The following quote from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities captures the way I characterize 2009; “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness...”

Perhaps the Dickens quote is a little dramatic, but it best describes how I feel about this past year and what I went through. Here’s a brief look in order:

Lowlight of 2009:

• Being laid off – Yup, this tops the list as the lowlight of the year. I can now say the phrase, “I was laid off” to family, friends  and sometimes to complete strangers without flinching, feeling embarrassment, shame or inadequacy.

Highlights of 2009:

• Volunteering at Luminato
• Rediscovering my love for fashion
• Starting this blog
• Reconnecting with old friends
• Working at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
• Welcoming my nephew into the world and into the family (he is now three-months old)
• Attending and covering LG Fashion Week’s S/S 2010 shows and events
• Meeting and establishing a whole new network of supporters and friends

I mention these personal events in my life openly on The Souls of My Shoes (and in previous entries) not looking for sympathy, but to share with you what fuelled me to start this blog, maintain it and how it initially served as a life raft and is now a vehicle for my ideas, love of fashion and writing. Funnily enough, the good outweighs the bad exponentially in the above list. I’m very thankful for the opportunities and people I’ve met along the way, as well as the support received from my family, friends and readers which has and continues to be uplifting and heart warming.

Here’s a working list of what I look forward to in 2010:

• Finding and landing a full-time job
• Attending and covering LG Fashion Week’s fall/winter 2010 collections in March
• Continuing to create interesting and thoughtful content for The Souls of My Shoes

Like Karl Lagerfeld wrote in the pictured tweet, I look forward to setting ablaze the past and creating positive change and fresh starts for 2010. Happy New Year.

Just saw this article online via retweets (RT) from @PR_Couture who RT @nadinejolie who also RT @mediaite. The article, Condé Nast to save magazines by canceling all newspapers subscriptions, posted an internal memo circulated this evening to Condé Nast employees stating changes in its expense practices. It says “Effective Monday, August 3^rd we are discontinuing:

• Newspaper subscriptions
• Deliveries will end as soon as practicable; in some instances, this may be as early as August 3^rd
• Costs for all newspapers – whether subscriptions or single copy purchases – will no longer be reimbursed by the Company.”

The publishing giant of lifestyle magazines is feeling the economic belt tightening and in this case skinnier may not be the most desired fashion statement as newspapers around the world continue to experience heavy losses in its advertising revenue and as a growing numbers of readers turn to the Internet to consume news. According to Glynnis MacNicol, who wrote the above article, the cancellation of newspaper subscriptions “More or less includes the entire Condé offering.” Ouch!

Friday marked the end of fall/winter 2010 haute couture week in Paris. I’ve included footage and my reviews from the shows of some of my favourite houses: Chanel, Givenchy and Valentino. Have a read through and let me know what you think of these collections.

Chanel: Recession… What recession? The 2010 fall/winter collection for Chanel took place in the Grand Palais, Paris with towering white bottles of Chanel No.5. As you watch the video it appears Karl Lagerfeld is using the simplicity of these sculptural bottles to offset the richness and texture of this collection. His aim was “to combine extremely pure silhouettes, which evoke ‘unencumbered graphic effects and asymmetric lines’” in his garments (Chanel.com). Individually I think each outfit is beautiful, however as they appeared on the runway I couldn’t help but feel there was a lack of cohesion in the collection – the silhouettes seem to lose its purity with long trains and I found the lace hats distracting and out of place. Grade: B+

Givenchy: all I have to say about the Givenchy 2010 fall/winter collection, by Riccardo Tisci is WOW! I am completely floored by his work. It is one of the most dynamic, haunting,and captivating collections I’ve seen during this past week and most likely the whole year. Watch the accompanying video and you’ll see that the clothes speaks for itself. Suit me up Tisci! Grade: A+

Valentino: newly appointed designers to the House of Valentino, Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri have received mixed reviews for their second collection for fall/winter 2010 (see New York Times and Associated Press articles). The duo is carving out their own niché and creating a different vision of the Valentino woman and being the house’s former accessories designers for years they have a personal and professional relationship with the company which can work for or against them. They present the evolution of the Valentino woman who is youthful with a little bit of an edge. I find this new vision for the house refreshing and sexy, but Piccioli and Chiuri need to be reminded the House of Valentino should be transformed in stages rather than in a wave of change so they don’t alienate their pre-existing audience and customers. Grade: B

(Videos from www.telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com)

I couldn’t resist writing another blog entry so soon after my previous post, The House Haute Couture Built, but for the love of fashion I felt the need to share with you the story of Christian Lacroix who sadly maybe another casualty of the global recession. 

Briefly, Lacroix is a French haute couture designer who established the House of Lacroix in 1987 – he is very well-known and highly regarded by his peers and the international fashion community. On May 21, 2009 the House of Lacroix filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy which came as a stunning blow to all, especially when the field of haute couture designers is very small (background article, New York Times). Yesterday, Lacroix presented what maybe his last couture show which could not have been possible without the support and devotion of his employees, suppliers, friends, and local coffee shop who donated their time and services for free to help present this collection. Hearing this greatly moved me; people coming together for a cause they strongly believe in and feel passionate about. I genuinely hope and pray this couturier master finds a way to carry on his work of creating beautiful clothing.

(Video from www.telegraph.co.uk)

Monday marked the kick off to a week of winter 2010 haute couture collections in Paris, France. News outlets such as the New York Times, Associated Press and Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) were filing stories left, right and centre about the relevance of couture in these difficult economic times. Couture garments are a work of art taking countless man hours to produce,but they also run the cost of a small island off the coast of Africa.

Therefore it’s rightly so that WWD ask, “Do dresses with six-figure price tags have a place in fashion magazines at a time of economic crisis?” In the world of fashion and fantasy where every girl is Carrie Bradshaw I say yes. However, according to Statistics Canada in May “Employment decreased by 42,000 (jobs and) … The unemployment rate rose… to 8.4 per cent, the highest rate in 11 years” this is a reality which cannot afford excess. There are only a select few who can afford these ostentatious outfits and they are the monetary staple of the exclusive haute couture club.

The outfits pictured in this post are by John Galliano for the House of Dior – beautiful colours and tailoring but the lower half of the garments seem to be missing. One could assume Galliano ran out of money to buy fabric to finish the rest of the skirts or the lack of cloth is a play on the sign of the economic times. What I know for sure is these outfits don’t exactly qualify as winter wear. Obviously they haven’t been to Canada.

(Images from @itsmechaneliman and New York Times photographers, Chris Moore/Karl Prouse.)