Dots[Connection]: Fashion Week Madness

This week has been a madness since it is the World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto. For this season, I have once again curated a special project and teamed up with IMG and Sony to show you the illustration world of fashion week. Please follow this link to see all the amazing works created by Lisa Nishimura, Stephanie McKay and Octavio Contreras!

VAWK by Lisa Nishimura 

Pink Tartan by Octavio Contreras

Rudsak by Stephanie McKay

Dots[Connection]: Exotic Groove

Here is your weekly recap of Draw A Dot.!

The Orange Dot Project has finally come to an end and the last piece is created by my other long time collaborator Lisa Nishimura. I really like the underwater theme and the jellyfish definitely reminds me of the beats of the song. [Read Here]

Courtesy of Lisa Nishimura 

Are you tired of this cold cold winter yet? If so, maybe this piece by Alessandra Divizia can warm your heart a bit. This piece is inspired by the Alexander McQueen VOSS (S/S 2001) collection and I am sure you can feel the exotic vibe. [Read Here]

Courtesy of Alessandra Divizia 

Please remember, you still have a little over a week to enter the AmongMen S/S 2014 Menswear Trend Contest! Don't miss out this golden opportunity!

Dots[Connection]: The Surface of Toronto Fashion Week Part 4

The final is here and on the final day of Toronto Fashion Week, all 4 illustrators went to the tent and did live runway sketches on 4 shows. As usual, their works are amazing you can visit Draw A Dot. to see the complete series.

Thanks to Microsoft for letting the illustrators to use the Surface tablets and I am very happy to be part of this amazing project!

Enjoy!

Hilary MacMillan

Courtesy of Lisa Nishimura

Thomas Balint

Courtesy of Ben Liu

Bustle

Courtesy of Benjamin Edward

Mikael D

Courtesy of Jocelyn Teng 

Dots[Connection]: The Surface of Toronto Fashion Week Part 4

On Day 4 of this amazing project with Microsoft, Lisa Nishimura went solo and illustrated 3 fashion shows. Her style has clearly evolved and the illustrations are very different than her Monday ones. Below are some of my favourites and you can visit Draw A Dot. to see the entire series.

Soia & Kyo

Caitlin Power

Rudsak

Courtesy of Lisa Nishimura 

Dots[Connection]: The Surface of Toronto Fashion Week Part 1

This week is Toronto Fashion Week and unlike the previous seasons, I will not write a lot of reviews because there is a special project on Draw A Dot. For this season, the illustration site is collaborating with Microsoft to work on an interesting illustration project. I have invited 4 Canadian illustrators to go to different runway shows and do some live runway sketches.

Here are 3 of the runway sketches from Day 1 and you can visit Draw A Dot. for the entire series!

Tomorrow I will show you illustrations from Day 2.

Beaufille

Courtesy of Lisa Nishimura 

Pink Tartan

Courtesy of Jocelyn Teng

David Dixon

Courtesy of Benjamin Edward

February 2012 Memories

It's the last day of February which means it's time to review what we have done this month.

3 amazing artists are featured this month in the [Un]Discovers section and they are: Adamo de Pax, a really amazing emerging fashion photographer; Hana Pesut, a photographer with an amazing on going project called Switcheroo; Stuart McLachlan, a great paper art artist whose works will blow your mind.

As for Swide, we have released the 2nd part of the Dolce & Gabbana S/S 2012 illustrations and thank you so much for all the positive responses (We have received more than 3300 likes on facebook for this particular entry). Then on Valentine's week, we have created a special article for Swide which features works by Gerardo Larrea, Lisa Nishimura, Berto Martinez, Jennifer Lilya, Wendy Ding, Anja Van Herle, and Helen Huang.

Stay tuned to this site and see what we have in store for you in March!

P.S Don't forget to check out our Time[less] section to see some amazing watches!

Art[s]ense: Valentine's Inspiration - Illustrating Love

Valentine's Day is tomorrow and while you are still busy planning for this special day, I have contacted 7 of my fashion illustrator friends and asked them some questions relating to this occasion. Also, 2 of the artists have decided to illustrate the original artworks based on the S/S 2012 collection. Please click here to read the article!

My Top Favourite of 2011

2012 is finally here and before I start any new contents, I just want to show you my top favourite things in 2011. The list might be a little random but everything is just very relevant to my life. Here we go...

Fashion

Best Womenswear Collection: Gucci F/W 2011
Best Menswear Collection: Jil Sander F/W 2011
Best Comeback Brand: Versace
NY Designer on My Radar: Joseph Altuzarra

Courtesy of Style

December 2011 Memories

It's the last month of 2011 and we are very glad to end this year with a very cool project! This month, we have teamed up with 6 Toronto based bloggers and created the "15 Minutes of Fame" project to conclude our 12 Months of [Pop Up] Flavors series. Thank you so much to everyone who have participated in this project! Please click here to read about the projects and the interviews.

We have also revealed this year's Holiday Postcard that we collaborated with Lisa Nishimura. The clothing is based on the Burberry Prorsum F/W 2012 collection and we hope you like it. Please click here to see the image.

As for Swide, we have featured on talented photographer named Seb Janiak and you can read it here. A very interesting photographer we must say.

Last but not least, we have created a little entry to talk about our top favourite [Un]Discovers entries. Please click here to read it!

2012 is going to be another great year for us so stay tuned!

Graphicology: à la mode x Sketch & Pixel Christmas Postcard 2011

The time is here!

Back in November, we did a little giveaway to celebrate Christmas this year and if you are one of the lucky receivers, we hope you will enjoy the image before everyone else. So now it is time for us to reveal the image and the inspiration is based on the Burberry Prorsum F/W 2011 collection. We really hope you will like it and we at à la mode are wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Enjoy! (Click the image to see it in bigger size)

Please head to Sketch & Pixel for more information about this image.

Icon: 15 Minutes of Fame

The wait is finally over! After 6 amazing individual features, we can now show you the documentary we did back in November. This short video is about how these 6 individuals think of the Toronto fashion industry right now. It is very refreshing to listen to their opinions about the industry and we hope this little video will let other people to explore this topic in a more detail prospective.

Thanks to all 6 bloggers and illustrators who took part in this project and a special thanks to Bryanna Nicole Brown for helping us to edit the video.

These are the questions we have asked the bloggers.

1. What do you think of the fashion blogging culture here? Do you think it is growing healthily?
2. Do you think the industry here has isolated itself from the international scene?
3. Which emerging fashion designers do you think should be recognized by the public? Why?
4. Do you think the Canadian fashion scene is neglecting the emerging fashion illustration and fashion photography sector?

Enjoy!

Icon: Lisa Nishimura

Today, let's continue our amazing feature with our Christmas postcard collaborator Lisa Nishimura (the illustrator behind Sketch & Pixel)!

Do you consider 2011a successful year for your blog? Compare to 1 year ago, do you think your blog has evolved and captured a specific audience?
My blog is not quite a year old yet but I think it's been a successful first year so far. It started out as an outlet to showcase my illustration since my day job as a digital graphic designer doesn't really involve any drawing. I also opened up an Etsy shop and started a Facebook page. I'm slowly trying to grow my empire! From what I can tell, my audience is interested in fashion illustration and illustration. I also have a lot of traffic from my Tim Burton posts.

Gotta love Tim Burton!

Out of all the things you have done this year, what was your biggest achievement?
I think my biggest achievement has been designing this year's Holiday postcard. It's great that I get to cap off the year with this project and have something tangible that I can give to people for the Holidays. I get to share what I love with the people I love. It doesn't get better than that.

Other than your own blog, which Canadian fashion/arts blogs do you visit regularly? Why do you put them on your must read list?
One fashion/design blog that I love is thecoveteur.com. I love the voyeuristic aspect of the site. I mean, who wouldn't want a glimpse inside the closets and homes of some of the most fashionable people living today. It's also beautifully styled and photographed.

Some other really great Canadian blogs that I visit are: booooooom.com, poppytalk.blogspot.com and lovelydesign.blogspot.com. My friends also have amazing blogs: kendalldonaldson.ca, everydaydeelights.blogspot.com.

What kind of expectation do you have for your blog in 2012? Do you think you will be adding some new elements to it?
Hopefully I'll be adding different styles of drawing to my blog. You're already getting a glimpse as I post my 10 minute sketches from this year's Sketchbook Project. They're a lot looser since I only have time to get the essence of the outfit. I can't obssess about capturing all of the intricate details like I do in my other illustrations. It feels good to experiment and try different things with my illustration, so be on the lookout for that.

