April 4, 2012

When Amsterdam-based, luxury raw denim pioneers, G-Star RAW, opened the steel doors to their gorgeous new full-concept boutique space in Toronto’s Queen West neighbourhood on April 4th, the crowd of 500 invite-only guests was treated to a twilight-soaked evening of champagne-based cocktails and a coveted peek at the neighbourhood’s latest storefront revamp (one the fashion pack is happy to embrace). The spacious 3500-square-foot denim destination, the brand’s first in Toronto, borders on an exhibit, replete with scores of raw denim, top-notch merchandising, severe mannequins and a knowledgeable decked-out staff—not to mention a stunning skylight. The night was a unique showcase for G-Star’s Spring/Summer 2012 line—think handcrafted denim objects from the Raw Essentials line, outerwear from Jacket Specialist, like the summer parka, the denim Arc Jacket, a few leather pieces, and accessories like ‘30s-inspired Newsboy caps. Tough twills and Tencel shirts dominate Laundry Army, while the Baseball King Bomber from the Correct Line emphasizes relaxed, lightweight materials, and quality construction. In attendance: Down with Webster, Daniel Desano, Kresha Turner, and G-Star’s North American CEO, the very-enthused Stuart Millar.

For more photos of the event, visit our Facebook page, here.

Writer: Lauren Festa Photographer: Filly Silver (Mempo.weebly.com)

Today’s modern woman is a minefield of contradictions, and we all know we’re guilty. Pretty in pink, combat boots, edgy couture – all beckon us to worship at their fashionable altars. Sydney-based designer Sara Philips is making a name for herself balancing this push-and-pull. Every season since her namesake label’s 2007 launch, she’s offered up a focused, inspired collection, and the alternately colour-blocked and lacy pieces of Spring 11/12 are no exception. Though it’s cold and snowy on our side of the world, it’s summer down under, and we’re jealously coveting these pretty yet sophisticated designs. We caught up with Sara to chat about childhood inspiration, travels in Egyptian, and her take on femininity.

The Block: There is such an intoxicating freshness and optimism in your clothing. Where do you channel that from?

Sara Philips: For me it is living in Sydney. The vibrancy of the city and the people, the colours they wear, the natural flora and fauna that surrounds the city.

TB: Your childhood memories are a great source of inspiration for your work. Where did you grow up and what about your childhood and the memories associated with it stimulate you creatively?

SP: I come from a large Polish family, so it’s the memories and stories I heard growing up. I think being a first generation Australian and coming from a family who has fled hardships really has shaped who I am and makes me feel very lucky to live in such an amazing country.

TB: Your Spring 2011 collection, LUXOR, is inspired by the Egyptian landscape: sand, sky, and architecture. Have you been before? How did this inspiration translate in your choice of fabric, and the general silhouette you chose?

SP: I travelled to Egypt at the end of last year with my boyfriend Cam. Egypt is an awe-inspiring place and the feeling you get in the ancient landscape is truly hard to put into words. The colours in rural architecture along the Nile inspired the colour palette for my spring collection. I also read Death On The Nile before I went and you do really still get a sense of that old colonial past when your there. It was this that inferred the use of lace and silks.

If you’re fascinated by what models look like off the catwalk, you’re probably already familiar with Altamira. The site, also know as Models Off Duty, has been operated by photographer Craig Arend since 2007, providing ample visual evidence that when models aren’t working, they still look like models. Need more proof? Witness Arend’s street photos of a glowing Liu Wen and ethereal Abbey Lee, en route to it-doesn’t-matter-where — totally casual, yet completely amazing.

Craig on Abbey: “Now at shows, Abbey has a tendency to slow down for me. The best was at Miu Miu in March, after I took her shot, she stopped me and said, ‘By the way, I love your blog.’”

Craig on Liu: “The cool thing about shooting Liu is that she has a graduated sense of personal style. She’s not in high school anymore, so she’s had more time to test and develop different outfits to suit her mood for the day, yet conform to her inner core.”

Photographer Craig Arend Illustrator Caroline So

A longer version of this story appears in Issue 25 of The Block, available on newsstands, via subscription, or from Zinio.

Jacket, Shirt, and Pants, Ohne Titel

Minimalism’s strong, sexy femme fatale recalls Blade Runner-era Daryl Hannah. If this is the future, we’ll take it.

Top in Stretch Leather, Zero + Maria Cornejo; Skirt in Stretch Drape, Neka and Kutu; Shoes, A.F. Vandevorst

Coat, Junya Watanabe; Shoes and Skirt, Calvin Klein

Pants and Leather Shirt, Wayne; Shoes, Hexa by Kuho

Coat, Dress, and Skirt, Jeremy Laing; Shoes, A.F. Vandevorst

Coat, Costume National

Photographer Cameron Krone Fashion Director Priscilla Polley Model Flavia de Olivera

A longer version of this story appears in Issue 25 of The Block, available on newsstands, via subscription, or from Zinio.

Jacket, Versace; Top and Pants, The Row; Turtleneck, Dior Homme; Necklace, Best Friends Brooklyn; Shoes, Christian Louboutin

Jacket and Pants, Calvin Klein; Sweater, Jil Sander; Turtleneck, With & Wessel; Tie-on Sleeve, Comme Des Garçons

Coat, Pants and Yellow Vest, Missoni; Turtleneck, Risto Bimbiloski; Belt, Chloé; Boots, Prada

Jacket, Dries Van Noten; Green Mock Turtleneck and V-neck Sweater, Prada; Pants, Ermenegildo Zegna; Hat, Lanvin; Wood Necklace, Best Friends Brooklyn

Coat, Miu Miu; Vest, Balmain; Dress, Isabel Marant; Turtleneck and Pants, Risto Bimbiloski; Necklace, Best Friends Brooklyn

Jacket & Sparkle Sweater, Prada; Turtleneck Vest, Dries Van Noten; Pants, Raf Simons

Photographer Hans Neumann Fashion Editor Grace Koo Models JP @ IMG and Salie U @ Red

A longer version of this story appears in Issue 25 of The Block, available on newsstands, via subscription, or from Zinio.

Video editorial accompanying our feature on skateboarder extraordinaire, Ben Nordberg.

Director Beau Grealy Fashion Editor James Worthington Demolet Music We Are All Romans

Cardigan, T by Alexanderer Wang; Skirt, Altuzarra; Socks, Falke; Earrings, Wendy Nichol

Dress, Christopher Kane; Turtleneck, Petit Bateau

Sweater, Rodarte; Tights, Wolford

Dress, Junya Watanabe; Socks, Falke

Jacket and Shorts, Comme des Garçons; Shirt, Calvin Klein Collection

Photographer Gregory Harris Fashion Editor Catherine Newell-Hanson Model Ruby Jean Wilson

A longer version of this story appears in Issue 25 of The Block, available on newsstands, via subscription, or from Zinio.

British skateboarder Ben Nordberg tricks his way through his first major fashion editorial with the brooding looks and dark style reminiscent of Gus Van Sant’s best indie teen leads.

Jeans, Analog; Shirt, Marc Jacobs Collection; Blazer, Surface2Air; Rosary, Pamela Love; Socks, Falke; Shoes, Ben's Own

Shirt, 3.1 Phillip Lim; Sweater, Alexandre Plokhov; Necklace, Vintage

Top, Ben's Own; Shirt, Opening Ceremony; Necklace, Lady Grey

Shirt, Opening Ceremony; Necklace, Lady Grey; Tank, Robert Geller

Photographer Beau Grealy Fashion Editor James Worthington Demolet

A longer version of this story appears in Issue 25 of The Block, available on newsstands, via subscription, or from Zinio.

On Selita: All Clothing, Michael Kors; Sunglasses, Carrera; On Seijo: Sweater, 3.1 Phillip Lim

Sure, newly anointed Louis Vuitton mannequin Godfrey Gao is now being touted as the world’s first Asian supermodel, but don’t forget that Seijo Imazaki was here first. Half Japanese – the rest German and Swedish – Imazaki was born to be a chameleon, perfect for fashion’s on-and-offagain tastes. In certain lights, you’d call him “all-American.” In others, he’s a symbol of otherworldly attraction, just bad boy-ish enough for mainstream appeal. Dress him up in J. Crew or strip him down to Calvins, you’d buy anything he sells.

But Imazaki has been there, done that; come and gone and come again. He’s currently in the middle of what Google will tell you is his “comeback,” as style blogs honour him with accolades like “mouthwatering man of the week.” But he didn’t quit the game; he just did what he does best, shape shifting into something new. After riding out the 90s in the pages of magazines, Imazaki went to live in a dojo in Japan, relinquishing claims to any supermodel throne. “Karate gave me a place to go. It was therapeutic for me; my escape from reality by being in a different reality, away from what I was used to.”

Now 33, Imazaki is a bona fide karateka, or practitioner, of Kyokushin kaikan (a full-contact branch of practice), training and teaching in an Upper East Side studio with a female sensei, a sight almost as rare in the karate world as Imazaki is in fashion. Karate tests his primal need for self-reliance because “it’s you against the other person, win or lose, you can only blame yourself.” While he still does the modeling thing because he can, it’s different now and he’s twice removed from the teenager who once mused for legendary photographer Bruce Weber. “I’m more tattooed,” he laughs, citing the homages to loved ones that fill his back and arms, prime real estate in model castings. Doesn’t matter though; he’s more concerned with being a good father to two-year-old son Sage (Imazaki’s high school nickname). Seijo is also busy cultivating a following on MySpace and now Facebook for his brand of spoken word poetry, experimental arrangements on themes of introspection or disillusion produced under the alias Quiet Castle. But being a poet in 2011 is just as hard as being a fulltime model in a world of actor endorsements. “Poets can’t really thrive today. There’s not a market for it, you can’t play it on the radio. I started doing spoken work over piano or guitar, and you can feel the difference. It’s moving.”

So what’s next for a man on the cusp of a comeback? “Working with good photographers, and shooting editorials, and being a great father and a good partner. I’m working on my life story, and putting out poetry.” And karate? It’s forever, he says, “a learning process that never ends. You can never know everything, and that’s true of anything in life.”

Dress, Lanvin

Selita Ebanks isn’t exactly a phoenix rising from the ashes. After her appearance as the bedazzled, impossibly beautiful but disturbed phoenix in Kanye West’s infamous 35-minute film/music video for the single “Runaway,” she’s more like a one-woman soaring success story. The 28-year-old Cayman Islands-born supermodel has acted, apprenticed (and by that we mean Celebrity Apprentice-d) and even worked as a grocery bagger and florist. All this, of course, is not to mention her multimillion-dollar 2005-2008 stint with the holy grail of modeling, Victoria’s Secret. With one of the most wanted bods in the biz, she’s been featured on the cover of Esquire and GQ, she’s been photographed by the likes of Bruce Weber, Steven Klein and Peter Lindbergh, she’s covered Sports Illustrated’s famed swimsuit calendar, and in 2009 she was ranked as the highest-paid black model in Forbes. “My hamster’s always on its wheel,” she says over the phone from her home in New York. All in a day’s work, it seems.

“‘Runaway’ was definitely something [special] and the whole treatment of it was very out of this world,” she says. “I would have never thought in a million years that I would be a part of such an amazing art or culture — or whatever you want to call it — that Kanye created.” Sounds a little timid from the person West considered his biggest champion throughout the video’s production, being quoted as saying that without Ebanks’s support, the project never would have gotten off the ground.

These days, Ebanks is onto bigger things, diving headfirst into philanthropic work. “[With modeling], you travel the world and you just soak it all up. Then you come back and it’s like, okay, what are you going to do? Are you going to just admire the world or are you going to be a part of it?

On Seijo: Sweater, Richard Chai; Tank and Hat, Robert Geller; On Selita: All Clothing, Giambattista Valli; Leather Headband, Jennifer Behr; Ring, Pamela Love

After traveling to Sierra Leone in 2008 on a non-conflict diamond education trip with Elle magazine, Ebanks came face to face with the struggling nation’s problems. “Sierra Leone is a war-torn country and the issues still need a lot of attention,” she says. “[The country] has the highest child mortality rate in the whole world. One in nine women die in childbirth and one in four children die before the age of five. It’s really scary.” After returning from the trip, Ebanks joined Shine On Sierra Leone, an organization that, among other things, helps save women and children. Ebanks launched a maternity ward in the region, offering free maternal and postnatal care. At home, she works with New Yorkers For Children, an organization providing fellowship, mentorship and scholarships for children and young adults in the foster care system. To stay grounded, she’s developing a travel and cooking website. “Cooking is kind of like my zen, my way to zone out for a little while,” she says.

So, what’s next? “I definitely want to work on some heavier stuff, something to take me out of my comfort zone again and something to sink my teeth into,” she says. “Hopefully to continue to build this hospital. My hopes are at least to have 10 to 15 [hospitals] in the next three or five years. Not only in Sierra Leone; I want to continue in East Asia, India, and other places that have issues with childbirth.”

All in about a million days’ work, it seems.

Writers Paul Aguirre-Livingston (Seijo) Randi Bergman (Selita) Photographer Blossom Berkofsky Fashion Editor James Worthington Demolet

A longer version of this story appears in Issue 25 of The Block, available on newsstands, via subscription, or from Zinio.