Seriously, McQueen?

We’ve got heels on our mind. Maybe it’s the chatter about Toronto Fashion Week that have sky-highs running through our heads, or perhaps it’s Thelma Lou Carter’s heel-related crime (she was sentenced to four years in prison on Aug. 8).

Whatever it may be, it got us thinking about the effect that our pumps, wedges, stilettos and (dare I say) kittens have on us.

A recent Toronto Sun article reveals what our beloved Manolos can do to our feet, ankles and backs and it sounds excruciating (seriously, how did Carrie Bradshaw do it so effortlessly?). Almost half of women reported that they’d wear a heel even it was painful, and almost 75% claimed to already have a heel-related injury.

So, why do we do it? It sounds like a heavy topic for such an innocent indulgence, but that painful pair of Louboutins may be more of a statement than you’d ever think.

In 2009, Today Style interviewed features director for Marie Claire Magazine, Lea Goldman.

“I don’t care where you work, the office is a competitive arena,” she said. “And the fact of the matter is that most offices are run by men — not exclusively, but mostly. I believe that heels give you an important physiological advantage in that they bring you eye level to male superiors. Don’t underestimate that ‘leg up.’”

Goldman also added that she draws the line at stilettos—save those puppies for a night on the town.

So go ahead and throw on your favorite pair of Steve Maddens this weekend, just make sure they’re comfy. Remember: insoles are your friend.

Check out http://www.refinery29.com/stylish-work-pumps for this year’s cutest, comfiest heels. Whoever said we couldn’t have the best of both worlds was clearly looking in the wrong place.

The new mobile shopping app Poshmark allows iPhone and iPad users to sell their wardrobes virtually and purchase goods from others’ closets.

Now you can buy a pair of Michael Kors wedges while waiting for your Starbucks order, or sitting on the bus or…at family dinner? Church? No, we must resist.

Users attend online “parties,” where they post their high-end dresses, heels, jeans etc. for sale. Each party has a theme, which can range from a general style (i.e. Bohemian-chic) to a specific designer (i.e. Burberry). For example, users upload their Burberry goods to the Burberry party and post various designers’ little black dresses to the “Girls Night Out” party.

There’s no need to be wary about your online purchases, because Poshmark secures mobile payments. The website explains, “we keep your payment safe until you tell us you’ve received your order, we stand behind every purchase made on Poshmark so that you can shop with confidence.”

So fashion lovers fear not: the only thing you need to worry about on this app is bumping into fellow pedestrians while purchasing Saturday night’s outfit.

After a week of bribing the Vogue office with bagels, Mother Monster finally got her hands on the September cover.

Gaga released it late last night via twitter. On it, she poses in a stunning magenta Marc Jacobs frock (see right).

Fashionista.com points out that the head-to-toe shot of Gaga is a far cry from the cropped images we usually see on Vogue covers (and on all other magazines for that matter). Kudos to the mag for taking a risk when magazine sales are lower than low—we think it worked.

Gaga’s stardom is also sure to boost Vogue sales next month, although her September profile reveals that the songstress is surprisingly humble underneath her notoriously extravagant costumes.

“I don’t really make records for people to listen to and go, ‘Wow, she’s a genius,’” explains Gaga. “I’d really like you to order a drink, maybe kiss the person you came with that evening, or rediscover something about your past that makes you feel even more brave.”

The September issue will hit newsstands soon, and we can hardly wait to see Miss Lady Gaga bare it all (no seriously, she poses nude for one shot!). So excited.

The Apparition star Ashley Greene is on the cover of Nylon Magazine’s annual August denim issue and to celebrate of the launch, she hosted a dinner in Los Angeles with Nylon’s editor-in-chief Marvin Scott Jarrett.

According to WWD, Chord Overstreet, Cameron Silver, Jeremy Scott and Rosson Crow all attended the fete. Greene stood out in a high-collared, blush dress with nude accessories.