Courtesy of Mark Sommerfeld

I know there are a lot of people looking for ways to break into the Canadian fashion and arts scene, what are some of your advices you can give to them?
I think the best advice that I can give is to work really hard, be genuine and don't ever give up. Persistence pays off.

If you had a chance to collaborate with a fashion brand for your blog next year, which brand would you want to work with? What kind of projects would you want to do?
I would love to collaborate with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton. A dream project would be to have my illustrations on some Louis Vuitton bags à la Stephen Sprouse or Takashi Murakami. A Louis Vuitton x Sketch & Pixel bag?! That would be the pinnacle of my career and I could die a happy woman. Haha!

If you want to see the Lisa's amazing illustration works, please visit Sketch & Pixel.

Game[On]: 12 Months of [Pop Up] Flavors - FINAL

It has been a joy ride for us this year to work with so many interesting people on this blog and to celebrate our 2nd anniversary, instead of hosting a party like last year, we have developed a special project - 15 Minutes of Fame.

This year, we have invited 6 Toronto based bloggers/fashion illustrators, whom are also our collaborators this year to be our special features of this month. The 6 bloggers are: Justine Iaboni (Whatever Eurotrash), Julio Reyes (Fashionights), Anne Cayer (FAT/ Life in the M lane),  Lisa Nishimura (Sketch & Pixel), Wendy Ding (Wendy Ding) and Septembre Anderson (J'adore). These 6 individuals are the new breed of bloggers s their point of views are unique and raw, plus they are willing to explore different areas to push the envelope of the industry. Starting on December 6, we will have an one on one interview with them based on this year's achievements of their blogs and here is the line up:

December 6: Wendy Ding
December 7: Justine Iaboni
December 8: Septembre Anderson
December 12: Anne Cayer
December 13: Lisa Nishimura
December 14: Julio Reyes

November 2011 Memories

November is just another great month for us and we actually did not imagine so many things could happen at the same time!

With our 12 Months of [Pop Up] Flavors almost coming to an end, we have teamed up with 3 different people to bring you some intense contents. First up, we have Wendy Ding to show us the final wave of her Fashion Journal, and we are in love with the entire project! So inspiring and we wish her all the best in the future! Then, our postcard project is on again this year and we have teamed up Lisa Nishimura to create another one of a kind Christmas postcard. If you have not received it, you will get to see the image sometime in December! Thanks for entering the contest and we hope you enjoy the card!

Last but not least, we collaborated with Miss SLY for an one on one interview. In this interview, you will get to know what she thinks about the fashion industry here and what brands she wants you to know. This is a very interesting collaboration and we hope we will be able to work with you more in the future!

As for our regular [Un]Discovers features, this month we have 3 talented artists and they are illustrator Marianna Ignataki, photographers Alexander James and Andrew B Myers! Now, our [Un]Discovers section will be on hiatus until January 2012, see you soon!

Of course, how can we forget Swide? For this month, we have 4 great features! The artists are: illustrator Jonathan Bartlett, and fashion photographers Dimitris Theocharis, Ashley Lebedev and Lucia Giacani. We will have 2 more features in December and we promise you one of them is one of our biggest features in 2011 (You will have to guess who is our last feature on Swide this year (hint: a model)! December 10 is when you will find out the answer)!

December marks our 2nd anniversary and we promise something great is waiting for you to explore! Stay tuned!

Wish[Granted]: Christmas 2011 Postcard

Here comes the 2nd wave of the November edition of 12 Months of [Pop Up] Flavors and this wave is a GIVEAWAY!

If you are our loyal reader since last year, you should remember we did the Christmas postcard giveaway back in November 2010. Last year, we collaborated with Helen Hung to create a stunning card based on the Alexander McQueen F/W 2010 collection.

This year, we have decided to work with Lisa Nishimura, the fashion illustrator behind Sketch and Pixel and we are more than thrilled to see the final image. While we cannot tell you which fashion brand we have picked for this year,  what we can say is this image is very whimsical and mysterious at the same time. Before we reveal the image to the whole world in December, we would like to send out 10 copies to our readers (You read it right, we can only manage to save 10 copies this year!). In order for you get the first scope of the image, here is what you need to do:

1) Send us an email to info@fusionofeffects.com and tell us your favourite S/S 2012 collection and give us a reason why you like it so much. The first 10 people who sent us an email will be getting the card. The deadline is November 25th!

