A Fling with Flowers

Spring may be officially around the corner, but it's hard to get excited when your home is still in winter mode. The simplest, fastest way to give any room a visual shot of the season is with fresh flowers. Flowers have an uplifting and calming effect and add warmth to any space.

You don't need formal training or a thick handbook to create original table settings and arrangements. You're not aiming for a perfect art piece (it's best to leave trimming a 200-year-old bonsai tree to the professionals). These 11 tips are a good place to start. So sharpen your scissors, snoop in your garage, forage the mountainsides, and prepare to be bloomin' brilliant.

* Don't be timid. Flowers are perishable, so your creative efforts won't affect their shelf life. Really work those stems.
* Take a hike into the woods and scout for any budding branches, berries, or items that may add intrigue to your arrangement.
* Create a relaxing, inspiring mood by playing some of your favorite music while you work—professional florists often have a soundtrack in their studios.
* Work on a large open surface so you have a good 360˚ view as you create your arrangement.
* Snoop around in your garage and basement, looking for unique containers and vases. Scrub them clean and pay attention to their height and width. And, of course, make sure they don't leak. (If a container isn't watertight, you can always insert a smaller glass jar.)
* When prepping flower stems, remove all leaves in order to avoid the growth of bacteria in the water. Next, cut each stem on a diagonal angle and place immediately in lukewarm water.
* You'll probably need to insert wet oasis or use transparent floral tape on top of the vase to stabilize the flowers. These are available at craft stores.
* Clip some foliage from your houseplants to add dimension and greenery to your arrangement. Asparagus fern and ivy are good choices.
* If your vessel is short and squat, select flowers with small blooms that complement the color of the vessel. Crowd the flowers together in a compact manner for impact.
* A general rule of thumb is that your arrangement should be about one-and-a-half to two times the height of your vessel. When deciding where to place it, proportion and scale are important. If your arrangement is tall, put it in an area that commands attention. If your arrangement is short, it might be best suited to a bathroom, windowsill, or side table.
* When your masterpiece is completed, help ensure it lasts. Change the water and cut the stems every other day to prolong the shelf life of the flowers.

Blending Old and New

This tabletop blends glass with copper for a wonderful transitional look. The copper-colored sheer adds a soft, fluid movement to the glass top. Place settings command attention with large copper chargers, high relief-patterned white dishes, etched wine glasses, and contemporary flatware. Centerstage, the large Turkish vessel of hammered copper overflows with hot pink tulips, blue and white hydrangeas, orchids, pink lilies, and trailing plumosa ferns. The mini beaded glass vases with tulips and alstroemeria are another detail that punctuates each place setting. It's a burst of spring, but when you look closer you'll sense the whisper of intrigue and warmth from those patinated copper chargers. Old and new stories, unveiled.

Elevated Mountain West

An organic tablescape can include your favorite colorful linens, bold dinner plates, earthy stemware, and bronze flatware to complete the mountain theme. The hand-hewn plank centerpiece, created by Annie Zivkovich, is 4 feet long and 10 inches wide. While the one shown here has a holiday theme, it can easily be tweaked for spring. For example, Annie suggests creating a rectangular or round plank that includes mini succulents, fresh mosses, and mini blooming quince branches juxtaposed with lemons, limes, and tulips. Antlers are optional.

Children's Table

Toddlers and tykes tend to nibble, sip, and run, most happily with their own playmates. Find a small bench or table and dress it up with carefree dishes, spoons, and sippy cups. But don't stop there. Mini polka dot ceramic rain boots are just their size, fun to fill with pink and purple tulips and prickly asparagus fern. Don't invest in pieces that are too pricey: Besides being colorful, these little rain boots beg to be touched, sniffed, and snagged by your toddlers. After all, isn't that the intrigue of flowers for all of us—to awaken our senses?

What makes a beauty brand worthy of investment in 2018

As digitally native brands continue to disrupt the beauty industry’s status quo, more and more investors are rushing to back them up.

It doesn’t hurt that beauty at large seems to be having a moment, with U.S. beauty sales rising to $17.7 billion in 2017, a 6 percent increase from the year prior. Skin care accounted for 45 percent of those gains, which is not surprising, given that every media outlet from The New Yorker to New York Magazine has unpacked its current vogue.

