Who knows you better than your hairstylist? Most of us would say absolutely no one. Swapping out a stylist is like ending a relationship. And like a boyfriend or girlfriend, it’s damn hard to find a good one.
Many of fashion and beauty’s most stylish hunt for the best to keep their tresses in check. And stick with them. The result is true bespoke beauty guidance and hair updates that make up their signature look over time. Fabulous and ever-prettied-up creative director of fashion line EDIT and host of FASHION television Jeanne Beker (@jeannebeker) looks great, always, and stands by her own man—Gregory Parvatan of Rapunzel Salon in Toronto—who has been her personal hair sage since 1979. That’s love.
I thank my own stylist, Michael at Civello on Queen Street in Toronto who has helped me grow out my once Gaga-inspired, blunt bang-bob into long, amazingly healthy curls and waves. His patience and knack for knowing exactly how much to cut—what I’ve dubbed “the micro-trim” ® has been the result of many, many wow moments among my friends and peers.
Like: “Holy shit, your hair is so longgggg!” It is. And I have Michael to thank for that.
And so, the annual L’Oréal Color Trophy gala (its debut in Toronto) is a giant thank you to the hardworking and talented hair artists across Canada: to award them for their talent and challenge the best in the business with insane on-stage competitions. To call it hair performance art would be an understatement. It was like Cirque du Coiffure or something. I. Got. Chills.
The magic started backstage. As soon as I arrived I was whisked behind a velvet curtain by L’Oreal’s lovely Jill Fowler to get dolled up by four-time Canadian Hairdresser of the Year, Tony Ricci.
Cue Cinderella moment.
The rest was a whirlwind of dinner, drink, dazzle, magic, hypnotism and hair mastery like you’ve never seen.
Check out the Instagram snaps below for an amazing night of hair!
My long, wavy look by Tony Ricci. “Divine dahhhling!”
Pin-curled models backstage. They look cute now but get ready for their glamazon looks!
Stylish girls dress alike: L’Oreal’s Jess Chan (left) and 1Milk2SugarsPR’s Priya Chopra (middle) and yours truly (right) wearing our colours. I’m wearing a fabulous lavender number by TwoBirds.
No time to waste: let the show begin!
Sculptural hair creations, gilded onesies and lots of face glitter. My kind of look.
International ambassador for L’Oréal Professionnel, Eric Zemmour, whips long blond hair into a chic-flaxen short cut and makes every single woman in the room want a long bob. Including me!
Glamazon posse, centre stage. The crowd is mesmerized.
The winners! The prize? A complimentary trip to Paris, the biggest trophy, street and industry cred’ and a whole lot of bragging rights.
Attention all French-obsessed style sleuths! H&M is making Fall 2013 a whole lot more français with its new autumn collaboration with Parisian designer Isabel Marant. Le YAY!
I always look forward to H&M’s collaborations season after season, but this one is making me do cartwheels because Marant is so intuitive about her clothing. And here’s three very important reasons why:
1) She’s a graduate of the famed Studio Berçot. 2) She practically started DIY before it became trendy
(she’d alter and tweak her own clothes in high school) 3) She’s French (style is just intuitive!)
“I always try to create something women want to wear in their everyday lives, with a certain care-free style. I think this is very Parisian: you dress up, but don’t pay too much attention to it and you still look sexy,” says Marant.
Marant’s success started in accessories and then evolved into knitwear. In 1994, she launched her own eponymous collection and today, Marant’s brand of boho, androgynous, rocker chic is the foundation of her success and chain of boutiques worldwide.
Now, with her collaboration with H&M, this amazing style aesthetic will be available en masse and on-the-cheap. The collection—clothing and accessories for women and teens—will be available from November 14th in about 250 stores worldwide. Plus, Marant will launch her first-ever collection for men.
This calls for champagne!
Watch the adorable video below with designer Isabel Marant and H&M below!
Faulhaber: Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
Glynnis Mapp: I’m a Toronto-born journalist. I’ve been dabbling in the trade for about 10 years now (if you count my internships). Typing that just made me feel really old (I’m not). I write fashion, beauty, travel and lifestyle features and I’m the editor at my website, FashionTK.com. I’m a writer, editor, fashion nerd, lover of all things beauty, book geek, listener, talker, lover, fighter, sister, daughter, eater, drinker, dog-lover, audiophile, foodie and all around every day woman. That about sums it up I think.
F: Biggest career highlight? (so far.)
GM: That’s a hard one. There’s so many. I met Michael Kors who is like my fashion spirit animal (whatever that means). Lovely, personable, good shoes, really great skin. I briefly spoke with and met Anna Wintour while covering Paris Fashion Week a while back and she was extremely nice (I should say surprisingly). She was graceful enough to let me take a quick snap of her before the Dior show started in the middle of some serious front-row frenzy. Recently, I’ve been writing for New York-based websiteRefinery29.com and had a big feature on the homepage. It was up there for at least three days (for online geeks that’s a long, damn time). I get a kick out of seeing my byline every time it’s published, really. Like, hey that’s me!
F: Up until this point, what has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned?
GM: Be true to yourself. It’s kind of cheesy saying that because that cliché could easily be found on a T-shirt or one of those desk calendars with cats on them, but it’s extremely useful. I’ve been the most fulfilled when writing on topics I care about, designers I’m obsessed with and reporting on issues that get me so excited they keep me up at night. My work is the strongest when I do that and frankly, I’m much happier.
