Jason Meyers' Advice to Fashion Students

Jason Meyers is an accomplished Canadian designer having been singled out by Fashion Television as “One to Watch” right out of school and making it to the top three in Season 2 of Canada’s Project Runway. But the best part? Jason Meyers is also an Academy of Design alumni so I had the privilege to interview him at his studio last week.

How did your education at the Academy of Design prepare you for working in the industry?

Well, the instructors there are supportive even now, but for me going to the Academy was a conscious decision – I needed to learn how to make clothes. When I went to the Academy I left my first career as a financial advisor. I wanted to make clothes and the best school in the shortest amount of time was the Academy and they equipped me with the tools I now have to make clothing. But in the end you need to go out, learn the industry, the markets – all that.

In what ways do the Academy instructors continue to support you?

I have a relationship with a couple of the instructors: if I need interns, or they come to shows for support and that’s great. For me the design program was just to learn to make clothes and I had to do that to get my business off the ground and for that it was amazing. But there was one instructor there named Ron Catahan, he was the best instructor ever. He’s not with us anymore unfortunately, but he was amazing – he was a really important piece to me in moving forward and he was very supportive. The instructors believe in you and just try to show you the way, and it’s always good coming from a school where they’re industry professionals rather than just ‘teachers’, so they give a lot of experience in terms of their past knowledge.

What is the job market like out there for grads of the fashion programs?

Tough, really tough, and it’s tough being Canadian. With my brand I’ve always designed higher end clothing, like dresses for extravagant events, but I’m rebranding my collection now to be more wearable and street; still high-end but more everyday and that’s important, that’s a whole learning process. You go to school and it’s like, ‘This is amazing, I’m making clothes.’ But then you come out of it and you need to figure out where the market is, who’s going to buy what – I’m trying to drop my price point and keep the quality. And I mean that’s directly related to what H&M and Forever 21 are doing, you can buy a dress for $30, but you’re only going to wear it once. As a designer you have to make the price more feasible for the general public.

Hope Jason’s words of wisdom hope all you fashion students soon to graduate or just thinking about the future, and be sure to check out his website: http://www.jasonmeyers.net/


-Hallae Khosravi

Mo' Music, Mo' fashion problems

Fashion today has been inspired from the entertainment industry , especially with the music.
Music quotes are on apparel, poster, bags, or even tattooed on people's arm, because lyrics have a meaning, question is "What is it?" . Old or new music, these lyrics will live on forever.. somewhere in this world. Last Saturday, Girls between the ages of 8- 16, wore shirts with lyrics from One Direction or Justin Bieber and I thought why would your spend money on something like a t-shirt, when you know those lyrics aren't about you or 1 billion other girls in this world, the saddest part is who are the lyrics from? singers these day say that they wrote it (they want females to think they care), but some boy bands/ singer of them really didn't. I always thought the technology industry was worst (Apple) from taking people's money by introducing their latest technology every three- four months (Can't you give your consumers like a year with your stuff!!?!?!? grrface) but its the entertainment industry that takes it to the top by exposing kids and teenagers to "15- minute fame". Like what happened to... see i can't even remember their name who talked about dreams and liquid ( and yes, their was shirt those lyrics were on a t-shirt) Parents are spending money on merchandise and tickets to music that is meaningless, like I could pay a 5 year old boy to tell those girls that "they are beautiful", if thats what girls like. The question at the end of the day is "what would happen to these merchandise", a few years later, people from now won't even know who they are.

Would you see this a few years from now?



Deuces, Jennilee Ortega

...And it was all Yellow

by Justin Boland                

Blue was a much forecasted colour trend that hit menswear in a big way this season. Now, we are also making way for another major colour that has swamped the spring/summer shows; the delightfully season-appropriate Yellow.

