I Don't Think You're Ready For This Jelly

Hello Lovelies!

It's finally Spring!!!  & Summer will be soon approaching!  In honour of the warmer weather, I thought I'd share a post on my Corinne Monique Spring/Summer 2014 collection with you :)

The collection, entitled 'Medusozoa' & shown during New York Fashion Week, was inspired by my trip to the tropical Caribbean last Spring for Tobago Fashion Week.  It was my very first time visiting the Caribbean & it had a big impact on me.  The 'Medusozoa' collection continued my debut 'Year of the Serpent' collection's focus on a sense of exoticism, but this time centered on the colourful and exuberant carnival celebrations or fetes of the islands.  The collection also drew inspiration from the equally exotic & beautiful sea life in the Caribbean ocean, especially the jellyfish.  Medusozoa is the scientific name for the strikingly exquisite yet fearsome & poisonous jellyfish, alluding to the powerful & intelligent mythological character Medusa.  Medusa is the embodiment of all things feminine, having qualities & symbolism similar to the serpent, & the term also means ruler or queen.  Like the jellyfish, Medusa is said to have been ravishingly beautiful as well as terrifying, turning men to stone with one glance.  

The Life of a Legend and Death of a Diva

"There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go." ~ Author Unknown

Jeanette "Cookie" Cooke-Dabney 11/29/1955 - 1/20/2014

Cookie 'werking' the runway in the gown I designed and made just for her.
photos: Brooks Fotographie & Brian Branch Price

Yesterday, the world of fashion lost one of its brightest stars and greatest spirits, a true model in every sense of the word.   I lost my great mentor, a beautiful model and muse, and a special friend whom I loved dearly.  You may not know her, but you would have loved her too...everyone did.

Cookie, the amazing designer Willie Hall, and me at NYFW 

NYFW Trunk Show

Hello my Lovelies!

It's been a little while, but that's because I've been real busy with a ton of exciting new happenings, including showing during New York Fashion Week again!!!

To get started, I want to talk about my NYFW Trunk Show for my new Spring/Summer 2014 collection, 'Medusozoa' (I'll discuss the collection itself as well as the runway show in detail in a following post).  

I was lucky enough to have my stay sponsored by our parter, the beautiful Hotel Belleclaire on the Upper West Side of NYC!  I am so grateful to have been provided with a lovely (& enormous) room to showcase my new collection to buyers & media.  Select pieces from the new collection were also on display in the hotel lobby, along with displays by Suja Juice, Stella & Dot, & Korto Momolu, all of whom I adore.  

I also took some of my gorgeous models out for a spin to Lincoln Center (more about that later too), so we had to stop on the red carpet in the lobby for some photo ops ;)  These lovely ladies caused quite a stir with Hotel Belleclaire's guests!

Solie'l Paden, Casey Barber, Amanda Gooden, & Jessica Magary

Here we all are posing with out Suja Juice (so yummy!) before we head out to knock 'em dead at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center!

More exciting news (& TONS of photos) to follow soon!!!

Again, a HUGE thank you & shout out to our partner, the Hotel Belleclaire & especially to Adisa Feratovic, Director of Sales & Marketing, for sponsoring our stay & making is such a positive and joyful experience!

Stay tuned...!

Corinne

xoxo

The Year of the Serpent

Dearest Readers,

I am so sorry for the almost year-long delay in posts, but I was so busy with so many exciting and wonderful projects!  The coming posts on all the news will be well worth the wait, I promise!

For my first post this year, I wanted to tell you all about my début fashion show of my eponymous womenswear line, Corinne Monique, during New York Fashion Week this past February!  Thanks to some wonderful sponsors, friends, and family, and to Rogues Gallery Presents, run by the extremely talented Ron Cooke, who put on the Emerging Designer Showcase, I was able to live the dream.  It truly still feels like it might have all been just a fabulous dream and I keep having to pinch myself to remind me that the experience was real!  I was the only Canadian designer invited to show & I actually ended up closing the Showcase, which was such an honour as the other designers I showed with, Urban Masala by Sehar Peerzada, Willie Hall, Mikasa La Charles, Diane Linston, 7T7 by Tarique Tabani, and Brehon Williams, were all amazingly talented.

My Fall/Winter 2013 collection, entitled ‘The Year of the Serpent,’ was inspired by a sense of wanderlust surrounding the exoticism of the Far East and is a modern take on the Orientalism of bygone eras.  The decadent and dramatic, yet controlled collection examines the symbolism of the poisonous serpent, a mythological creature familiar to all cultures, and often a symbol of female power.  The Orient of my mind encompassed Asian locales including China, Japan, Tibet, Russia, Mongolia, Iran, Indochina, and India, with a few non-Eastern influences thrown in from other sunny faraway cultures, such as Argentina, Spain, Peru, and Mexico.  Here are a few photos of my mood/inspiration board, fabrics, including hand-felted silk, and my sketches:

Art Decoupage

Edward Steichen, Gloria Swanson (lace), 1924

Hello again Dear Readers,

I hope you were all able to take in some fashion shows this past season, or at least got to flip/click through photos of the shows :)

Here's some of what I was busy doing last month at the gorgeous Eastern-inspired Greta Constantine Fall/Winter 2011 show...

Green With Envy

via: The Eco Market

Hello Dear Readers,

My Valentine's Day post was so much fun, I've decided to follow suit and dedicate this post to the colour green, in honour of St. Patrick's Day!  I don't know about you, but my family always celebrates St. Patrick's Day...we're Irish, what can I say?

The above photo is what might first come to mind when you think of "green fashion"...ethical, ecological, earthy.  Now don't get me wrong, I love eco-friendly, sustainable fashion!  But the following photos are my initial thoughts when I mix the words "green" and "fashion:"

Lady in Red

Vogue 1954

Happy Valentine's Day Beloved Readers,

I have always loved Valentine's Day, ever since I was a little girl.  So, in honour of the upcoming Valentine's Day, and as a tribute to the beautiful colour red, I am posting a collection of my favourite gorgeous red dresses!

But first, a song to get you in the mood for love:

Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face

Masquerade! Paper faces on parade...

Around this time of year, I always get the January blues - too many short, dark days and too much winter, cold, and snow (I wonder if people who live in warmer climates have this issue?).  I am a film lover and often escape with a good movie year-round, but during the dead of winter, this pastime almost becomes a necessary obsession.  I am also a lover of themes and like to watch "seasonal" movies (crazy, I know).  This includes films I deem "wintery" or those which are the complete opposite of winter, as a virtual vacation.  For some reason, I always have the urge to watch The Phantom of the Opera around this time of year...you have to be in the mood for that one and around about now it just feels right ;)

Anyway, this got me to thinking about masquerades in general and how that theme was often used in literature (think Shakespeare) as well as films and fashion.  I love the idea behind masquerades and masks - the ability to conceal one's identity and become someone or something else for a short time.  I also love the glamour and mystery associated with masquerades.  Wouldn't it be fun to have a masquerade party?!

Besides The Phantom of the Opera there are some other great masked moments in film:

Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette