Birthday Wish List '07

My girlfriend Alice filed a complaint in person yesterday while we watched the Canucks lose to the Ducks yesterday in Game #3 at Stephanucci's Kitsilano pad.

Apparently, not posting a blog since Wednesday is a fashion felony! Bad Haute Hippie, I know.

So there's much to catch up on -- and I figured since my birthday is coming up at the end of this week, I might as well spout off my bday wish list.

1. This outfit Keren Craig -- design partner of Harvey Weinstein's girlfriend Georgina Chapman -- from Marchesa is wearing. I love the ornate dress over the uber-skinny jeans! Oh, she's the blondie on the very right.





2. The newest Macbook. My little Toshiba mini laptop -- though it's too cute for words -- is as slow as Canuck defenseman Brent Sopel is getting to the puck. I need something sleek and reliable, so I can get my posts up and running anytime and anywhere I get inspired. It's the way of the freelance writer, you know.




3. Ever since I started working with my eco-conscious boss at CRU, I've been finding myself thinking green more than ever. Method cleaning products, bamboo as building material, Edun clothing and this fantastically blouse-y top from Vanessa Bruno. Ok, so it has nothing to do with the environment, but it most certainly is green.





4. Now that I no longer reside in SoCal, I no longer have year-long, beautifully bronzed skin. That's why I need, need, need to buy this bronzing powder compact from Guerlain. Pasty skin at Kits Beach -- a summertime don't.





5. It's finally short shorts season, and though I've already been sporting my woolly ones with opaque tights and boots, it'll be nice to wear cotton or linen ones sans tights and with these sky-high, peep-toe, snakeskin, leg-lengthening wedges from Bottega Veneta.




6. As a fanatical hoarder of huge, chunky jewelry, I think this Fendi logo cuff will fit in quite nicely with my absurdly large collection.






7. Even iPod Nanos need a little tender loving. Since my Griffin iCrap didn't give me the best iPod sound quality on my roadtrip two weekends ago, maybe I'll just blast Fujiya & Miyagi, Bloc Party, Hot Chip and Kaskade from this SpeckTone Retro iPod stereo at mi casa instead.





8. I absolutely adore the vintage purse I adopted from my grandmother, but with summer here, it's time to store away the black and bring out other purse palettes. Since white's the new black, I'll go with this Corto Moltedo Priscilla Luxor shoulder bag -- you can either clutch-and-carry or fold-over and swing from the shoulder. I'm the type of girl that likes options. Of all kinds.




9. Dresses, dresses, dresses! Tunics, shifts, LBD (Little Black Dress), LWD (Little White Dress), tight, flowy and this mini dungaree dress from See by Chloe. First of all, it's in this season's hottest color. Second of all, it's from Chloe. Both of which are reason enough for me to want it badly.





10. Gosh darn, do I ever love wearing heels. But I'd also love not having to visit a podiatrist to fix my heel-ed out feet before I hit thirty-five years old, so I better start breaking out the flats again. And if my flats collection includes this Lallia pair from BCBG, then I won't mind as much at all.






And for those who are wondering how many candles I'm blowing out this year, tough luck.

A real lady never tells her age.


I'm Lovin' it: The prospect of my friend Stephie D. and I landing the two bedroom plus den apartment at The Freesia we viewed last week for a June 1st move-in. No one gets shafted in terms of bedroom size, the place is pretty much brand-spanking new and apparently, the cable has miraculously been free for the tenants currently living there the past eight months. I've been praying to snag this place all weekend, and I'm not even that particularly religious. At all.




I've Over it: Not understanding the reasoning behind why Saturday turned out the way it was apres-Relish Lounge. A quarter of us -- Mikey, Big Brother K, Oli D. and myself -- were absolute superstars that night. Maybe it was my turquoise and white Gucci-esque sheer blouse? I expect a repeat performance for my birthday at Ginger 62 this coming Saturday, but with more participants. Oh yeah, and the LCD Sound System and Hot Chip DJs at Celebrities this Friday, the real day of my cumpleanos (ie. bday in espanol).




Track of the Day: Rocketship by Mood Ruff.This song played on MuchMusic's "Going Coastal" segment last night and now I'm all Kylie Minogue -- I just can't get it out of my head. Apparently the track is a few years old, but who doesn't love love an oldie, but a goodie??