In the August issue, the starlet talks about her previous modeling career, Twilight and her ever-rising fame.

Ashley Greene at Nylon's Denim Issue dinner

Check out Greene in Nylon’s latest issue, or catch her in The Apparition in theaters August 24.

After months of lying low post-bankruptcy, Betsey Johnson is getting back on her feet (or, should we say glittery stilettos?)

The designer is partnering up with The Levy Group (which designs and distributes for brands like Buffalo, Espirit and Nautica).

Naturally, Betsey will be creating her signature frilly, floral, flowy dresses, pricing between $100 and $250.

Her new frocks will be released in September during her retrospective runway show.

Needless to say, we’re thrilled that Betsey is back in the game and can’t wait to check out her new, rejuvenated looks. You go girl!

Already available in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, H&M home collections are coming to the U.S. in 2013.

According to WWD, H&M will produce three collections (organized by room) each season, and will release new décor and accessories every two weeks.

The designs for the pieces will be inspired by runway trends. H&M Home’s UK website features everything from under-stated linens to a blossoming table runner, all reasonably priced (duh!).

We hope the expansion is an effort by H&M to inch the home collections over to Canada. Don’t forget about us, H&M! Although this does give us a great excuse for a road trip.

Free People, August editorial

Free People’s Canadian debut will take place tonight. The brand is opening a location in Yorkville and to celebrate, Free People will host an opening event between 6:00pm and 8:00pm at the new store.

The first 50 customers will receive a Free People iPhone case, and all attendees will be able to enter a raffle for tickets to Gotye and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

Ally Dean, Associate Editor of Elle Canada will also be hanging around the fête to help guests put together outfits.

If Kensington and Queen West didn’t supply Toronto with enough art-deco button-up polos and 80s denim, a new shop has surfaced for vintage lovers to flock to.

Soop Soop opened last week, and the store is already gaining a fan base.

But hipsters don’t fret—you won’t have to sift through mounds of old clothing to find the perfect Mickey Mouse muscle tee. Soop Soop is exclusively online.

Not only does the cyber store offer vintage clothing for men and women, it also “reforms” old clothing and turns it into fresh, trendy pieces.

The ultimate goal of the store is to “[save] a whole lot of clothing from a landfill by finding ways to reinvent items deemed garbage because of an ink stain, tear or outdated shape,” reports Toronto Life.

Who knew recycling could look so good? We love it.

Visit www.soopsoop.ca for products.

Just as we started to forget about the musical television show Glee, it gained some star power. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Hudson recently hopped on board in an effort to save the show from plummeting, and it just might work.

Parker will play a Vogue editor and will be styled by none other than Anna Wintour herself. (After all, Parker will represent the Vogue brand on the show, so it only makes sense for Wintour to put her seal of approval on the outfits.)

Kate Hudson will also have a multi-episode guest spot on the next season as Lea Michele’s dance teacher, Cassandra July.

Maybe with this surge of A-listers we’ll be more inclined to turn on Glee when it premieres Sept. 13, for the outfits if nothing else.

Although it’s dubbed the fashion issue, Glamour’s September cover features Victoria Beckham wearing nothing but a tiara (and some strategically placed bubbles).

According to WWD, the celebrity designer wasn’t just the star of Glamour’s coveted September issue, she was also a guest editor for the magazine. Mrs. Beckham was reportedly hands-on while working with Glamour. “I have a very strong vision of what I like and it’s cool and a little more edgy,” she tells WWD.

Her soccer-star husband will also make an appearance as Glamour’s “Guy of the Month.” Both Beckhams in one issue? Sizzling.

Project Runway’s winner Christian Siriano opened his first store, in NoLita, NY. The small space (1,000 square feet) features his sportswear apparel and hosts a selection of Siriano’s recognizable evening gowns, which price around $2,000 USD.