F: What do you love most about what you do? GM: I get to meet some of the most talented, intelligent—and weird—people in the world. And I get paid to do it.
Read the rest of the interview on Faulhaber’s F-Drive blog HERE.
Musky colognes, fruity eaus: whether they’re celebrity inspired or designer-made there are many a scent on the market that will suit the man in your life.
Wean him off of whatever he’s wearing now (Axe Body Spray or eau de nothing) and get him to spritz on something that spells out his personality and style.
I’ve rounded up nine great scents on AOL Canada’s new fashion and beauty site, StyleList.ca, to help you give your guy a fragrant, fashionable pick-me-up. Scroll through the gallery to check them out.
For the second time, beauty brand Burt’s Bees and Canadian accessories designer Jenny Bird have come together to raise proceeds and awareness about the bee crisis across Canada. Bees are responsible for pollinating 1/3 of the food we eat and help our ecosystem function efficiently.
June is Pollinator Month and as of June 1, the Jenny Bird x Burt’s Bees Wild for Bees bracelet ($24) will be available online at the Jenny Bird and Burt’s Bees websites to help raise money for the cause.
The adorable brass bee-charms are dipped in 14-karat gold. Cute 14-karat bee stud earrings are just $34.
How sweet is that?
Absolutely 100 per cent of the proceeds go to the Pollinator Partnership Canada, a non-profit organization that works to protect and restore populations of pollinator species and is the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to the preservation of the birds, bees, butterflies, beetles, and bats.
Hopefully with each sale, our planet ecosystem will become that much stronger.
Some of benefits of being a freelance editor? Well, there are many but one of the main ones is that you don’t have to break your neck to get out of bed, into the shower, dressed to the nines and dolled up so you can go into “the office” and sit in a greige-coloured cube all day. When I don’t have meetings, many of my pieces are written perched from a Starbucks stool, even more of them I hammer out on my Macbook in my pyjamas at my home office.
It’s pure bliss.
James Perse, the Los Angeles-born brand synonymous with laid-back fashion has a revamped store in Toronto’s trendy Yorkville neighbourhood (18 Hazelton Avenue) and is stocked with lounge-y looks perfect for my particular at-home office and for running errands around town. Super soft T-shirts and pants in a neutral palette of grey, honey beige, light and navy blues and black—the kind of relaxed wear that makes looking comfy look really, really good.
A closet filled with these separates would be a closet from heaven.
Scroll through these relaxed styles and the new store and imagine a life without suits, dress shirts, skirts and ties.
Canadian designer Jeremy Laing dazzles us every season with his edgy collections (read: covetable maxi dresses, flowy sheaths and recently during his Fall 2013 collection at The ShOws, mind-bending textile blends).
He also has perfectly coiled curls (which he says uses no product to create. Life isn’t fair.) and now he’s designed a collection of unisex T-shirts in collaboration with cooler-than-cool Canadian music label, Arts & Crafts—celebrating its 10-year anniversary.
The two have come together to create one-of-a-kind tees in collaboration with Canada’s up-and-coming visual artists. The AC10 collaborations include Niall McClelland and Timber Timbre, Sojourner Truth Parsons and Feist, Jessica Eaton and Broken Social Scene, Jason McLean and Dan Mangan, Derek Sullivan and Arts & Crafts.
All net proceeds go to MusiCounts, non-profit that aims to give all children access to music and musical programs.
Tavi Gevinson BFF and Canadian photo prodigy, Petra Collins(Rookie, Purple Magazine) snapped some dreamy lookbook images below.
Shirts are available at Hudson’s Bay (Queen St. and Bloor St. locations) and online.
Millyhas been a favourite brand of mine since the early 00′s. I’m a huge fan of summer-y textiles (eyelets and linen, yum!) and Milly has used these and many others very well over the years.
Back when I was just an early 20-something style toddler, only select stores in Toronto carried this New York up-and-comer: Aritzia, Holt Renfrew were my two spots to seek out the best from Milly.
Now, Milly’s teamed up with Banana Republic for a sweet, spring-summer collection that hit the floors this week during a special preview and media party at the Toronto Banana Republic store (80 Bloor St.). #YAY
Elephant-print shorts, vibrant maxi dresses and bold, bright floral prints on everything from shorts to shirts—the kind of warm-weather fashion jolt you need this time of year.
One of the brains behind Nine West, Vince Camuto knows how to take a fashion brand and turn it into a household name. Par exemple: his eponymous collections that continue to impress fashion editors and blogger-types season after season.
The brand is growing exponentially, adding accessories and of late expanding into menswear and fragrance. It seems that there’s nothing that Camuto touches that doesn’t turn to retail gold.
See the Fall 2013 Lookbook pages below for a fashionable double-take.
I have a soft spot in my stylish little heart for Ecco Leather. Last year in June, the Danish brand whisked off myself and a handful of other Canadian editors to Amsterdam to personally view the Fall 2012, Spring 2013 and planning sketches and themes for the Fall 2013 collections, plus an exclusive tour of the brand’s tannery.
We basked in Amsterdam’s quintessential to-do’s and the science and style behind making some of the best leathers in the world.
Now, every time I see a new Ecco collection, I remember the process of making the leathers—something I was lucky enough to see first hand. There’s nothing like truly understanding where a garment comes from. It’s that knowledge that makes purchasing a shoe or bag that much more special. To boot (ha, ha) the brand is celebrating 50 years of shoemaking. Bravo!
