RUDSAK @ World MasterCard Fashion Week

This year, I didn't get too involved with Toronto's World MasterCard Fashion Week—it was a busy, busy week. But I did manage to go to a few shows, thanks to a friend who invited me along.

Fashion folks flocked to David Pecault Square, the hub of the city's best dressed and I saw many familiar faces. We checked out the Soia & Kyo, Caitlin Power and RUDSAK shows. The first two were good, but I was absolutely in love with everything that came down the RUDSAK runway. So, since I had a stellar spot for that show and it was my favourite, I'll just share some of my RUDSAK pics.

LAUNCH | The Collection - Starring Kate Bosworth

Topshop launched their latest collaboration, this time with the gorgeous Kate Bosworth. She stars in The Collection, the winter capsule collection featuring pieces that perfectly reflect her own personal style, combining masculine and feminine, over-sized and fitted.

"The collection is tailored and classic. For fall, we wanted to create luxurious pieces with a strong minimalist approach. Slim silhouettes are cloaked in a masculine shape, staying true to the mix of masculine/feminine balance that exists in my personal aesthetic." - Kate Bosworth

Take a look at these fun campaign photos shot by Michael Polish:

UPCOMING | Meet Alexa Chung

I love everything about Alexa Chung—her amazing sense of style, her British wit and her quirky charm. She's effortlessly cool and I admire how she's been able to succeed in so many different areas of the industry. She's not just a fashion face or a television host, she does it all. And now to add to that impressive list, she has written a book.

Photo via Twitter

IT by Alexa Chung is definitely on my reading list. It's everything that we love about Alexa Chung, compiled into a pretty pink book.

AND you have a chance to get your copy signed and meet the one and only style icon, live and in-person in New York City. She'll be making an appearance at BOOKMARC in the West Village (400 Bleecker Street) this Wednesday, October 30 from 6-8pm. Although I won't be there *sobs* I hope you all are able to make it!

- Christina
Follow my adventures on Twitter: @christinaaa28

EXHIBIT | Write Of Passage

I've always been a fan of street art—I'm always the straggler in the group who has to stop to take photos of any cool artwork I stumble upon throughout the city. Not only are they cool to look at, but I love how there's much more that goes into it. Although I didn't get to visit 5 Pointz during my last visit to NYC and I missed out on that whole secret Banksy sale in Central Park, I did get to check out a new graffiti exhibit called Write Of Passage.

Curated by Mass Appeal and housed in the Red Bull Studios (218 W. 18th Street, between 7th and 8th Aves.), the space is turned into a hub of history and culture, with the help of a long list of exhibitors. The exhibit kicked off to the public on Saturday, October 19th and it's open every Saturday from 1pm-5pm until November 23rd.

The exhibit takes you through to the roots of this often misunderstood art form. Full of history, the Redbull Studios is transformed into a place that aims to foster a dialogue surrounding graffiti—there are also workshops and speakers.

Take a look:

We Are Scientists @ CMJ 2013

Last week, I ventured out to The Brooklyn Bowl to check out a stellar lineup from The Windish Agency for an energetic CMJ showcase. After head-nodding, swaying, and dancing along to Bonzie, In The Valley Below, Wardell and Small Black, I was ready to see the coolness that is We Are Scientists, live and up close. The whole audience was anxiously waiting for Keith Murray and Chris Cain to hit the stage—I could tell there were a lot of WAS fans ready to rock out.
The Brooklyn-based duo recently released their Business Casual EP (Oct.15), which features these five tracks:

1. Dumb Luck
2. Return The Favor
3. Good Answer
4. Courage (demo)
5. Take My Breath Away

 Check out their latest video for "Return The Favor"

Take a look at some of my snaps from the show:

Small Black @ CMJ 2013

Photo via www.small-black.com

It was cool to see Brooklyn-based band Small Black performing in their hometown during The Windish Agency CMJ showcase at The Brooklyn Bowl. They just got back from a European tour. Made up of Ryan Heyner, Josh Hayden Kolenik, Juan Pieczanski, Jeff Curtin, the guys had a ton of energy and it was a fun set. They released their album "Limits of Desire" earlier this year.

