Wedding Dress Debt

I have always been amazed at how much people spend on their wedding dress. I mean, I totally get it, its your special day and you will pay whatever you have to to have the perfect dress. I think sometimes we forget that the perfect dress isn't always thousands of dollars, it isn't even hundreds. In the case of a good friend of mine, she bought hers for fifty dollars and it was nothing less than perfect and even more perfect since it didn't put her in debt. On my Monday shopping trip, I spotted two beautiful wedding dresses (featured above) that I would definitely wear. I have one on display in the window and I am waiting in anticipation for that one bride who runs in to try it on.

Jacket Season

Even though it isn't quite jacket wearing weather, I have started a jacket collection at the store. Picking the perfect jacket is a daunting task considering that you will be wearing it til march and it is the first thing people see when they meet you so it better be good. Here are two examples of my favourite jackets for this season. The top jacket is from Burberry and looks like something you could dress up or down. The bottom jacket is from Fendi and is a unique piece but might be too weird for everyday use and might go out of style.

Clothing Hunter

After almost being sold out from the Super Crawl, the quest for cool clothing became imminent. I had been collecting so many clothes over the past few years that I hadn't realized how hard it was going to be to do this on a regular weekly basis. Panic struck me. On one hand it was kind of cool that I "had to go shopping," one of my greatest loves in life, but on the other hand, I felt really pressured to find the best and coolest things. It is one thing to shop for yourself and another to shop for an entire store, keeping in mind what is in style and what people will actually wear. I have come to realize that asking yourself "would I wear this?" is the most important question. Granted, there are those few items that I wouldn't personally wear but would die to see someone else wear, like the piece shown above. It is always going to be a challenge and I am still learning but this is my dream and I wouldn't be doing anything else.

Design Love Fest

Design Love Fest is a blog I follow daily. Bri Emery, the blogger of Design Love Fest, gave up her career as a graphic designer at a well established design firm to start her own graphic design company. Her blog is a space to post her inspirations. I get so inspired by her blog - it is always so colourful and she posts really interesting fashion, typography and food images. I've been hooked for a year! xo

Call Of The Wild

It has always been my dream to open a clothing store. I had wanted to open one in Hamilton but the city never seemed right for it. About a month ago, I spoke to a friend of a friend, Bridget Coruzzi, owner of Home on James St. North and she told me about how she set up her store. I asked her some personal questions, mainly financial ones and something clicked. I realized that it was totally possible for me to do this. For some unfounded reason, I had this idea that it was never going to happen for me and listening to Bridget made me realize I could really do this.

It was like I had been planning this in my head for years because I literally got a store up in running in a matter of two weeks. It wasn't easy and it was my friends and family who were huge contributors to the store getting ready in time for Supercrawl, a yearly event in which James St. North is shut down, good music is played and lots and lots of vendors and artists set up shop.

I figured it would be free advertising and a chance to make back some of the money I had put into the store. Well, it turned out to be better than that. I ended up making a profit, a tiny one at that, but still. The response was like nothing I could have imagined. I now have regulars, even though I have only been up and running for less than two weeks and customers are telling friends to come check out the store. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging but I think its important that we listen to what we really want to do rather than what we think we should do. For so long I thought I had to work in some kind of administrative capacity, denying myself my creative side. I know that it is not possible for everyone to be able to fulfill themselves creatively but if there is something you love, just start somewhere. It will only be rewarding.

I want to thank my family and friends for being so supportive and so instrumental in Hawk & Sparrow's success (that's the name of the store, which by the way is a vintage and used clothing store in Hamilton, Ontario, if you didn't know).

This blog will be a space to share with you my inspirations and store stories. I hope you enjoy.