Archive for July, 2010
Traditional Toreador Costume
Ok, so we all love men in tight pants. Are we agreed? Add silver and gold tread, pink and orange capes, heart stitching and pretty buttons and my heart goes pitter patter.
Photo: La Presse Canadienne /Rafa Rivas Corrida espagnole
I love the hot pink tights! It is a moment of glory when hot pink tights are a symbol of masculinity and dominance.
The love and detail that goes into costume making is very different from all the assembly line of fashion production. These garments are made tight so that there is less material for the bulls horns to catch on. I love the embroidery. I love the embellishments. I love the tassels and pom poms. The layers! The capes! The little hats! I love that there can be a ritual for men to get this glamed up and that this much pomp can actually contribute to their sense of masculine power.
black and white toreador portraits by photographer: Christian Courreges
The Catalan people have recently voted to stop bull fighting. They are breaking with tradition and choosing to move forward into a cruelty-free world. They are courageous and I have great admiration for the willingness to evolve. Congratulations!
Down with needless torture of innocent animals. Down with the idea that we are not animals ourselves. Down fear of the other.
Cheers to men in tights. Cheers for playing dress up! Cheers to ornate fabulousness. Lets find a better reason for men to get this dressed up. End the blood….. Keep the fashion!
Torro! Torro!
julie andrews in the sound of music
I love the sound of music. I love Julie Andrews in the movie. I love that the movie hammers home the idea that kids need to be respected and that they will love you forever if you love them, listen to them, have fun with them and sing and dance. And that discipline can be achieved with playfulness and love easier than with strictness and punishment. I wish I could always parent like Julie’s character Maria.
this is a you tube “sound of music” video in a train station in Antrwirp Belgium. The surprised look on people’s faces is real. They didn’t know what was comeing. This is one of my all time favorite videos out there on the web. This video made a good number of the women on the Katrin Leblond team cry when they fist saw it. I won’t say who.
The sound of music reminds us to sing and dance every day and anywhere.
Julie Andrew’s sets style cues with her character in the movie. She was practical and yet still playful, feminine and fun. The Sound of Music was set in the 1930′s but filmed in 1965. Here are some 1950′s dresses we love that depart from but still somehow suggest a bit of frauline Maria’s style.
It was all about showing off a cinched waist and full skirt. This style in particular has a bubble hem which adds even more fullness. It is so blue and fabulous.
This simplicity pattern has a stand up collar, v-neck and tie at the waist wrap skirt with a perfect A-Line that ends just below the knee.
Ahhh... cuffed sleeves! Oh so really red vintage dress!
And NOW the update: here are some brand new contemporary dresses that we have in the store. Express your hip, sleek, professional and oh-so-fashion forward 1950′s flair. Perfect for the feminine urban working woman.
The Genia dress is made in Toronto.
Exclusively available in Montreal at Boutique Katrin Leblond. Available in denim and red . $168 sizes 6,8,10,12. Warning these sizes are smaller than their label suggests.
Tap Dogs is Australian Dein Perry’s gritty and inventive dance show set on the scaffolding of a construction sight. It is dangerous and exciting and full of fast footed surprises!
We LOVED dressing the Tap Dogs beautiful Stage Manager Sadie Wannamaker in a stunning pink Katrin Leblond Athena dress and some jazzy Elizabeth Johnston earrings. Everyone knows the stage manager makes everything run smoothy, managing the cues, the talent, the drama and the action. So we are so glad Sadie treated herself with a dress that was clearly made for her.
See you at the show!
show times:
Check them out this week, July 27-31st:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 8pm
Saturday 4pm, 8pm
at Places des Arts
Aya and Kat designed a dress in one mornig for Aya’s “Bal en Blanc” (that means the white ball) for Aya’s graduation from Daycare Ceremony.
She was soooo proud of herself.
She asked me if I cried when I watched her do her Song and dance with the rest of the kids in her group.
I did.
Lovin’ the cowgirl style!
Here’s a new goddess dress that Kat designed for high summer August weddings and parties.
It has a layer of ivory silk chiffon over a soft jersey lining. The embellishments are all silk and beadwork and lace.
And of course some Bridal bibis…we love headpieces!
Summer heat is still here.
Now you are tanned.
This is the time to wear white and ivory and feel like a fairy queen.
Cute, sexy and all textiles!
I found these amazing photos while surfing the net.
I dedicate these to all the indie-rock hipsters of mile-end who do not like ruffles and flowers.
If you ever want to express your feminine, gypsy self, I’ll be there for you.