                To include a potentially volatile colour such as yellow in a number of this season’s spring/summer collections is hardly surprising. Menswear has favoured the brave this year with a range of bold trends for the warmer months, the likes of daring prints, and coloured shoes. Yellow is often described as the perfect gender-neutral hue. It is deceptively easy to work into your wardrobe because the varying shades can be used to create a number of desired effects. However, the most difficult part of working with yellow is getting the right shade for your skin tone. Medium to dark skin tones work very well with most colours and tones. Pastel and brighter yellow hues work exceptionally well if you fall into this category. Avoid going too bright with your yellow if you have darker skin tones, as you risk creating too strong of a contrast between the colour and your skin. Those with a paler skin tone should be careful with pastels as they can make you look a little washed out. Bold yellows can look great, as do mustard and gold hues, which create strong, flattering contrasts with your skin tone.

As my tan increases throughout the summer, so will my options on shades of yellow to choose from.

Sneaker Wedge, Wedge Sneaker

By: Y-Yen (Bambi) Nguyen

Twitter: @bambi_nguyen

Edea Spike Sneaker
Photo courtesy of: http://www.nastygal.com

Nike 'Dunk Sky Hi Liberty' Wedge Sneaker
Photo courtesy of: http://shop.nordstrom.com/

A trend that I have been noticing and starting to get obsessed with courtesy of my addiction to Nasty Gal and instagram are sneaker wedges. Well that’s what I call them at least. I first saw this look on Nasty Gal’s website when they had posted a pair of Jeffrey Campbell’s on their website then Teen Vogue instagrammed a photo of Nike’s version of them. After I saw Nike’s version I became obsessed. I definitely feel like you could wear these in the summer with a t-shirt or tanks with shorts but carry them over into the fall trading in the shorts for a pair of skinny jeans and throwing on a sweater over the t-shirt and tank and you are set, because lets face it sneakers are always trendy and for a small girl like me having that bit of extra height is a definite plus. So will you be rocking this upcoming trend?

Marc by Marc Jacobs Standard Supply Wedge Sneaker
Photo courtesy of: http://www.shopbop.com

A Wonderful Trip to Tokyo

Garance Dore is the most famous French blog. Garance began her blog in June 2006. She began as an illustrator, and became frustrated with the commissions she had, and in particular by the lack of contact with the readers. The blog allowed Garance a complete freedom of expression, while sharing the vignettes of her day and exploring fashion, illustration, narration and photography. Garance currently gets approximately 70,000 hits per day on her site. Garance Dore is currently dating Scott Schuman of the famed street style blog The Sartorialist.

Recently she was invited by Dior to travel to Tokyo with their bag, the Lady Dior. It was a wonderful trip, because the story of the bag helped to see the fashion life in Japan and meet artists.

This is the video from the trip!

By Mariya Gvozdetska

Lady Dior, Garance Dore

Sounds like Soccer

by Justin Boland

Even though the next world cup isn't until 2014, this summer soccer fans can satiate themselves with the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as the EURO cup. While soccer is still finding its footing with North American audiences, in the rest of the world it's big business. As such we can expect the usual fashion, celebrity, and of course musical tie-ins. Akin to a CD single released for charity, many of the countries participating in the tournaments have commissioned promotional singles to be used as theme music in the broadcast of the soccer matches.

Endless Summer  by German singer Oceana is the official song of UEFA Euro 201  

never to be out done, England of course has their own song 'Sing 4 England'  Featuring Chris Kamara, Charlie Carter with special guest appearances by Taxirun (the band), the It Girls, Joe Public Utd and the England fans. Proceeds from the sale of this single will be donated to the Marie Curie cancer charity.

There is even an offering from Japan, where the UEFA games are being highly anticipated because of Japanese players on European teams. Here is Only You by  Namie Amuro

and from Spain the rousing No hay 2 sin 3 (Gol) by Cali & el Dandee ft. David Bisbal  produced by RedOne who has made songs for Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. 

So this summer keep an eye (and ear!) out for some of these soccer anthems.