What Would Happen if the Climate Crisis Sent Influencers to Outer Space?

April 22, 2022 at 05:18PM The moon, it turned out, was a shitty place to take a selfie. Dakota Fielding was pissed. She had been on this godforsaken rock for nearly 24 hours and had hardly gotten anything worth posting on her MeChannel’s main page. The lighting sucked, and the unwieldy spacesuits they make you wear outside the Moonstone Hotel’s terraformed bubble made it difficult to hold the camera still. Dakota had been looking forward to this trip for nearly a year and had been teasing it on her MeChannel, Kota Travels in Style, for months, taking follower polls on what to wear and drumming up excitement to almost delirious heights. On the day of the launch, 60 million of her 300 million followers tuned in to watch her slip into the infrared-lined SmartSuit that the Moonstone had provided. (She accessorized with holographic…

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Yohomo Co-founder Armand Digdoyo On Queer Culture and Beauty

April 21, 2022 at 07:33PM Like so many on the journey to discovering their creative purpose, Armand Digdoyo, it seems, has already lived several lives. Growing up in Ottawa after his parents emigrated from Jakarta, he eventually moved to Montreal to explore city life as a club kid and assist local fashion designer Lino Catalano before finally landing in Toronto. For the past 18 years, he has continued to try on many hats in an attempt to make the most of his creative savvy. He was a member of electro-dance group Fritz Helder & The Phantoms (which opened for Lady Gaga in NYC and was a mentee of Nelly Furtado’s), a columnist for Fab magazine, a DJ for the Canadian Opera Company and Holt Renfrew and a sound designer and stylist for brands such as Aveda, Deveaux New York and Greta Constantine. He…

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The April Beauty Launches We’re Obsessed With

April 21, 2022 at 04:59PM After endless polar vortexes and late-season snowfalls, it appears that spring has finally arrived. And with even warmer temperatures on the horizon, we can’t think of a better way for you to celebrate than by treating your beauty product stash to a feel-good update this April. From skin-coddling overnight treatments to playful makeup, read on for the best April beauty launches we can’t get enough of. Biossance Squalane + Enzyme Sugar Body Scrub Photography courtesy of BIOSSANCEBringing new meaning to spring cleaning, Biossance’s Squalane + Enzyme Sugar Body Scrub offers double the exfoliating power thanks to melting sugar crystals that physically sweep away flaky, dry texture and other debris, while gentle pomegranate enzymes work simultaneously to break down dead skin cells. And in true Biossance fashion, signature vegan sugarcane-derived squalene delivers weightless moisture. Stila’s Empire of Light Collection…

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Human Hair, Glass And Crystals — Are These the Future Makings of a Handbag?

April 20, 2022 at 09:54PM Strange fashion is having a moment. Take Schiaparelli’s golden, sci-fi spring couture collection, or Emma Corrin’s recent red carpet moment in a nipple-imitating balloon bra as just two recent examples. Clearly, designers have a new penchant for futurisic kookiness, and surrealist handbags are the fad’s final frontier. If you need any proof, just look to the stars, who are choosing to wear clutches constructed of unusual materials. Exhibit A: Doja Cat, Kylie Jenner and Tinashe have all been seen with Paris label Coperni’s bag made entirely of handblown glass. On the red carpet, the likes of Paris Hilton and Julia Fox have accessorized with unconventional handbags. Hilton wore a Swarovski crystal martini purse to the 2022 Grammys, while Fox paired her avant-garde Oscars ensemble with a clutch made of human hair. Seeing celebrities in such impractical designs and…

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This Designer Turned Leftover Garment Tags Into A Trendy Outfit

April 20, 2022 at 02:42PM Lauren Novak, founder and creative director of Remark by Lauren, doesn’t believe in the word “upcycling.” “It makes me mad,” she admits over video chat. “I think it cheapens what we as sustainable designers do and makes it feel very ‘craft fair’ when, in fact, every company should be doing it or at the very least using biodegradable or natural materials.” The one-of-a-kind pieces created by Novak for her Toronto-based brand are far from what you might find at an average market stall. While the designer defines her design directive as one of comfort, a quick look at her Instagram provides a more expansive view, as Y2K nostalgia and Miu Miu-esque silhouettes abound. To make her whimsical wares, she uses pre-existing materials such as dead-stock fabric and discarded clothing instead of traditional textiles as a response to the…

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How to Dress Sustainably This Festival Season

April 19, 2022 at 10:51PM Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to love about Coachella fashion. I mean, where else would you see Harry Styles and Shania Twain perform in matching sequin ensembles? Over-the-top outfits have come to define the event, but that’s starting to change. As fashionable festivalgoers dress to impress in the crowded desert, a culture of overconsumption has become the norm. And one thing is urgently clear: we can’t keep going like this. After a three year pandemic hiatus, Coachella 2022 marked the return of in-person festivals on April 15. The fashion-forward affair was first in the line of various upcoming summer music events, including Canadian festivals Osheaga and Veld. But as the climate crisis intensifies, it’s impossible to ignore the environmental nightmare that is festival fashion. A 2019 study found that, every year, about 7.5 million festival outfits are…

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How Ayesha Barenblat is Working to Create a More Sustainable Fashion Industry

April 18, 2022 at 09:07PM Ayesha Barenblat founded Remake with the mission to create a more transparent fashion industry. And over the last six years, the non-profit organization (a “community of fashion lovers, women rights advocates, and environmentalists,” according to its website), has made some major headway. Its brand directory scores fashion companies based on what they’re doing to lessen their environmental impact and create a more equitable supply chain. But she’s not just here to call out the industry’s biggest players for failing to keep the pace with societal change. With Remake, Ayesha Barenblat hopes to educate, too. “If we continually shout at people and make them feel terrible about their shopping habits, we are not going to move the needle — guilt and shame can only take you so far. Remake is very much rooted in love because I believe that’s…

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All the Fashion Trends Seen at Coachella 2022

April 18, 2022 at 07:06PM As the dust settles on Coachella’s opening weekend, one thing is certain: we have entered a new era of festival fashion. Headliners Harry Styles (who wore a custom Gucci jumpsuit) and Billie Eilish (who performed in spandex shorts, an over-sized t-shirt and knee pads) brought their trademark style to the stage, and festivalgoers followed suit with experimental takes on current trends. From throwback styles to westernwear, here’s all the fashion trends seen at Coachella 2022. Low rise, high impact The low-rise and ultra-mini styles taking over the runways were also seen in California’s Coachella Valley this past weekend. From hip-hugging denim pants to leggy skirts, these pieces made the festival an early aughts haven, along with tiny tanks, wide belts, glossy pouts and even some denim-on-denim. View this post on Instagram   A post shared by COMPLEX (@complex)…

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Minimalist Makeup Looks to Try This Spring

April 18, 2022 at 03:12PM The Spring runways saw no shortage of minimalist makeup. Fashion houses from Alaïa to Bottega Veneta paraded supermodels with cheeks blushed as if pinched, faces slicked with dew, and brows enviably brushed up to feathered perfection. For Toronto-based makeup artist Robert Weir, minimalism in makeup is a “less is more” approach to beauty. “Minimal can mean either focusing on one feature at a time or doing makeup so subtle that your natural features become the statement.” Still, the term minimal is not to be taken too literally — as even these laid back looks require some effort. Below, Weir talks to FASHION about how you can recreate these model-inspired minimalist beauty trends for the spring season like a pro. Flawless face At Collina Strada and Alaïa, models embodied the “no makeup” look with skin so flawless it appeared…

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