The official launch for Siriano’s new shop will be on Fashion’s Night Out (Sept. 5). He will celebrate the opening with a party the following evening.

(Photo by Women's Wear Daily)

Bartenders wear (empty) gun holsters while making signature cocktails by Elan Marks of Kultura, Nyood, Drake (Photo by Gizelle Lau, Toronto Life)

Saloon-inspired Weslodge opened last week at King and Spadina, and upon first look it’s likely to make the King West cut. Unsurprising, since the restaurant is run by Charles Khabouth of Yorkville’s La Société and Hanif Harji of Nyood.

Apart from Stuart Cameron’s jaw-dropping menu—Scotch egg made with homemade chorizo, buffalo tartar with pickled mustard seed and a mouth-watering house burger—the restaurant’s bright yellow doors hook in hungry pedestrians before they can say Cornish hen.

Scotch egg with chorizo, tomato jam and black truffle (Photo by Gizelle Lau, Toronto Life)

The interior is detailed with rows of globe-like light fixtures, spindle chairs with purple velvet panels, old newspaper clippings and hunting trophies.

Is King West big enough for the Saloon and its competitors? We’re confident you won’t see tumbleweeds rolling through this joint any time soon.

The restaurant is now open for lunch and dinner as well as Sunday brunch.

Who would have thought a little black box could cause such a stir. Saint Laurent (formerly Yves Saint Laurent) recently revealed its new logo to Facebook followers.  The photo (pictured right) brought forth uproar among social media commentators.

One wrote, “You’re settling for what almost looks like a cheap stamp. This is a classic mistake of re-branding gone wrong…”

While the majority of comments weren’t in favor of the brand’s new emblem, there were a few brazen souls who defended Creative Director Hedi Slimane’s choice. One described the new logo as “quietly rich.”

Hedi Slimane, Creative Director of Saint Laurent Paris since Spring 2012

The new emblem—as many supporters pointed out—is an effort by Slimane to revive the 1966 ready-to-wear line Saint Laurent Rive Gauche. The change was scheduled for the opening of Saint Laurent’s new ready-to-wear flagship store in SoHo.

For those who aren’t a fan of Slimane’s choice, the well-known YSL monogram will remain intact for the brand’s beauty products. Otherwise, we’ll have wait to see his fall collection before we turn our noses up entirely.

It appears Katie Holmes came into the spotlight just as quickly as she split from ex-hubby Tom Cruise. The actress is on the August cover of Elle and the September cover of C Magazine.

Both issues came out just days before Ms. Holmes released the news of her divorce.

In both interviews, Katie teeters around questions on her personal life, “Most noticeably, the one name decisively absent from her lexicon: Tom Cruise. She never actually refers to him by name over pages and pages of transcription,” WWD reported on Katie’s interview for C Magazine.

She was, however, eager to chat about her professional career. The actress was recently cast in a Broadway play, and her clothing line Holmes & Yang is set to make its very first appearance at New York Fashion week in September. The line—which Katie produces with her stylist Jeanne Yang—has thrived in light of Katie’s divorce.

So far there has been no sign of Mr. Tom Cruise, but hopefully when he surfaces we’ll get more answers and less party lines.

Nigel Barker has joined forces with Naomi Campbell, Karolina Kurkova and Coco Rocha for a new modeling reality show set to air 2013.
Titled The Face, the show will have aspiring models compete for a modeling contract. Sound familiar? We thought so too.
It looks as though the show will be in competition with America’s Next Top Model, which Barker was recently fired from in an effort by Tyra Banks to rejuvenate the ANTM brand.

Barker has been part of America's Next Top Model since its beginning in 2003..

The Face coaches—Campbell, Kurkova and Rocha—will scout out contestants, pick teams, and guide competitors through photo shoots, runway shows, commercials etc. Nigel Barker will be the host.
Huffington Post ponders, “The new gig also strikes us as a clever personal decision: is Nigel getting back at Banks by decamping to a project helmed by her former rival, Naomi?”
Tyra assures that the ANTM family is still very close, and that Barker will still play a role in the franchise off-screen.

