Above is a bit of the interview done with Erin about a month ago. Go to the below link for the full interview.

Art of fashion

AW’10 photoshoot video. It’s a short little piece. Erin’s husband Patrick shot it for us on his iphone (?) I could be wrong about that. The video features a moment captured during the shooting of our lifestyle looks.

Erin and Pat went to a family farm outside of Toronto a few weekends ago and cut down a few small trees. Pat cut the branches off and learned how to erect a teepee of sorts via the internet. He did a really great job! He just sort of brought the trees in and *pop* they were in place.

Felix Wong shot the catalogue for us and he did a WONDERFUL job. He was a true professional and had a great ipod mix of songs from the hit sitcom “Glee”. He and Erin Dunn, our model from Elmer Olsen enjoyed singing along while taking breaks in between shots. The ‘other’ Erin (a la Las Valentias) and I had no idea what the big deal was with these songs as neither of us have seen the show. Regardless, I’m glad we had such a great day.

You can see Felix’s work here at felixwongphoto.com

We shot our AW’10 catalogue a few weeks ago.

Kubo was our gracious model for part of the shoot. Erin’s husband Patrick trained her so well!

We had such a mello day, good music, great people.

Erin our model and Erin from Las Valentias.

Suzzi from Parlour salon did our hair and makeup for us. She did an amazing job and was a pleasure to work with. If you are looking for a stylist – she’s available at parloursalon.com – best salon in Toronto for those in the know!

We can’t wait to share the full collection with you all soon!

Silvio and his wife Estella Rodriquez recently opened their long awaited Argentinian Yerba Mate tea shop called ‘El Almacen’. They are the brother and sister-in-law of my partner Sergio. It’s located at 1078 Queen street west, just east of Dovercourt on the north side.

They specialize in a traditional herbal tea known as Yerba Mate. This tea was first introduced to me at a family function at Sergio’s parents house. It is a communal drink, shared by everyone attending. It’s a wonderful way to be welcomed.

So many people have written about the tea and location itself. So I wanted to write about a different aspect of the location aside from it’s wonderful tea and it’s healthy properties. I want to write about the artwork. The painting above hung in my living room for 6 months before it took up its current residence. It’s a portrait of Sergio’s twin brother Christian Rodriguez and his wife Debra dancing the tango. It was painted by Christian himself and is absolutely incredible. Life size.

This painting above is one of the newest of Christians work. His style is Urban classicalism. The concept consists of classical painting techniques similar to 17th century artists mixed with current urban situations and themes.

Visit his website at cristianrodriguez.webs.com for a look at all his works.

Another artist who’s work you can see in the cafe is that of Dean Radic, friend of the family for some years. His work is featured on the two front tables of the cafe as well as canvases on the wall. Above is one of my favorites.  FIAT MIHI , studio on Facebook