Until then…enjoy being your “indie-rock hipster of mile end” self, enjoy your perfect body, enjoy working part time and enjoy being able to party all night.
Those are just temporary benefits of being 20….
I can guarantee though…
It just gets better!
What we are doing is real. It really impacts the community and sometimes that community is my husband (owner and chef of Restaurant Aux Vivres) and sometimes it’s my little brother Nick (artist, photographer and co-owner of Big Dog Screen printing). As an entrepreneur I feel more politically empowered than I ever did as a feminist, activist, or animal rights worker (yes, I have done all of those things). I have the decision making power of every cent I spend. I choose to buy locally made fabric. I choose to buy organic locally made fabric. I choose locally made thread, zippers and buttons too. Yes, it is more expensive than imported equivalents, but I can guarantee it is better quality and it comes with soul. When I switched to local thread, all of my machines started running better and needed to be re-threaded less often. The amount of people that those decisions affect are a ripple of local workers, salespeople and small businesses.
Oh, and I also only do business with people I like!
Let the good vibes flow.
Here is a little peek into the screen printing studio of my little brother Nick. Studio Big Dog printed the patches for my scout costumes at Circus Smirkus. His partner Carlos illustrated them.
This is not a unique Montreal story. Many of the artists and designers we have in the boutique are living from their art with the help of local shop-owners. We are a city of creative people.
My little brother is celebrating his birthday today. I love you Nick.
Studio Big Dog
5333 Casgrain, #416
Montreal, QC
Canada H2T 1X3,
Tel: 514 358 7007
contact@studiobigdog.com
Hand made in Montreal, Laura Fafard Bags.
Made from vintage recycled ties in eco friendly high fashion style.
Store your most precious valuables and tote them around town wherever you go. These bags are so hip in their deconstructed shaping. Crafty high art! I love the vintage button details.
I love the sentimentality of vintage prints. This bag is so sweet. I like it’s femininity. It would fit so nicely into a warm toned late summer, early fall, wardrobe. Carry it with you for a walk up the mountain or a trip out of town to pick some apples.
This one is bright and cheery and needs to go with you to a breakfast brunch “resto rendez vous” on the weekend.
Bags are my favorite accessories these days. You get lots of bang for your accessory money when you buy a bag. It takes up lots more space than some of the other finishing touches we reach for when completing our looks. Bags really impact your overall look and fashion expression when you are walking down the street.
Plus you can carry stuff in it. Bonus!
The dressing room.
We share so much with the ladies in our change rooms. It is an intimate thing to get undressed with someone nearby. Me, on the other side of the curtain coaxing and encouraging this game of exploration and play: Come and play dress up with me!
It really takes a leap of faith to try on clothes. To get down to your nickers and your skin and put something new on. For me, on the boutique-side of the curtain, it is especially fun to imagine what would look nice and and what would fit you, the lady in the dressing room. Sometimes I’ll bring a handful of hangers to the change room. Sometimes you’ll find something you would never have tried on and you’ll love it.
I am often deeply touched by the confidences that we share. The things we say to each other. The tears are real. The love is real.
I love colour and I enjoy converting black and grey clad Montrealers to my palettes of purple and red, teal and green. 
Mothers and Daughters are an especially fun duo to have in change rooms side by side. Finding outfits across generations and across sizes (xs all the way to XL). We can do it. We can dress you both and make sure you both feel totally self expressed in the clothing you choose.
How about it?
How about coming to play dress up?
Opening Hours (or call for a custom styling appointment 514-678-9616)
M-T-W 10-6
Th-F 10-9
Saturday 10-7
Sunday 11-6
I am blown away! I am in awe. I feel humbled by the dresses, the background and the props. The scene that has been created is just incredible.
Nature will never fail you. When you are sad, angry, happy, rageful…Nature is a place you can take every emotion you have and She will welcome you. Especially great is really exerting yourself in nature. Getting sweaty and dirty and hot. Chopping wood, lifting rocks, shovelling earth. These activities may not be good for your back, but ladies they are good for the soul!
Last week I saw a mama deer and a baby deer drinking water by the lake. The baby was jumpy, like a little puppy, hopping around in the mud.
I am a rock collector. Not shells and not pressed leaves. Rocks and sometimes they get quite large. When I am travelling my pockets inevitably fill with stones…and a few of them always make it home with me.
Arts and crafts are another place where I can be myself. Uninhibited craft therapy. Remember your tools in your emotional toolkit. You learned what makes you happy a long time ago. Playing in piles of leaves and painting with your fingers. Remember? Try it again. See how it feels.
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