Things Parents shouldn't do on Boxing Day

Don't leave your kids outside unattended! I know there were (and still are) some killer deals at Tru Drama yesterday but we had 4 instances where parents left their kids outside. Fortunately my partner was outside doing security and kept a watchful eye on the kids.

In the early morning, this sweet little guy was outside for 20 minutes!
Good thing he had some reading material!

These two at least had each other for company.

Boxing Day was a great success yesterday, it was our best ever! Thanks to all my staff and their efforts, some were working sick and I appreciate them even more! Thanks also to all the customers for making our store their first store of choice on Boxing Day. The little lineup we had was quite flattering at 8:30 in morning! For those of you that couldn't make it down, we still have lots of great items.

Almost Everything 50% Off - Boxing Day

Pretty much everything is 50% on the Boxing Day, Dec 26th. The only exceptions is the stuff that has arrived in the last two weeks. Those deliveries are for Holiday and Pre-Spring arrivals. For those items, we'll do a one day 15% off.

The very best deals will be really on Boxing Day proper. We'll still have stuff on sale afterwards but it'll be the best prices you'll see prior to final clearance in February. This applies to both the Tru Drama store and Kris + Cris Shoes stores.

Sorry we won't be able to do exchanges or really anything other than sell stuff on the 26th. If you've got an issue, bring it in on the 27th. We'll be better able to help you then.

Merry Christmas!

It's been nuts at the stores and I like to really applaud all the girl's efforts this season. They're the glue that holds everything together!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and holidays!

Pre Spring Christian Audigier is HERE

We just got a delivery of Pre Spring Christian Audigier. The new prints and designs are fantastic!

Stay Focus, Fly Biddell

Project Runway Canada wrapped up it's 2 hour finale tonight. Bad boy Biddell won out against quirky MG and talented Lucian. I could tell by the first hour that Biddell was likely to win. Edited to show his lack of work and design, it was too obvious that they were bringing him low so that if he won, it'd seem like an incredible come from behind win. Clearly all the onscreen time devoted to him wasn't going to be wasted on a runner up. I really wish the producers of the show would give us viewers a bit more credit.

Collection wise I really enjoyed everyone's collection. Lucian's was rich and stylish, MG's quirky yet daring and Biddell's had the attitude and style we come to expect from him. My favourtie designer MG, her collection was to be fair the weakest. Some stunning pieces to be sure but it felt disjointed.

I love Lucian's choice of music for his runway. It was Summer Sun by Swedish jazz/electronic musicians Koop. The song features the stunning vocals of teenage Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano. Very appropriate for his collection. His collection was tight and beautiful but I thought he was being a bit of a one note with nothing but dresses except for his coat and lingerie end piece. I did not think his collection resembled Dior, I almost felt Iman was throwing it out there just be negative. Did anyone notice Lucian's left eyebrow was significantly bigger than his right? Weird.

Lucian and Biddell's collections were so strong I would put their collections to win over any of the other Project Runway/Catwalk finales. I'm quite proud of them, they really showed their design chops. Now comes the hard part, making it in the real world.

Overall I felt the designers out shined all the deficiencies of Canada's Project Runway. My wish list for season 2 would be to:

• replace Iman, her last statement to Biddell was inane, "Stay Focus, Fly Biddell." Clearly without a script this woman makes no sense. Her eerie beauty and odd speaking style distracts easily.
  
• replace Brian Bailey, I don't doubt he was an excellent mentor and overall nice guy. However, I'm watching TV and I want to be entertained. The next guy/girl needs to have more charisma.
  
• replace judge Bustle guy, I like him and thought his comments were spot on most of the time. What Bustle guy lacks is gravitas. He's neither gay enough or famous enough to be on the panel. I often felt he was being bullied by Iman.
  
• replace the Winners as the retail partner. One of the prizes was to work with the team at Winners to learn the fashion business side. I thought Biddell and MG were going to totally lose it when they were at Winners. It's so ridiculous the thought of it! Winners would never sell any of the designs these people make. Unless of course, you're so big like Michael Kors and have stuff even his outlet stores can't sell type merchandise to move. Mind you I did buy a pack of "irregular" socks for my partner the other day there. He won't notice!
  

Holiday Rush

I've finally got caught up in some last weeks realty TV. Project Runway Canada is about to have it's finale this week and despite all it's problems, I'm finding I'm looking forward to finale. The top 3 designers are in the final. Go MG!

Due to the holiday season the store and I are very busy these days. So I'm afraid I can't update the blog for bit. Hopefully, I'll be able to update here and there before boxing day.

Next Top Model - Guilty Pleasure-Yes, Relevant-No!

America's Next Top Model had it's finale this past week. The winner was the bright and cheery Saleisha. All the girls were enjoyable to watch this season but I realized that none of them would ever be a "Top Model" let alone America's next one. Looking back at all the winners from past seasons, all of them have become models (except for fame-whore Adrianne Curry) but have any of them seen success outside the confines of Cover Girl?

The show has been around since May 2003. Some of the earlier contestants should have attained the lofty Top Model position by now. All the winners of course had a flurry of activity during their year of winning ANTM but none of them with exception of Nicole Linkletter (worked for Stella McCartney) has made it into the lofty realms of of high fashion Tyra and her panel goes on about. Jaslene seems to be doing well so far and she's been working her Latin heritage to great effect.

The reality is Top Model status in high fashion really isn't in the cards for any of the ANTM girls. All the show can provide is a quick and cheap way to get notoriety in the modeling business. Top Model status is not guaranteed and unlikely. The show is built to provide entertaining TV but it's unlikely to produce a Top Model.

ANTM has lost much of it's lustre. In the first 2 cycles of the show they went to Paris and Milan but subsequent trips have not made much sense. Certainly the case could be made for Tokyo and London but the other choices are just wrong. Yes models will work these cities but being a Top Model is about working the trinity of fashion cities: Paris, Milan and New York City. Look at the recent Beijing finale, it's odd that the fashion capital of China couldn't have any of it's fashion elite to view the show. The omission of the top Fashion people in China should be expected, since no one would recognize any of them outside of the fashion community in Beijing. My point is that cities like Beijing, Cape Town and for sure Bangkok (what the!?!?!?!?) are poor spots for Top Model training and finales.

For the next season they should make their next end of season destination be New York City. Since the move to LA, I've really missed the energy the city imparted on the show. Moving from one of the world's top fashion capitals NYC to LA has never made any sense. This was done to let Tyra do both her talk show and ANTM without her traveling to both coasts constantly. Good for Tyra, bad for models and the show.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the show despite the lack of results and polish. They can still tell a great story about it's contestants and the relationships they have with each other. Cattiness always makes good TV!

Malaysians do Project Runway Better

I've just finished watching the finale of Project Runway Malaysia on YouTube. The videos aren't the best quality but the designs from the finalists were spectacular. The fashions showcased were more couture-feeling than any of the other Project Runway shows.

For a country approximately the same size population as Canada, they've managed to put together quite a show. Our Canadian contestants with all the benefits of Iman, Brian Bailey(???) and geographic location (close to US fashion centers) seems to be only just the same level as their Malaysian rivals. What's sad is that on a production level I actually think the Project Runway Malaysia is a better show than Canada's.

All I need to do now is watch Designerspirene the Norwegian Project Runway. Oh to see them make it Oslo fashion week! Now if I could only get me a blond, blue eyed, Norwegian boy to translate the show for me! Yes I'm sad =)

Nina, Our New Mascot... err Model

I've been getting A lot good responses about the "head" I've been putting on our the girls modeling clothes. I think she looks cool and her expression is moody yet non-judgmental. Could she be our mascot? Mascot sounds like some sort of giant furry animal that you see at sport events. Probably a better term would be "in house model".

I'd call her "Nina" and make a Facebook and Myspace page for her. Then I'd put her profile on Lavalife and have her start dating. She'll be the toast of the town with her insane fashions. Hahaha, she'll have a more exciting life than me!

Dereon Holiday Arrivals

New holiday arrivals from Beyonce's Dereon line.

The little black dress

Just had to add another dress to the blog. This one has been very popular. All our dresses are above the knee short, shoulder baring sassy and all below $100. That price applies to the amazing silver sequin dress too!

Juicy Couture Holiday Bags

Pretty in pink and purple, Juicy Couture for holiday!

All dressed up for the Holidays

Despite our love for hoodies and skull tees I recognize a girl can't make that look work for every occasion. So for this holiday season I've gone crazy and gotten a lot of party wear... dresses and tops specifically!
NO, I didn't get weird Christmas colours, things made of prom/bridesmaid dress materials or frocks with puffy chiffon princess sleeves. What I got was a bunch of sexy fun dresses for you to look spectacular in. Materials are easy stuff -- no dry cleaning anywhere. My goal was to get a "little black dress" (or equivalent colour) for everyone!