* Photos property of style.com, net-a-porter.com, Google Images, nordstrom.com, clubzone.com, freesialiving.com, moodruff.com, mac.com, guerlain.com

Short and Sweet

Sorry y'all, this has to be short and sweet because I'm running from the office to a work meeting:

GO CANUCKS GO!!! Game one of round two, Vancouver vs. Anaheim tonight...

Also, congrats to my buddy Oli D., who scored just himself a sweet gig at a law firm in NYC. Gonna miss you, my friend!! Enjoy those Manhattans and Cosmos for me...

xoxo
Haute Hippie

Skye High

I couldn't have been more excited to learn that an PR acquaintance of mine down in Newport Beach -- with her new fashion publicity company Beach House PR -- just picked up CC Skye as a client.

The eponymous jewelry collection was lauched a little over three years ago, just after its Gen Art New York-winning designer (named CC Skye, what are the chances?!) returned from a four-month stint in Nepal, living with the locals and studying the shaman. But don't you start labelling Miz CC as the granola type -- before she hit the Himalayas, Skye worked as an associate producer for MTV fashion segments, as well as E! Entertainment Networks.

Like runway shows, each of her collections has a theme: French vintage to glam rock to fantasty couture. Her baubles have quite the following with both layman and celebs -- I don't always fully agree with the self-absorbed lifestyle celebu-tards indulge themselves in, but I fully condone them indulging in pieces from CC Skye.

Rings and bags and cuffs -- oh my!











I'm Lovin' it: Will Ferrell's The Landlord skit. Totally hilarious, totally Will Ferrell, totally made my day.

I'm Over it: Realizing I'm going to miss Game #1 of the Vancouver VS. Anaheim series due to a work meeting. Blast it! Looks like it's highlights in the morning for me.

Find of the Day: A New York lounge-esque online downtempo, funky house radio station through Live 365. It's -- a bit cheesily -- called Swank, but the tunes have kept me awake and happy at work aaaalllll day. Now if I only had a lychee martini, stilettos and vintage clutch to go with it.







* Photos property of ccskye.com, Google Images

My Own Private Oliver

Now I understand why all those New Yorkers buy homes and cottages in the Hamptons.

Sometimes it's good for the soul to get away from the hullaballoo of a big, dirty city and escape to the countryside, where you can build campfires, make S'mores, go canoeing with a BFF, skip rocks and roast smokies at 1 am in the morning.

Ok, so Vancouver isn't quite New York and Oliver isn't quite the Hamptons -- but campfires, s'mores, canoeing, rocks and smokies were certainly part of my itinerary this past weekend.

The trip started out on somewhat of the wrong foot -- all seven of us roadtrippin' past Hope and into the interior had just finished a long, eight hour day at work, only to have to journey for another five hours through Manning Park, the mountains, Keremeos and some other small towns that have never seen an Aritzia, Booster Juice, Cafe Crepe or Geren Ford. Road lines were hard to see, the new Griffin iTrip was more like Griffin iCrap and the copious amounts of Timbits I wolfed down did not sit well in my stomach (probably because I spent most of the week avoiding carbs like Ricky Martin avoids coming out of the closet).

Five hours, one near-collision with a female deer and three repeats of the Night Ripper album from Girl Talk, we made it into the teeny, tiny blip on a map called Oliver and met with our dear friend Meeters in some random high school parking lot, where some of her siblings' friends had broken into a small school bus and where we found her chilling, waiting for our arses to get there.

Us seven very tired and cranky young professionals -- ranging from a social worker to a financial advisor to a fashion photographer to a Masters Degree-holding psychologist -- did not enjoy the prospect of participating in a little neighborhood B & E and fought for our right to go to bed, which we thankfully won at about 1:30 in the morning.

The next day was considererably less stressful -- the two and a half hour personal wine tour we indulged in probably helped take the edge off of, well, everything. I, myself, purchased a fantabulous bottle of white wine from one of our stops and split the cost of a Pinot Grigio that my girl Sushi and I plan on uncorking this coming weekend. Though Vancouver's mega loss in Game 6 was a downer, the delicious home-cooked turkey dinner and ensuing dessert was enough to placate us until Game 7 today. And there's nothing that a little Caramilk Bar S'Mores can't help.