But the consumer stickiness and loyalty the beauty category affords makes it appealing in the long-term, too, according to Sutian Dong, a partner at Female Founders Fund, which has invested in brands like Winky Lux and Manicube.

“That results in very predictable revenue,” she said. “But more and more people are also realizing that it’s a really compelling place to make tremendous margins at scale.”

Buzzy companies like Glossier, Huda Beauty and Charlotte Tilbury have all received recent funding, but new investor cash isn’t just reserved for high-profile brands. Last February, the customizable hair-care company Function of Beauty secured a $9.5 million Series A round led by GGV Capital, while its competitor, Prose Beauty, raised $5.2 million of its own this past December in a Series A round led by Forerunner Ventures.

All in all, the beauty sector saw an all-time-high of more than 149 deals in 2017, according to an April report from CB Insights, representing a 19 percent jump from the year prior.

Even the traditional beauty players left in the wake of these younger brands are catching on to their appeal, which has led to a frenzy of M&A activity over the last few years.

After scooping up Smashbox early in 2010, Estée Lauder purchased Too Faced Cosmetics for $1.45 billion in 2016. The same year, L’Oréal purchased It Cosmetics for $1.2 billion. After Unilever acquired a slew of brands in 2015, including Kate Somerville and Dermalogica, the company continued its buying spree last year, shilling for brands like Carver Korea ($2.7 billion) and Hourglass Cosmetics (for an undisclosed sum).

But the beauty startup space is increasingly crowded, and not all new, digital-first brands meet the mark for investors. What it comes down to is a combination of product efficacy, transparency, innovation and customer connection.

The Curious Mystery Of Selena Gomez’s Top

It all started when a brunette woman from Texas wore a red tracksuit and white strappy heels with round aviator sunglasses to the airport in 2016. As it turns out, it was the world-famous singer and actress Selena Gomez who has 130million Instagram followers, and she was wearing a Vetements trackie and Dior Sunnies. It was then that we knew Selena Gomez had adopted an entirely new sartorial personality.

While it’s little surprise that a year and a half on her style reinvention has gone the way of Sandy’s from Grease but, we’re just a little taken aback by how literal it is. At the annual Billboard Women in Music ceremony last night, where Gomez won the ‘Woman of the Year’ award, she wore an outfit that stopped us in our tracks.

Along with a pair of £4,825 slashed leather Versace trousers, she wore a black inverted bustier by the same Italian label. Styled by Kate Young, with pretty low-key hair by Marissa Marino, the head-to-toe runway ensemble looked hella hot on Selena. That said, we were left with just a few questions we wouldn't mind having answers to...

A. Where are Selena’s nipples?
B. Have the twins been taped down?
C. Have they been tucked in somehow?
D. How comes you she wasn't photographed tugging it up? Or are we the only ones that struggle with strapless tops?
E. Is this the tangible birthing of Dominatrix going out-out wear?
F. Do those trousers get breezy?
G. Can you tan through them?
H. Did Gok Wan give you that belt?

This All Female Designer Pop-up Shop Has Your Christmas Presents Sorted

Oxford street, cold sweat tube journeys and buyer’s remorse. Christmas shopping has to rank as the worst aspect of the holiday season alongside sprouts and distant relatives.

That’s why we, at Babyface (a creative agency and all female community FYI) are putting on a festive pop-up shop to end all festive pop-up shops (no mean feat). For one weekend only, the Babyface Christmas pop-up shop will be running out of our East London studio. We’ll be playing host to some of London and New York’s most exciting emerging womenswear designers, and you’re cordially invited to shop them all.

We’re extremely proud to be stocking NYC’s favourite bling brand, Tuza jewellery - they of the cult vagina pendant necklace. Suz Atala, Tuza’s creative director, will be have on offer pieces from a mixture of her collections. So, expect vajazzle necklaces (Adwoa Aboah is never without hers) bootleg Bart Simpson earrings, colourful enamelled hoops, burning heart rings, curb chain bracelets and most critically the brand’s staple gold hoops (no one does them better). This is made all the more exciting because of Tuza’s limited UK stockists, so Tuza die-hards, come early.