Thanks to one of our very best girls "H" for modeling!

Long Socks with Laces

One of the unexpected hot items so far are these socks. Yes, I said socks. Maybe it's for Christmas gift giving but these items have really been popular. They're just tall socks with contrasting laces at the back. They're cute, sassy and more than a bit naughty!

Before you gals start emailing me... yes the sock on the left is the same for both top and bottom pictures. I had a brain freeze when I took these pictures.

Christian Audigier Tiger Rose and Goddess tees

These two tees are so gorgeous. I had to make sure I took some pictures.

Tiger Rose is on the left. Goddess on the right comes in both black and white.

Special thanks goes out to "A" my super gorgeous model!

Dec 5th New Arrivals

I'm so backed up at the store,we actually got these new items on Monday.

We're going to be getting big shipment of party dresses tomorrow. I'm super excited!

Runway Canada Get Away

I wasn't planning to blog about the Canadian edition of Project Runway anymore but this last episode was the most bearable of the season.

The challenge this week was to understand the jet-set, luxury and resort wear. So guess what fabulous location they got to. Drum roll please.... Southern France! Sadly no, they got sent to Southern California. The Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach to be exact. Yes that resort destination of choice for the rich and famous. Oh you don't know where that is? It's like a an hour and half drive south from downtown LA, past Long Beach... past the docks. Yup they really splurged on the accommodations.

They showed Mood's LA store downtown. I'm very familiar with the area so it was a bit neat to see the 'hood. Nick Verreos from season 2 of Project Runway was the guest to meet them in LA. When he introduced himself he paused awkwardly, almost as if he wasn't sure if the designers would recognize him. Nick we all love and recognize you!

I swear he was channeling Tim Gunn. He had a really good mentoring vibe with a witty banter to boot. Brian Bailey should be taking notes. I hope Project Runway (any of the editions) can find more work for him. I would love to see more from Nick! The work space used was at the FIDM - The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. The school is located close to Mood, so it's nice and close to where all the action is (unlike their hotel). BTW Lauren Conrad from (The Hills) is supposed to be a student there too. I wonder if Nick has ever instructed her?

OMG on their return to Toronto, the best moment of this entire series happened at the work space. Stephen was freakin' unbelievable with his fierce runway walk at the studio. Stephen's walk and Nick Verreos appearance has been the two best things in the series so far.

Tyra Banks would be proud. Fierce!

Ed Hardy Bags

Ed Hardy bags came in and the consensus amongst staff and customers is the gym bag. My personal favourite though is the messenger shape.

Love Is Black Nylon Gym Bag
Love Mystery/Love Gamble Black Messenger Bag

Rose World Citizen Python Handbag
Love Eternal Leopard Clutch

Give the gift of Christian Audigier

Lucky us and you! We've got a new shipment of Christian Audigier arriving today! No repeats, they're all new pieces for Holiday/Pre-Spring (what the heck?) delivery. I couldn't find pictures for the new Goddess tees and Tiger Rose tees we're getting but they're hot! The caps of course are one size and unisex.

Rose Short Sleeve Tee in black

Skull Logo Rhinestone Tee Black


Specialty Cap, Diamond Skull - Green/Green, Brown/Brown with Rhinestones



Cholo Signature Barrio Hat in White or Black, with or without Rhinestones

Holiday Windows at Tru Drama & Kris + Cris

I love our new windows! Don't forget if you know someone to do windows contact me at girls@trudrama.com!

The Kris + Cris Shoes with it's burnt orange zebra stripes. Oh yeah we've started doing our sale already. 20% to 30% off most items.

The Tru Drama window is fab with gold accent pieces on a pink background.

Model Misfire

Oakridge Center Mall had this strange little event last night. It was a fashion thing with models on platforms showing fashions from various stores in the mall.

I felt this thing was a big miss. Not only was it not promoted but having it on the first day in the extended evening hours on a Saturday was not going to generate a lot of interest. It's odd too that there was a modelling platform close to the Tru Drama store but yet our models were on the other side of the mall in front of Wear Else. The snow storm and the mediocre models didn't help either.

So there goes a bunch of my marketing money down the drain! Fortunately the clothes still look fabulous.