How I (Sometimes) Spend my Saturday Afternoons…

If there one thing I have learned in my professional life, it's that photo shoots never quite follow the nine-to-five routine.  Try as you might to steer them in a particular direction, they seem to have a mind of their own, and that mind frequently runs to having themselves happening on weekends, or running to 3:00 am. (Which is OK, because the creative mind doesn’t really work its best 9 to 5 anyway.)

That’s how, one lovely sunny Saturday afternoon last month, I found myself at Downtown Marina with a crew (no pun intended) of fabulous fashion professionals (including photographer Caitlyn Chapman, above) shooting swimwear for the summer edition of ICON Okanagan, using quite possibly the most beautiful boat I have ever seen – a 1939 vintage teak Chris Craft. (Thanks Peter Middleton and Absolute Classics Marine!)

We had the loveliest selection of clothes and accessories too: swimwear from Celladora and Esteem Lingerie, sunglasses from Wink i Wear and vintage hats and bags from Georgie Girl. I seriously covet the Rash guard top and retro short bottoms we shot from Vitamin A, although I think I will have to hit the gym with a vengeance if they are ever to look a fraction as good on me as they did on our lovely DEJAVU model Holly.

 

Of course, in typical shoot fashion, the minute we were ready to go the wind whipped up to semi-hurricane proportions, making our makeshift changing tent of two beach towels and a sheet a little bit tricky for the model, and those who were holding it.  But we persevered and the results are really quite lovely, as you can see for yourself in the new edition of ICON – out now.

Spring Forward...

With spring comes sunshine, daffodils and a whole new fashion season. What better way to celebrate the latter than by shooting some of the best that Kelowna has to offer, with some of the best that Kelowna has to offer, for some of the best Kelowna has to offer.

I love a good fashion shoot, and when it is promoting local talent and products, even better. The clothes came from local boutiques koLu, La Bonne Vie, Justin Paul Fashions, Jigsaw, and MacDermott's Men's Wear, topped off with some great eyewear from Wink i Wear; we also sourced a great new wooden handbag line being distributed locally called Nussbags.

Then we got together local talent like photographer Caitlyn Chapman, make up artist Sheleah Jay Bradley from SJB Make-up, hair stylist Alyssa from AMP Hairstyling, and models Emilee and Dayton from local agency Deja Vu Model Management. And all of this in aid of creating the spring fashion pages for the next issue of Kelowna-based lifestyle magazine 'Icon Okanagan'.

How great is it that the Okanagan has this kind of talent pool, and these kind of resources to pull from. The results were fabulous and the photos will be featured in the next issue of Icon, which will be out around town (and towns up and down the Okanagan) in mid-August.

Really... What better way to spend a Friday night?!

Looking at the World Through Fabulous Glasses...

Once upon a time, I was working in Paris and spending some free time roaming around that gorgeous city.  I found myself outside the Alain Mikli store, utterly entranced by the coolest eyeglass frames ever.  They were a wonderfully geeky rectangular shape, but the biggest selling point was the fact they were made from polished, beautifully grained wood.  Sadly, they were out of my price range at the time, especially having just replaced my prescription a few months previously.  But they have never been forgotten, and they have remained the holy grail of eyewear for me ever since.

As someone who has been blind as a bat since pre-adolescence, glasses have played a big part in my life. And, being a fashionista'ish-type person, fashionable frames even more so.  I am constantly on the hunt for fabulous, flattering eyewear wherever I go - refer to above paragraph. So how happy am I to have discovered Wink i Wear in the Mission Park Shopping Centre? In a word. Very.

Open since April of this year, owner Laura Draycott has amassed an amazing array of fashionable frames from around the world in her eyewear boutique. Lines like JF Rey (France), Etnia Barcelona (Spain), MOSCOT and Le Rocher (both New York) are flying off the shelves and onto the noses of Kelowna's fashionable.  Frames generally range in price from $250 to $500, but - if you are feeling very flush and exclusive - can range up to $1600 for a pair of glasses made from real gold with 0.45K of diamonds and buffalo horn temples.  Now you won't get that at Specsavers.



As a big fan of retro eyewear, I especially love that Wink i Wear has a whole section devoted to vintage frames. Authentic vintage frames, that is, not modern knockoffs, sourced mainly from Germany and the UK. "I have always loved vintage eyewear, it makes me feel connected to the past. I have collected it for years," says Laura.  "When entertaining at home I would break out my vintage eyewear collection for our guests to try on and play with.  It was always a huge hit, and I felt that I was not alone in my love for classic eyewear."



Laura's mission is to provide cool flattering frames to the Okanagan, and she is succeeding at pace. "All customers are looking for something that looks great on them," explains Draycott. " Many want eyewear that makes a statement, and sets them apart from the crowd.  I've had many customers who have been everywhere in the Okanagan, and come defeated to my store because they cannot find something they love.  It's so fun to help them, because their new issue becomes having to choose just one frame, and in some cases they end up purchasing multiple pairs of eyeglasses!"

Yup. I'm already worried that I may well fall into this final category. Better get talking to the bank manager.

Wink i Wear

Mission Park Shopping Centre
#7 - 605 KLO Road
Kelowna V1Y 8E7
Phone: 250 862 WINK (9465)
www.winkiwear.ca
Hours: Mon - Fri - 9 to 5
Saturdays by appointment only.
Closed long weekends and holidays.

You can read more about Laura and Wink i Wear in the new issue of Icon Okanagan, out the second week of October.