In the mix, we’ll also have a limited Truss NYC bags - the uniquely woven, colourful totes that downtown New York girls are currently coveting. Closer to home, we have everyone’s favourite latex brand, Hanger Inc. Maybe not nan-friendly, but Claire Davies (Hanger’s founder) is going a long way to proving the fabrication wearability and serious fashion credentials. Inspired by Japanese biker gangs, you’ll be able to snap up her latex belted jackets, latex kick flares and minimalist cotton pieces, such as wide leg trousers and mini skirts- all skewered by the brands’ colours of red, white and black. Clio Peppiatt, who’s consistently a London Fashion Week must-see will be selling her ultra-feminine designs, and cheeky slogan t-shirts. If you’re after something really special then might we also point you in the direction of London’s hottest lingerie designer, MARIEYAT. Think deconstructed cotton briefs and negative space crop tops in soft fabrics and subtle tones of grey and cream that whisper 'comfy'.

Conveniently enough, we also share a studio with Illustrated People- they’ll be selling their luxe-sportswear pieces: TLC inspired satin combat trousers and meme-able slogan sweatshirts, and, finally emerging brand Errortique will have a small collection of their beautiful handmade corsetry style tops and matching bags up for grabs to boot.

For & Against Dressing Up On Christmas Day

There are a few times in the year when it’s completely acceptable to be outrageously overdressed; your birthday, New Year’s Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas Day is pretty much the only time of year when you can wear red head to toe, try out those experimental earrings you’re not sure about, or match a sequin skirt with a gold jumper without anyone batting an eyelid.

If we’re going to be overindulgent with our food, decorations, drinks and gifts… why not our clothes? If the turkey (or chicken in my case) takes say 2 to 3 hours to cook, why can’t I take half that time to get ready? If you can’t dress up on Christmas Day, when can you?

For me, Christmas is a celebration – a time to come together with family and celebrate one of the most important moments in the Christian calendar, so I like my outfit to reflect that. The beauty of a Christmas Day outfit is that, for most of us, only family will see it so it can be a little off the wall, and you don’t have to worry about painful heels or not-yet-worn-in boots.

Teaming a red dress with thick tights and your favourite slippers is totally acceptable, trying out a hairstyle that you know full well the wind and rain outside would ruin is fine because you won’t be going out there, and it’s time to get out those earrings that you always almost lose because one keeps falling off – because you will always be able to find it in the house again.

It sounds so cliché, but I feel good when I dress up. I sit up, I smile more, I feel more confident, I engage more. A glitter bath has been the staple of my Christmas morning for a few years now (thanks LUSH) and wearing something I feel special in (and something with the ever-essential loose waistband) is just an extension of that marvellously bougie, over the top festive spirit.

Rekindling My Love For High Heels

Ever since temp worker Nicola Thorp, a receptionist at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, was sent home from work for not wearing heels I’ve had a tumultuous relationship with the shoe myself. Even though Thorp has gone on to bag a part in Coronation Street and successfully draw attention to the sexism that’s rife in the City, the concept of heels has left a bad taste in my mouth. Coupled with the fact that over the last few years fashion has shifted dramatically towards athletism and comfort, this style of footwear has been easy to ignore.

However, slowly but surely ludicrously impractical footwear has found its way back. The ugly shoe trend that rose the ranks to haute couture standing, courtesy of Céline, Prada and Chanel, is having its watershed moment. Birkenstocks and Crocs are no more uncomfortable than kitten heels; just nobody talks about it. The excessive expenditure of sneakers for purely fashion’s sake is no less vain than investing in a wedge. Quelle surp, like all trends, when the pendulum of fashion swings away it will almost certainly swing back at some point. And, that point is this winter.

This season, footwear isn’t an afterthought. The trends that came out of the autumn/winter 17 shows started foot first. Saint Laurent’s epic eighties disco boots, Off-White's tulle-wrapped pumps and Gucci’s raised cowboy boots were a visual validation of the heel’s return.

More idiosyncratic than before, the humble heel now comes tilted, bent or in a geometric shape. Designers have let their creativity loose and reconfigured them into surreal and distinctive new shapes. Soft spandex sock shoes with knife-point heels were debuted at Vetements and Yeezy. Thick rubber soles held chunky boots aloft at Louis Vuitton and Coach. Go-go boots with tiny princess heels were the order of the day at Miu Miu, Chanel and Gucci. Translucent crystals and perspex cages elevated Dries Van Noten and Marni’s pumps. With enough pomp to rival Marie Antoinette’s dressing room, Mary Katrantzou and Céline showcased the little-known ‘fluevog’ heel for winter. Initially, its sumptuous curved silhouette looks preposterous, but the reality is it’s sturdy and every inch a scene-stealer.

