Black December: Living in latex leggings and baggy tops, loving being alive, the usual.

The weekend past began commonly enough, but quickly turned into a whirlwind of drinks, social engagements, more drinks, shopping, restaurant reservations and, finally, having my eardrums blown by the psychedelic rock n’ roll brilliance that was Darker My Love at the Horseshoe Tavern last night. In short, there wasn’t a moment of it which wasn’t thrilling and awesome.
One of the highlights of the past couple of days was the Black Sunday Toronto Fashion Bloggers Brunch, as organized by the perpetually lovely and charming Danielle of FinalFashion.ca. The fact that this tiny bit of space on the internet is bringing me to events like this one, which are filled with interesting, informative and like-minded individuals is really beyond anything I could have imagined at Modern-Guilt.com's inception just a few short months ago. A huge thank you to Anita, Gail, Danah, Jas, Carolyn, Eden, Danielle and Serah-Marie for being so welcoming and lovely, and moreover some of the best conversationalists I've had the pleasure of encountering in recent history.

In other weekend news, G and I finally got around to watching Lagerfeld Confidential on Saturday evening, which was a hugely inspiring and entertaining little film. One of the best parts had to be the outtakes of Karl photographing Mariacarla for a Chanel campaign in the streets of Paris with Emmanuelle Alt and a bunch of other impossibly chic Parisians in tow. It was absolutely lovely to see that, regardless of scale, equipment and the amount of attendants on hand, all photographs are just photographs, and are taken in what is essentially the exact same way at the end of the day.

On a more personal fashion-y note, I did absolutely no shopping this weekend (Black Friday). I'm doing absolutely no shopping today (Cyber Monday). And, at the moment, I generally just want to quit shopping for all time. The holiday season always has a tendency to put me in this kind of mood, what with all of the circulating stories of sickeningly crazed consumerism reaching brand new moral lows and record financial highs. As such, I've basically decided to buy as little as possible this holiday season and instead rely upon my own creativity and knowledge of the people on my 'shopping list' to create something wonderful and memorable for the ones I love; I may even do a DIY Holiday Gift Guide at some point in the near future, so watch out for that!

I obviously have plenty more to say about this and that and all the rest, but I don't believe it's all going to fit inside of one Monday post. I hope you all had amazing Thanksgiving weekends, and promise to of course be back tomorrow with even more outfits and ramblings and everything else you've come to expect from G and I - however, if you're unable to wait that long, don't forget about our brand-new Twitter account which we've been updating in a manner that borders on obsessive.

Wearing

I finally found a plain, well-fitting black hoodie, and at Foot Locker of all places! It is quite possibly my new favourite article of clothing.

The white tank is from a random Yonge Street shop, and is made of that wonderful slouchy jersey that I'm enjoying so much lately.

The latex PVC-like leggings are Silence and Noise, as purchased at Urban Outfitters.

My black leather platformed boots are Pedro Garcia, and need to be cleaned up a little bit as last winter seems to have taken a toll on them.

The navy blue moto purse was purchased recently at Over the Rainbow in Yorkville.

My Best Imaginary Best Friends, Installment #3: Karl Lagerfeld

Just in case you missed the first two installments of this irregular series of mine, BIBFs #1 and #2 can be handily located within the links provided.

KARL LAGERFELD

In consideration of the fact that he designs for like a trillion labels a year which are all, duh, awesome, it's admittedly a very 'fashion-y' thing to deem Karl Lagerfeld your best imaginary best friend. Because really, who in their right mind wouldn't want access to all of that fabulousness all of the time? But this is besides the point, because Karl's place in my BIBF gang has little to do with his occupation or skill as a fashion designer.

From what I know of Kaiser Karl I've learned that he and I have one trait (other than, uhh, liking clothing), albeit a very specific and significant one, in common: a complete lack of regard and respect for political correctness. For example, few evenings ago I found myself in a social situation with some friends as well as strangers thrown into the mix. Me being myself, I of course began challenging various opinions and statements at the table at some point or another - mostly because I find it entertaining to do so and observe the varying degrees of reaction which inevitably occur thereafter. Naturally no one but G understood that, for the most part, I wasn't being entirely (or even remotely) serious. And it was one of those moments when I secretly thought to myself, "Karl Lagerfeld would so get where I'm coming from right now." And he would.

Case in point: Karl's semi-recent and much-talked-about interview for Prestige Magazine, wherein he not only stated that he hated all children, being touched and the smell of food, but also what is perhaps the most fascinating, hilarious and resoundingly true (for me) Lagerfeld quote ever:

"I don't want to have a social life. I've had enough of that in my life. It's demode. It's another era. Perhaps people are still excited by that era, but not me. It's uninteresting today. It says nothing. It's boring, pretentious and vulgar...Even for charity, people get paid. I try to avoid charity. It doesn't happen for me. I'm rich enough not to have to do that. Thank God I don't have to do that."
N.B. "Demode" has been my new favourite word since I first read this.

Being politically correct and inoffensive for the sake of being politically correct and inoffensive has never been a quality I admire in the people I associate myself with, and I believe that Herr Lagerfeld and I would get along like a house on fire as a result...well, hopefully not literally like a house on fire because battling flames is a little bit demode if you ask me, but I will assume that you know what I mean. Some of you may get where I'm coming from here, and some of you may not. Which is fine, because what's the point of entering the stratosphere of public life - or any kind of life at all - if not to be a polarizing figure, even if only slightly?

It is my firm belief that if one stands for nothing then one cannot claim to stand for anything at the same time. It is also my firm belief that many, many people do exactly that on the majority of given days of their lives. Lagerfeld's existence reminds me to revere my own, and not in an obnoxious, pretentious or demode way. He is merely a reminder that politics and morality and, even more superficially, style, are largely socially determined and sway from one way to the next just as the seasons change. Oh yeah, and if he were in fact my best friend I would probably have the most amazing wardrobe ever seen in the history of human existence.
So, to wrap things up: thus far in the BIBF series we've seen Anita Pallenberg as my imaginary fashion friend, Ryan Adams as my potential older brother of music and self-indulgence, and now Karl Lagerfeld as my fatherly moral compass. What's next? Tune in at some point in the not-so-distant future to find out...

P.S. Yes, I'm aware that my MS Paint skills leave something to be desired, but what else is new?