Relief Fund, will receive a high quality print, signed and matted. Just send me a note to help@stylishgoose.com with your donation receipt and your mailing address. This is my Thank You to you for showing support.

The model is wearing a long printed dress by Nicole Miller from her Spring Summer 2009 collection, inspired by her travels to Haiti.

xo

Genya

Illustration for Help - Haiti Earthquake

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My Dear Friends,

I was so touched and heartbroken by the images of the Haiti Earthquake on the news. I wanted to extend my thought to the Haitian people and their worried family and friends in Canada and around the world.

I have just made a donation to the Salvation Army to assist with the immediate rescues operations.

I encourage all of my Stylish Goose readers to donate to your local authorized support organization. For a Canadian list, please see here.

As a great Thank You for your Help, anyone who donates at least $50 CAD (or equivalent in your currency), will receive a specially made illustration which I will prepare in the next few days (you know it will be a fantastic one!), printed on quality 8x10 paper, matted and signed by me. Please email me at help@stylishgoose.com with a proof of donation (email confirmation of donation) and your mailing address by Sunday, January 17, 2010 - 24:00 Eastern Standard Time. I will be sending your special illustration shortly after.

I Thank You All!

xo

Genya

PS. This is the illustration I did for Thakoon Pre-Fall 2010 collection. I love the neutral champagne colours and the innovative folds of this look.

Bandaged Haroine - SS 2010 from Lucian Matis

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I am a big fan of Lucian Matis, who is an adorable, talented and hardworking Canadian designer. He has a sense of showmanship, drama and romance which translates to his clothes.

The Lucian Matis SS 2010 collection, presented during Toronto fashion week, includes beautiful textures and light reflecting fabrics, but has some heavy undertones. Despite the soft colour palette, it is dark, mysterious and slightly deranged (the opening music theme gives me the creeps). The clothes are divine, full of delicate details. The styling is strong and dramatic and makes the show so much more interesting. The oversized medieval jewelery was custom created by a Canadian couture jewelery designer Karen McFarlane. Stream the Lucian Matis show here.

PS. I must confess that my girlfriends and I completely fell head over heels for Lucian after we met him briefly last year during his Ottawa trunk show... :)

Behind the Scenes - Illustrating the Stylish Goose Banner

I wanted to show you the behind-the-scenes look of what goes into making my illustrations. I am hoping to make this into a regular post on my blog.

So this is the banner for Stylish Goose. It is also the first illustration I've ever created using my tablet and Corel Painter 11 software. I totally love Painter 11 now, but going digital was a bit of a learning curve for me. I was mostly using pens, markers and coloured pencils before.

In this first illustration, I did everything digitally, including the initial sketch. Then I was layering colours and details. It took me a long time. I am always refining the process, and now I found that sketching by hand and colouring digitally works best for me.

I really love drawing. :)

Olympics in Style

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February 12 is approaching fast and we, Canadians, are getting more excited every day. To celebrate the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Fashion Magazine's February issue had a beautiful photoshoot featuring official Team Canada clothing from Hbc. See it here, courtesy of the gold.faced.betty fashion blog. My illustration was inspired by this photoshoot, and of course the Olympics.

My model is wearing Hbc Canadian Olympic Team turtleneck sweater - love the oversized men's style.

Did you notice the unusually cool hole-covered tights? They were also featured in this month's Fashion Magazine!! They are by Mark Fast, a young and talented Canadian designer, who shows at London fashion week. Coincidentally, those tights were in the Mark Fast swag bag for SS 2010 show and became amazingly popular with his guests!

The native style headband was inspired by this standout long feather head piece from BabooshkaBoutique, sold on Etsy. What a deal!

So what is my Olympic fashion item?? I am a proud owner of the Canada Olympic pompom hat (the non toddler version ;)) thanks to my dear friend Ada!

All The Shades of Gray (from Wayne Tippetts photography)

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Yet again I get inspired by the vivid photography of Wayne Tippetts, whose London streetstyle blog is my regular read. This is the lovely Daisy, who showed great personal style by keeping it gray and emphasizing texture and layers. The oversized faux fur looks both cozy and high-fashion. Lovely!

Dolce & Gabbana - GRRRrrrr!!!

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Can we expect anything less from Dolce & Gabbana then pure sexy? This red leopard printed suit was in a group of drop dead gorgeous bathing suits that closed their SS 2010 show. To make this look even hotter, my model is wearing Stuart Weitzman black satin 'Lover' peep toe bow sandals. The red metallic python envelope clutch from Hunting Season is a shiny but simple addition to the look. Several Kenneth Jay Lane oxidized crystal bracelets are worn for extra shimmer!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE - Hope it is a good one!

P.S. Oh and i guess i should explain the GRRrrrrr part (it is a bit of a personal note really)! This lovely illustration seriously took me FOREVER to do! I figured bathing suit will take me less time to do then a full set of clothes, but i was so wrong - it kept not coming out the way i wanted it and made me stay up till late. but i love it at the end and think it was all worth it. So Enjoy it! ;)

Crazy about Mia

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Mia O'Connell is a new and exciting fashion designer from Dublin, Ireland. She recently launched her FW 2009/SS 2010 capsule collection entitled the Eight and a Half Project. As the name implies, Mia's collection includes eight amazing dresses as well as some exquisite separates. This sheer, ruffled, bandaged collection is romantic, modern and cool. Mia deserves big promps for creating her own opportunities in Ireland, where being a young designer can pose some challenges. Mia described to me the challenges experienced by fashion designers in Ireland:

"The Irish fashion industry is difficult, there are no new opportunities for young designers unlike London who have competitions such as Fashion East and Topshop New Gen, so you are left to create them for yourself. But at that making work is very hard, it is impossible to manufacture here it is just too expensive so most go to eastern Europe, and then because Ireland, being so small, selling enough is also a problem the market is just not big enough.
Also Dublin fashion week is no longer! so therefore an opportunity to reach the audience of Ireland has now gone!"

Despite this, Mia is definitely the one to watch for - her goal is to eventually move to London and begin her Masters. Stylish Goose wishes her lots of success!


In this illustration, both models are wearing looks from Mia O'Connell's collection. Check them out on her showcase blog. To complement the delicate designs, the girls are wearing "Avignon" peeptoe platform pumps by Stuart Weitzman in nude and black patent leather. They both carry Marni bags - a deep green hexagonal purse and a pearly flower and ribbon clutch.



PS. Mia also has a small, but amazingly adorable collection of accessories, which I want to incorporate into my future illustrations. Check it out here.