But really, the heels comeback moment came at the hands of Cardi B who shot to number one while spitting about her love of Louboutins. ‘It’s a status symbol that the masses can relate to’, the rapper’s stylist Kollin Carter explained in an interview with Billboard. But, it’s more than just a status symbol. Type the word shoe into your phone, what comes up? A red stiletto. If this isn’t a vertiginous sign that it's a design classic, I’m not sure what will convince you.

I understand the argument for abandoning this style of footwear. They aren’t practical. They cause blisters. They are designed by and to please men. But, I feel elegant and put-together in them. At just 5ft 2inches my stature isn’t what anyone would deem mighty. But, with a pair of heels on my feet I suddenly enter the world at eye-level. The groceries I can never normally reach are within grasp. My stature changes. Renee Engeln, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University told the New York Times that they are designed ‘to lengthen your legs and change the way your shape looks from behind. That’s not accidental.’ Echoing this, Valerie Steele, the director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, explained, ‘High heels are the number-one sartorial symbol of erotic femininity, and that’s not changing anytime soon’. They are the final flourish that adds interest and excitement to even the dullest of ensembles.

Attire is commonly mistaken for self-expression, which means it's something that can then be wielded as a chalice of judgement. Wearing flats or the ‘ugly’ shoe trend makes me no less a feminist, in fact, it’s got nothing to do with it. My principals are not related to my footwear. Those that perceive my feminist credentials to be weakened by the decision to wear heels need to have a stern look at the reason they are appraising women in the first place. My love for heels is back, and I won't let anyone judge me for it.

The top five things to do at the new Toronto Fashion Week

It's been just over a year since Toronto Fashion Week's former owner IMG Canada pulled the plug on the semi-annual style extravaganza. The newly revived TFW will be held in Yorkville from September 5 to September 7, and helmed by owner and real estate magnate Peter Freed—with the help of industry vets like ASC Public Relations head Suzanne Cohon and IMG fashion director Carolyn Quinn. It's shaping up to be a glitzy affair with some serious star power, including designer Jean Paul Gaultier and filmmaker Francesco Carrozzini. Here are some of the coolest things sartorial-minded Torontonians can get up to next week.

Go to the shows

This fall, attendees can expect a smaller, pared-down selection of Canadian design talent. Instead of a full week of back-to-back presentations, each of the fest's three days will feature no more than a trio of runway shows—all from reasonably established labels like SGT-favourite Lucian Matis, preppy-chic queen Pink Tartan and athleisure experts Unttld. All this means that the couture on hand is likely to be less wildly experimental and way more wearable. Tickets to individual shows start at $113 each and can be purchased here.

See a fashion flick

Photographer and director Francesco Carrozzini, son of longtime Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani (and fiancé to Anna Wintour's daughter Bee Shaffer), is screening a film he directed about his late mother. Franca: Chaos and Creation reportedly took six years to complete and tells the story of the iconic editor's pioneering work, defiant attitude and relatively mysterious personal life. After the screening, viewers will participate in a Q&A with Carrozzini himself, hosted by Vogue arts editor Mark Guiducci.

Listen to talks moderated by Derek Blasberg

The writer, editor and TV host, who is BFFs with basically every supermodel and A-list actress (his Instagram is a daily peek into the lives of the rich and beautiful), is moderating a series of talks next week, including a conversation with legendary French couture designer Jean Paul Gaultier. Blasberg will also interview Toronto-born photographer and filmmaker Petra Collins and Oscar-nominated costume designer Arianne Phillips. Tickets to the talks start at $198 and can be purchased here.

Go to a party where Russell Peters is the DJ

The Canadian comedian known for his riffs on Indian culture will be moonlighting as a guest DJ for Toronto Fashion Week's closing party on Thursday evening. Partiers will get the chance to judge his taste in music, and hopefully hear a few jokes. General admission tickets are $113 a pop and can be bought here.

See a Salvador Dalí fashion exhibit

Starting September 7 and running until the end of the month, Yorkville Village will play host to a huge art exhibit dedicated to exploring the Spanish surrealist's relationship with, and influence on, the fashion world. The 30 pieces on display will include Dalí's fashion-focused paintings and sculptures (like “Woman Aflame” and “Dalinian Dancer“), as well as six modern designer dresses inspired by some of his iconic works.