Check out their latest video:

Here are some of my pics from the show:

Wardell @ CMJ 2013

Photo via wardellmusic.com

So this next band that hit the Brooklyn Bowl stage last week was a cool brother-sister duo who go by the name Wardell. Made up of Sasha and Theo Spielburg, Wardell is a Los Angeles-based band that makes awesome and fun music. You know what else is cool? These siblings are the offspring of film legends Steven Spielburg and Kate Capshaw. Talk about a power family.

At the CMJ showcase, they seriously had so much fun up on the stage. I was definitely dancing along. I love their song "Opossum" - take a listen:

UPCOMING | Delicious Food Show

For all you foodies out there, be sure to check out the upcoming Delicious Food Show happening this weekend from October 25-27 at the Better Living Centre. Head over for tons of exhibitors, special guests, tastings, and maybe walk out of there with lots of new ideas to bring to your own kitchen!

The show will be featuring a huge variety of culinary companies - giving you access to the best in food, cooking and entertaining. It's going to be a jam-packed three-day event that you can't pass up!

Here are the schedules for the guests who will be making an appearance at the Food Network Celebrity Kitchen, including the one and only Martha Stewart!

In The Valley Below @ CMJ 2013

LA-based In The Valley Below took to the stage and I was instantly intrigued by their pioneer-ish outfits. As soon as they got started I was drawn into their dreamy sound and fell in love with their music. The duo of Angela Gail and Jeffrey Jacob is just awesome—they seem so cool. Take a listen:

Check out my pics from the show:

Bonzie @ CMJ 2013

I made sure to check out at least one CMJ showcase last week while I was in town and I'm super pleased with my choice of covering The Windish Agency showcase at the Brooklyn Bowl.

The first performance of the night was Bonzie. Fronted by the bright-eyed beauty Nina Ferraro, the alternative/indie band took the stage and kicked off the showcase on a high note. I was really impressed by her voice, it had a bit of a magical youthfulness mixed with sophistication and sense of soulfulness beyond her years. They just released their debut album "Rift Into The Secret Of Things" in August.

Take a listen:

Check out some of my photos from the set:

NYC Fall 2013

As you have probably noticed, I have an ongoing love affair with New York City. It's truly the one place that makes me so happy that I can wander around aimlessly with a smile that just won't go away. I'm 100% sure that I'll be living there someday, but until then, I'm just making as many trips out there as possible.

I just got back from a visit during my fall reading week break from school, and it was beautiful over there—perfect autumn weather. Take a look at how I spent my five days in the Big Apple.

Techweek Part 3: Fashion Meets Tech, The Runway Show

When I heard there was going to be a fashion show at the Techweek event I was attending on October 17th, I got super excited. I love when a couple of my interests overlap—in this case, fashion and technology. From the summits throughout the day, I heard from a lot of people behind huge fashion brands, including DKNY and Michael Kors, so it was really cool to incorporate a runway show to end off the evening. Brands such as Rachel Roy, StyleSaint, Gemma Kahng and DKNY hit the catwalk.

Take a look:

Techweek Part 2: The LAUNCH Competition

In addition to the great speakers who took the stages at Techweek NYC, there was also the LAUNCH Startup Competition. Thirty startups were set up with booths in the venue and had the opportunity to present their businesses to investors, innovators and media throughout the day. The top five were then selected to present to a panel of judges for the chance to win the grand prize of $100,000.

Techweek NYC Part 1 - The Summit

I attended this year's first-ever Techweek in NYC and was super excited to hear a great lineup of speakers, meet some cool entrepreneurs and learn a lot more about the tech scene in New York City. The conference took place on Thursday, October 17 in SoHo and it brought out a huge variety of attendees, from media and business owners to investors and all-around tech lovers.

