02. Toronto Fashion Week, here I go again...
My relationship with Pinterest, reflecting on my time with Lesley Hampton, the Grinch, and some recent purchases (there's a lot going on)
Honestly, my Pinterest board gets me.
It’s the ideal online relationship:
✔️ It gives back what you put in
✔️ It listens when you express disinterest in selected pins, AND
✔️ In my experience, ads are minimal
Now, Pinterest and I have been going steady for a little over six months (consistency is key!), but in the last two weeks or so I’ve noticed just how well it’s come to understand my personal style. Pinterest — my style search engine — has become like an extension of my creative brain where, if I have even some semblance of an idea I want to bring to life, it shows me endless ways to execute it.
I love that for us.
Exhibit A — here is a snippet of all the pins I’ve saved recently:
And here is a snippet of my homepage upon booting up the app this morning:
See the similarities?
I’ll talk about why this is so valuable next week, when I take the first deep dive into signature style VS. personal style — so stay tuned!
Last time I attended Fashion Week, I was walking the runway
At 18 — not even legal drinking age, mind you — I found myself striding the strip in one of Lesley Hampton’s original creations circa 2016.
Lesley discovered me through my first major publication with The Toronto Star, which I penned the year before.
Here’s the Sparks Notes version:
When I was 10, I was scouted to be a model on the street of Toronto (I chose competitive swimming instead). At 13, I got sick with cancer for the second time in my life. At 16, I started to wonder if I would still be a desirable candidate now that I was visibly disabled. After pitching my idea to the Star, I sent my resume to a dozen agencies, with professional photos, recording each response in detail.
The result revealed the realities of disability discrimination in the modeling industry, which Lesley took a sincere interest in coming alongside me to tackle.
Since these shows, I’ve walked for Lesley once or twice more and it’s always a pleasure. I deeply appreciate what she represents and the ceiling she’s breaking in the fashion world.
Fashion Week FW24
At 17, my career centered around curiosity of what I could achieve.
At 26, I understand my talents, strengths, and weaknesses, and I’m filled with thankfulness to step deeper into my Fashion Stylist career by attending Fashion Week as such.
But I’m not gonna lie guys, as I’ve been planning my outfits, I’ve felt a little bit like this…
… and this …
You get it.
Fashion Stylists struggle sometimes too. But not in the way you’d expect.
For me at least, the struggle is (usually) not “I don’t know what to wear because I don’t have enough”, it’s actually “I don’t know what to wear because there’s so many possibilities with what I have.”
TLDR: You don’t need a lot to create a lot.
It’s a balance. Because yes, I love to shop. But my heart is also for true wealth, which comes from saving for life’s big things and storing my treasures in heaven.
That said, I did need to pick up a couple things for the week ahead, which I’ll share below.
What I’m Wearing
Something I didn’t buy (but really wanted to) are these unbelievably gorgeous barrel leg bottoms I spotted at SOS in Peterborough. Out of my budget at the moment, but I’ll snatch them up one day soon… I hope.
Last thing: I have a friend who’s synced on the same nail fill cycle as me (the best), and these are the looks we’re sporting for the rest of the month. Cute, right?
Thank you
For the longer read! I sincerely value your time.
Fashion Week will be a content creator’s dream so look forward to seeing all my captures real soon.
I’ll be in the city Thursday — Sunday, so if you’re in the 416, HMU!
💌 Tess