I can't go on without this dress...

How FUNKY beautiful is this? How ingenious. How against the grain. How not-what-we-see-everyday. How sexy. What is this design saying? Can you feel the swoosh when you move in it? I want to dance in this dress. I feel invigorated just looking at it. Powerful. Playful. Crazy beautiful!

Fabric Roll Call No. 2

It's not just me. I swear. Only last night I once again heard a woman talk about a box full of vintage fabrics she had found that she couldn't keep her hands off of. My seamstress talks the same way. These swatches have me dreaming...

Bob Marley's spirit lives on!

Cedella Marley, the daughter of Bob Marley is chosen as fashion designer for the Jamaican team at the 2012 Olympics:

Styles to flatten your tummy

I've chosen a number of athletic pieces that help hide a very common problem area - the tummy. If you're in the market for a new running top or dress and this is something that concerns you, look for ruching (gathering) around the stomach area, free flowing material or inserts of different fabric that help camoflauge this area.

The Vagina Natzi Shirts

I'm just entering the realm of making custom running apparel for groups. I was resistant for so long because I thought "custom" meant sacrificing your artistic input. It does to a certain degree but there's something even worse that the artist often has to face: The Critic.

I came across an article on MSN the other day. It actually made me laugh as the author highlighted the ten worst jerseys in the NHL today. With references by the critic to vaginas and natzis, you do wonder what the designer was thinking in creating some of these shirts:

Are they really that bad? Doesn't every sporting industry suffer from not-so-great apparel? Sure it does - which is exactly the point of this blog. My own running club has deemed one certain marathon shirt "The Vagina Shirt" for its awkward artwork front and centre.

Artists and designers of the world unite! Let's come together and resolve the ugly workout clothing dilemma terrorizing our world. Perhaps we need one regulating body that will oversee bad design and put a stop to this unsightly problem!

Egads! In reality, I only hope that my designs don't get trashed by mainstream media!

Layering Sex in the City style

I was just watching an episode of Sex and the City that opened with a scene of Carrie playing around on a trapeze in the name of writing a new article.

I was bummed that I couldn't find the outfit she wore in the opening scene. But - her other workout outfit is equally as stylish.

What I think is really neat is how the idea of layering continues with her workout gear. The photo on the left really highlights this dynamic with the pink striped piece matched with the blue tie-dyed piece below.

I think that the idea of dressing in layers for a workout - throwing a strappy tank over a tight under top - is so unique. If not in the name of style, it's a way to use those strappy tops that are collecting dust in my closet.

Where the "bad" fairy comes from

When I started gardening and landscaping in the fall of 2009, I discovered a very peaceful and meditative world. It was in the midst of this enlightening time that I felt this incredible urge to bring my "pretty dirty girl" line of technical tops to market.

I find such indescribable beauty in plants and in designing with nature. It's been just over a year and I'm completely blown away by the colours and shapes that nature produces. One of the first blooms in my garden in the spring is my hot pink rhododendron (bottom of photo). The drama of this plant is intensified with the pairing of the soft pink flowers of the Wine & Roses in the background (taller mini tree).

Because I find such beauty in flowers, I wanted to create a design on the tech tops that reflected this. I also wanted to get across the idea that flowers can deliver a certain calm if you immerse yourself in them. What I came up with is the Tattoo shirt (next photo).

I started with a number of flowers I manipulated to create a pattern. I wanted very soft colours but still some contrast so used charcoals and soft pinks.

I used a fairy as a focal point on the back left of the top. The fairy represents me or any person that meanders about the garden and finds the same peace that I often find. For me, it conjures up this idea of having gentle wings on my trunk and buzzing unnoticed in the warm sun of the garden and being an observer of nature's beauty.

When I completely let myself go in running, I can conjure up that same feeling - sunshine, the buzz of insects all around, quiet hidden trails, the atmosphere almost engulfing you as you pedal your legs forward on nature's pathways.

I probably have just as much fun envisioning how I'm going to represent these tops to sell as I do in creating the designs. The funny part of labeling the collection "The Pretty dirty girl" is that we can be immersed in all this beauty, yet we still have to spit, stink and all the other humanly acts that accompany running - or gardening for that matter. It's this dichotomy that I wanted to capture in my photo shoot.

The first shoot never made publication but it was so much fun to do. My idea was to capture me in the Tattoo shirt climbing among trees and acting somewhat like the fairy buzzing about the woods. Here's the outcome:



















































Fun, but it just didn't capture what I was looking for. I came out of this shoot with a tear in my fave pair of pink cheetah sneakers too! I'm not even sure that I had the name of the shirt at this point. But I did with the idea for the shoot that eventually made publication.

In the next photo shoot the "Tattoo" top would feature me with big pouting lips like some "hardcore" biker yet riding an eco-friendly e-bike. A deep hot red e-bike but that's probably it for true harshness. The idea of the top being called Tattoo reinforced the "badness" it meant to represent.

I just love it as I love all things that seem unfathomable for the brain to process - a dichotomy - a sweet "biker" fairy. For me, it captures that perfect "pretty dirty girl" conundrum - the women is essentially beautiful and this is not compromised with all the spitting (well I spit!), sweating and stinking that running brings! Tattoo Top