Sunday come around some sadness and sniffles, as we bid farewell to our soon-to-be Eskimo friend Meeters, who's spending an entire yet shelling out chemicals and medicine in the dry (ie. non-alcoholic) town of Rankin Inlet up in the northern Canadian tundras -- terribly unfortunate, but heck, the year will pass just like that anyway. It always does after twenty-three.

If you ever make it to Oliver and back, make sure to stop at Tickleberry's for some fudge and a gander at some tacky souvenirs, but don't get to overly ambitious like me -- after a huge breakfast, some crab from the Charlottes and a couple after dinner (breakfast?) mints, I still managed to buy myself marble fudge and a child's size waffle cone of Rolo ice cream (more like a heffer version, honestly it was huge)...all within the span of an hour and a half. Diet starts today, trust me.

So though Haute Hippie didn't necessarily go camping -- I did sleep indoors -- I was definitely camp-ish. Just don't count the hairdryer I lugged along with me.

And one the best things about my roadtrip?

Getting to wear flats for three days straight.






I'm Lovin' it: Me. Box Seats. Game 7 of the Vancouver VS. Dallas hockey series. Free food and drinks. Thank you Tom Tom, I owe you my life.

I'm Over it: Five minutes left in this work day.

Guilty Pleasure Track of the Day: Song #4 on the newest Rihanna CD. I'm too sheepish to name the song -- but it's something about ridin' and dyin' with your man. So Bonnie and Clyde.

Roadtrippin'

Tonight I'm roadtrippin' to Oliver (an extremely small town in the heart of BC that is decidedly so un-Haute Hippie-ish) with a group of pals.

And when I say small, I mean seriously small. Driving through the downtown core takes about two and a half minutes, if that.

My girl Meeters is moving to Nunavut (Northwest Territories, where Lanvin and United Bamboo do not exist) to take a pharmacy job up there for a year -- and to come back with a huge whack of dough for doing it after her term is done.

Doing some work-related research at the office today, I found two obi-like outfits that I love from the Missoni Spring 2007 collection -- and that probably you won't be find in Nunavat any time soon.

I will, however, cave in and buy a pair of Mukluks (platforms will just not do) in case I ever have to fly up north to visit a certain pharmacist friend.






I'm Lovin' it: The anticipation of buying a Griffin iTrip after work for the road -- my Nano has been seriously neglected lately, now that I've got my set of wheels back.

I'm Over it: The fact that we'll be arriving in Oliver at 1 am. Oh, and the fact that I'm missing "RBVF" -- better known as Red Bull Vodka Friday, a slick new end-of-week term jointly coined by myself and my best guy friend Big Brother K. "TGIF" is so out.

Un-Track of the Day: This gratingly terrible song from the 1920s that my graphic designer co-worker Nicky P. insists on playing over and over again today, solely to annoy the heck out of me. I suppose it's punishment for me playing my house and electronica music all the time -- Nicky's from The Ridge, so he prefers hard rock and death metal. For my SoCal readers, The Ridge is Vancouver's equivalent of the 909.

In-Vince-ible

Vince McMann rules the WWF. Vince Chase owns his Entourage and all of Hollywood. Vince Vaughn dumped Jennifer Aniston AND has Owen Wilson as a best friend.

While male Vinces take over the world, I'm quite content dealing with the clothing line Vince -- the perfect casually sophisticated brand to wear now that the summer's nearly here. Check out the colorblocked dress, breezy tanks and more forward white button-ups (definitely not Club Monaco 90s-style).

Easily to slip on, a cinch to accessorize and perfect for going from work to play, this Vince is one thing I'd love to have on my style side.

And maybe Vince Vaughn on my arm, too -- 'cause that would be so money, baby.











I'm Lovin' it: Happy, happy, happy is what I am when I catch wind or am informed of a great upcoming sample sale. For those who adored Lacoste, Dish, Buffalo, Sweet & Toxic, Colcci and Apartment, now is the time to have it -- discounted, at that, too. Fluid -- located in the style haven that is the FX Fashion Exchange building on Glen Drive -- is having a huge sample sale starting next week.