Audience Life: Bethenny

I've had the pleasure of being a part of many different audiences so far and although someday I'd love to be in front of the camera, you gotta start somewhere right? I try to visit as many studios/TV sets so that I can see behind-the-scenes and learn about what goes into the production of some of my favourite shows. In Toronto, I've checked out Steven & Chris, George Stroumboulopoulos, and New.Music.Live and in New York I've been to Nikki & Sara Live and the Katie Couric show, just to name a few. Most recently, I got to add Bethenny to the list.

Formerly known from the hit show The Real Housewives of New York, Bethenny Frankel has become her own brand, working hard as a mother and entrepreneur. She launched her line of Skinnygirl Cocktails and has landed her own TV talk show thanks to her pal Ellen DeGeneres.

Thanksgiving in Vancity

Since moving to Toronto for school, the timing has never worked out for me to head back to the west coast for Thanksgiving. This year was different though. It just so happened that Thanksgiving fell during my fall reading week, so I jumped on the chance to head home for a family Thanksgiving meal (aka, FAMILY, FEED ME!) and escape from Toronto for a little bit. 

 I left TO bright and early and hung out in Air Canada's cool Maple Leaf Lounge

 Not too shabby! Such a great and relaxing atmosphere - complete with magazines, food and drinks.

*Side note - prior to making the trek out west, I hadn't actually told any of my friends that I was coming for a visit, so I had a couple surprises in store

 My friends had no idea, so it was nice to show up outta nowhere, like here at Starbucks.

 We went for bubble tea, obviously. And I had lychee green tea in case you were wondering. Ps, lychees are my favourite, so this was pretty heavenly, especially after a long day of traveling.

 I spent a lot of time in Gastown because a) it has such a cool vibe and b) it's so much better than Surrey. I went into a store called OAK + FORT and fell in love with everything there. I made the mistake of trying on a coat and not wanting to take it off.

Gastown, so pretty in the fall

 My dad and I bonded at the Canucks game on Saturday night. LEFT: Canucks alum Trevor Linden was doing signings for fans outside before the game. RIGHT: Inside the Rogers Arena.

The story behind this puck:

When my dad and I arrived at the arena, the warmups had just gotten started. We were sitting in our seats in section 114 and were just settling in. The next thing I knew, I turned to my dad and see him touching his head in confusion and he had blood on his hands. I freaked out and had no idea what just happened. Apparently a player's puck had made it over the netting and up high enough to get to our section, managing to hit my dad in the head. He got up to go to the washroom, but the host in our section told him to sit as she called first aid. Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of blood, and my dad even joked around that it was because of his thick head of hair. A guy sitting a couple rows back happened to catch the puck and handed it over to us "at least you get a souvenir!" - pretty hilarious.

Once first aid arrived, they took us to the medical room and cleaned him up. They were going to send him to the hospital to get stitches but, being the huge hockey fan that he is, his response? "I'm not missing this game!" (they were playing Montreal). So my dad was a trooper and stayed for the entire game; he was totally fine. The folks at the Rogers Arena were super nice, even giving him a free T-shirt and buying us both a beer (of course, they asked to confirm that I was indeed over the age of 19, sighhh the life of a baby face). Anyways, that was an interesting night and a funny story my dad will be telling for quite some time.

 LEFT: My stylish little cousin. He's pretty much my favourite human being.
RIGHT: My incredibly tall 14-year-old sister who is often thought of as "the older sister"....no.

 We took some fun fall fashion photos! Why not? Side note - these black boots are a top-notch thrift store find. My mom is the queen of thrifting; she found these amazing Topshop beauties for less than $25. Thanks mom!

 On the morning of my last day in the city, my friends (and her dog Obi!) were kind enough to wake up early and meet up for breakfast. Yes, McDonald's obvs. 

I went to the airport super early to take advantage of the Maple Leaf Lounge once again, and to get some work done. I wish this is what my work set-up always looked like:

Anyways, it was such a nice visit home - next up: NYC!

- Christina
Follow my adventures on Twitter: @christinaaa28