Jason Wu is embracing the urban casual, and we’re all for it. His new line, Miss Wu, features the designer’s killer creativity without the killer price.

He’s teaming up with Nordstrom to distribute the affordable 40-piece collection.

In an interview with WWD, the designer insists that Miss Wu is not “Jason Wu-for-less.” Instead the line represents an entirely different side of Wu’s imagination.

He describes Miss Wu as “slightly more downtown, and with a more relaxed attitude.”

Pieces will range between $200 and $800 USD. They will be available in January at Nordstrom stores and on Nordstrom.com. Accessories will be added to the line by 2014.

Expect A-lines, embroidery and a manageable credit card statement. We can hardly wait.

Alber Elbaz skipped the supermodels for Lanvin’s Fall 2012 campaign. Instead, he picked real people to model for the collection. The individuals chosen range from 18 to 80 years old.

The eclectic group of non-models, which Elbaz described as a resembling a “crazy family,” includes a waiter, milliner and a new U.S. immigrant. The eldest, an 80-year-old retired Apollo showgirl who always dreamed of becoming a model, is featured in a deep turquoise frock decorated with a large brooch.

Elbaz explained to WWD ““I was interested to bring these clothes back to the street somehow, and seeing how they look on different ages, different sizes.”

The advertisements will be released internationally in September magazine issues.

Karl Lagerfeld has been hard at work on his collection for Shu Uemura’s holiday line, and now we’re finally getting a peek at the products.

Chanel’s creative designer has come up with a variety of shades, palettes, brushes and liners for Shu, ranging in price from $27 to $368 USD.

“Mon Shu” is the icon for the line. Lagerfeld created her using palettes from the collection. He says he’s been using Shu colors on his own sketches for years. Below is the “birth story” of Karl Lagerfeld’s mascot.

The line is scheduled to come out in October.

After a pajama-clad Jimmy Kimmel announced late Wednesday night that he will host this year’s Emmy Awards, the nominations for the 64^th primetime award show have been released as well.

Many nominees aren’t newcomers to the award scene; Julianna Marguiles, Sofía Vergara and Tina Fey for example. But this year there is also a handful of new kids, including Lena Dunham and Zooey Deschanel.

Mad Men, four time running winner of best drama, leads the pack with a whopping 17 nominations. This year, the show is tied with the miniseries American Horror Story.

Modern Family has the most nominations among the comedy shows, and has won best comedy series two years in a row. But Eric Stonestreet (who plays Cameron Tucker on the show) mentions that Modern Family is ready to pass the baton off this year.

“The beauty of winning the Emmy the first year you’re nominated is it takes the pressure off. You don’t need to win again. We hope Jesse [Tyler Ferguson)] or Ed [O'Neill] win this year,” he says.

The comedy will compete against Girls, Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Big Bang Theory at this year’s award show.

Lady Gaga opted out of the bondage and bows for her ‘Fame’ fragrance campaign. She chose instead to raise eyebrows by posing in the buff, with armies of miniature men barely concealing the songstress’s private parts. The image dropped late last night, July 16.

Minutes before releasing the provocative picture, Gaga admitted via tweet, “I won’t lie I’m a bit nervous…” an uncharacteristically timid statement for the groundbreaking artist.

The scent will be released in late August and will be the first ever eau de parfum that is black in color (but fear not for your favorite chemise, the serum sprays on transparent). True to Gaga form, it even contains a hint of the lethal Belladonna plant, as well as notes of apricot, incense, saffron and honey drops.

The scent, according to WWD and Rolling Stone, is expected to rake in $100 million in just its first year, possibly surpassing the success of Justin Bieber’s perfume, Someday.

The launch of Fame will be held at the Guggenheim Museum during New York Fashion Week.