If you missed out last year's Alexander McQueen image, we promise you will not want to miss this chance again! Hurry up and enter our contest!

Good Luck!

October 2011 Memories

We will admit, we were pretty much in all directions in October and we were having a blast! Now, let's recap what we did...

In this month, our 12 Months of [Pop Up] Flavors was all about hairstyling and we were lucky to be able to interview some of the top hairstylists whom participated the Avante Garde in North America Hairstyling Awards. The hairstylists included Jake Thompson, Kris Sorbie and  Damien Carney. If you have read the entires, you should be amazed by their creativity on hair. 

There was actually a 2nd part of our 12 Months of [Pop Up] Flavors and that was the second wave of Wendy Ding's Fashion Journal. In this month, we showed our readers her journal from Day 11 to 20. Every piece was stunning and at this moment, we are hoping to see more and know more about the up coming entries! Click here to read them. 

Also, after more than a year, we finally posted the shoot we did with ADO LES SCENTS. It was a very nice experience and we would definitely love to shoot again with this brand in the future! Click here to see it. 

Of course, how can we forget about Lisa Nishimura's works. In this month, she sent us the Marc Jacobs and Burberry Prorsum S/S 2012 runway illustrations. The illustrations were stunning and we can now drop you a hint, the best is yet to come... 

As for Swide, we had the honour to feature 5 talented artists. Some of the artists included portrait illustrator Anja Van Herle, photographer Kerstin zu Pan, and illustrator Berto Martinez. Since Halloween was in this month, we had done a 2 part special featuring 2 surreal illustrators: Madame Monique and Natalie Shau.

Last but not least, it was our pleasure to be part of the Global Fashion insiders for the LGFW and we wrote 2 reviews for it. The shows we reviewed were Mercedes Banz StartUp and Golnaz Ashtiani & Caitlin Power. 

Stay tuned and see what we have in store for you in November! 

Graphicology: Marc Jacobs S/S 2012 Collection by Lisa Nishimura

Now the major fashion weeks are all over and it is about time to see what Lisa, the talented illustrator is up to. Recently she has created a set of 3 Marc Jacobs S/S 2012 illustrations and as usual, I really like it. I am very excited to see she can really re-create the textile of the pieces with just water colour. What do you think?

Courtesy of Lisa Nishimura

Graphicology: Burberry Accessories by Lisa Nishimura

Back in June when I was in New York with Lisa Nishimura, we were honored to have the chance to visit the Burberry headquarters. We were at the showroom and saw the F/W and pre spring 2012 collection of Burberry Prorsum, Burberry London and Burberry Brit. Instead of taking photos of the products, I asked Lisa to illustrate a few pieces we saw at the showroom. In my opinion, I think these illustrations are as good as (or even better) the photos I saw on her camera.

Enjoy! 

Courtesy of Lisa Nishimura

June 2011 Memories

6 months of 2011 have passed by and it looks like our momentum is getting higher and higher. Now lets take a look at what we have done in this month!

This month, we are working with Wendy Ding for our 12 months of [Pop Up] Flavors. Her fashion journal is simple amazing and we love the idea of transforming ordinary clothing to high fashion garments. This month, she has showcased 10 pieces of her journal with us and we are hoping to see more from this series in the future!

As for the [Un]Discovers department, we have featured 5 amazing artists and they are: fashion illustrator Wendy Ding and Lisa Nishimura, illustrator Nick Sheehy, fashion designer Michael Kampe and shoe company Kron by KRONKRON. We hope you enjoy these features as much as we do!

We continue to contribute articles to Swide this month and we have amazing fashion illustrators Jennifer Lilya and Tara Dougans and Ben Cornford as the feature artist of the week. Also, we have written a very cool entry about the material lace which you have the chance to see some emerging photographers and illustrators' works!

Last but not least, if you missed out the chance to see our the Burberry S/S 2012 menswear runway show live on our site, you can click here to catch the show!

Next month is going to be interesting and also, I Scream Awards is coming back soon. We can tell you this summer is going to be amazing!

Graphicology: Louis Vuitton Resort 2012 Illustrations By Lisa Nishimura

I am pretty sure a lot of readers are missing Lisa's works and today I have a special treat for you. Lisa has recently illustrated 5 looks from the Louis Vuitton Resort 2012 collection and there is one element common among them: all pieces are in blue. As per usual, her illustrations are amazing and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Courtesy of Lisa Nishimura