I'm Over it: My best guy friend is going to the Game #5 of the Vancouver Canucks VS. Dallas Stars playoff series. And I'm not. GO CANUCKS GO!!!

Artist of the day: Once upon a time, Serge Gainsbourg (music icon of the 60s and 70s) got together with Jane Birkin (60s and 70s actress/model/girl-about-town/namesake for that famous Hermes Birkin bag) and created Charlotte Gainsbourg. Charlotte grew up to become a talented actress (21 Grams and the Science Of Sleep), fashion darling (check out all the press hits she's been getting across style publications) and acclaimed songstress with her newest, platinum-in-France album 5:55. This ethereal album is musically-backed by Air, jointly lyricized by Gainsbourg and Jarvis Cocker, and produced by Nigel Godrich, whose roster includes Radiohead, Beck and Paul McCartney. Gainsbourg's voice is sexy, sultry and girly all at once. Kind of like a naughty schoolgirl.





www.myspace.com/charlottegainsbourg


* Photos property of myspace.com/charlottegainsbourg, shopbop.com

Let's Do 'Shrooms

All I hear about nowdays is, "Omigod, did you know so-and-so just got engaged?!"

I suppose it's around the time when your friends start dropping like flies from singledom and start shacking up with their significant others.

Then comes the proposal -- hopefully utterly romantic, surprising, original and unembarassing.

Then the ring -- hopefully a big, fat, modern-looking platinum princess or emerald cut.

Then the wedding -- my favorite part, because it's just like a night out at the university campus bar with your friends all over again...only with relatives, cake, champagne and possibly children.

One of the single most important elements of a wedding -- for the bride at least -- is the dress. Most betrothed girls I talk to often go hunting with a clear picture of their dream frock in mind, but end up just knowing "the dress" once it's on. As for me, I go back and forth on what type of dress I want: Tiered? Form-fitting? Flowy and fluid? Strapless? Halter? Big-bottomed? Monique Lhuillier? Vera Wang? Angel Sanchez? Reem Acra? Carolina Herrera?

Speaking of Carolina Herrera, I also go back and forth on this dress from her new bridal collection.

'Shrooms may be Friday night fun for high-schoolers, but I'm not too sure if mushroom silhouettes spell matrimonial fun for brides.

And if only it were as simple for women to know which guy is the one the same way as it is knowing which wedding dress is the one...






I'm Lovin it: The Vancouver Art Gallery event I'm hitting up tonight with my boss and two clients. Mixing and mingling with art-minded young professionals seems like a pretty fun, new way to spend a Wednesday evening. Sorry, America's Next Top Model. At least you re-run on Sunday nights.

I'm Over it: I used to be able to lie in bed and read for a good thirty minutes before nodding off to sleep. This year, I'll be turning fours years away from thirty and lately finding myself waking up at 5 or 6 am with latest the fashion magazine sitting on my face -- Vanity Fair's 2nd Anuual Green Issue was the publication of choice last night -- with the lights still on, wondering what the hell happened. My body just ain't what it used to be compared to last year.

Mix-Up of the Day: Girl Talk is a sample master, managing to turn dozens of samples in to full, absolutely dance-able songs -- which I will be shaking it to this June 9th at Richards on Richards. Now the man behind GT -- Gregg Gillis -- has joined musical forces with drummer Frank Musarra to form Trey Told Em. As the newest and hottest music collabo on the scene, the boys remixed Tokyo Police Club's Cheer It On. Completely worth the download.






* Photos property of fashionweekdaily.com, myspace.com/treytoldem

Gap-Tooth

Doo.Ri, mistress of flowing jersey. Rodarte, sister team of details, details, details. Thakoon, pint-sized master of black and metallics.

Three CFDA/VOGUE Fashion Fund winners and three guest designers for the Gap's Design Editions, in which the single design ingredient -- Iron Chef style -- is the color white.

Supermodel trio of Liya Kebede, Carmen Kass and Stella Tennant prance and jump in the super-affordable looks for the campaign, but if you're late to the punch -- like me -- you'll only find large and extra-large sizes left online.

My only hope is that Gap stores here in Canada bring in collection, and no one will really pick up on it.

Like Brittany Murphy in "Don't Say A Word": "I'll never teeellll...."















I'm Lovin' it: Chip & Pepper!! Their version of the shortalls is the bomb, y'all.







I'm Over it: Not being able to score Big Brother K and I tickets to Peter Bjorn and John at Zulu Records or Scratch Records. And by the number of "tickets wanted" posts on Craigslist, a lot of other people in town are raring to go to this show, too. What's even worse is that we just found out Fujiya & Miyagi are opening up for PB and J. Arrrrrrgh.





Track of the Day: Bloc Party's cover of Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right". Odd? Yes. Dope song? For sure.






* Photos property of gap.com, Google Images

Graffiti Gangsta

Conde Nast and graffiti?!

Who knew that Vogue's online sister Style.com would ever do a feature on graffiti artists?? But it has. Once an underground counter-culture and still completely illegal, graffiti has really hit a high note with the fashion industry. Big name brands -- Adidas and LeSport Sac included -- have commissioned top dawg spray-can artists to do major projects. Graffiti-ists such as Banksy, Miss Van and Shepard Fairey are raking in the dough by selling their wares on canvas. Street-art sites like Wooster Collective have tons and tons of regular readers -- myself included (all the newsletters I get from them get a read-through, then get dropped into a special folder in my Hotmail account for future reference purposes).

Some may say these graffiti gurus are selling out, kind of like how Outkast sold out by going from a golden album like Aquemini to a stank album like, well, Stankonia.

I say it's great. And seeing their work get so much props is the freshest thing to happen on the art scene since Warhol silk-screened Elizabeth Taylor.

Vogue Goes Street







Man of the Day: From Breaker High to Young Hercules to Remember The Titans to The Believer to The Slaughterhouse Rule to Murder By Numbers to The Notebook to Oscar-nominated Half Nelson to Fracture -- with Sir Anthony Hopkins, at that. Ryan Gosling, Canadian and international man of the day. And the year. And my life. Damn that cutie-pie Rachel McAdams for being his (rumored) fiancee. Well, hot Canadian couples rule anyway. Cue Hollywood swoon.







* Photos property of gothamist.com, splendora.com

Getting Gas-y

BP -- the rebranded name for British Petroleum -- is jumping on the green bandwagon.

Right on the corner of Olympic and Robertson Boulevards in Los Angeles, BP opened up its Helio House, made up entirely of green (ie. eco-friendly) building materials from solar panels to a green roof to farmed wood to motion sensor lights to concrete floors mixed with recycled glass to LED lighting to recycling bins to an environmentally-knowledgeable staff (in specially designed BP jumpsuits by Earnest Sewn (each hand-sewn in white with stripes in BP green and yellow).

Each gas pump is labelled good, better and best -- replacing the regular, premium and super premium categories.

But the best part of all is getting handed a postcard-size piece of recycled paper, not only imprinted with tips on how to save the environment but containing seeds in the paper pulp so that you can plant the postcard and watch flowers grow.

That way if there's no one currently bringing you flowers, you already have some of your very own.










I'm Lovin' it: My friend Sher and I went shopping on Saturday in Gastown -- post-brunch with the usual crew at Provence Marinaside -- managing to make our way into The Block on West Cordova (we both had headaches, thanks to an ambitious Friday night out). There we spotted the best ever tan Kit "wellie" flat boot from Loeffler Randall -- the top of the boot has a sweet "D" buckle and the sole has an ever-so-slight wedge to give the wearer just a little altitude. Check out the Loeffler Spring 2007 collection line sheet on their site for a snapshot.

I'm Over it: Vancouver girls who just can't get out of their Lululemons. Lulus are gym and yoga-wear only! Ok, and also lounging around the house-wear, too. But only on rainy days. Let's see a little style effort, m' dear local ladies.





Track of the Day: "As Above So Below" by The Klaxons. Simply put, UK bands rule! It's poppy, psychedelic indie -- kind of like The Killers with an English accent and more background noises to titillate your eardrums. They'll be rolling into town this month on the 22nd at Richards on Richards, and just landed the "Night Out With" column in the New York Times' Fashion & Style section. Gotta dig the way they shout out Carrie Bradshaw in the piece, too.









* Photos property of worldchanging.com, nytimes.com, Google Images