summer daze

A jolly day in the part with my friend Matt.
This morning I was sifting through all my clothes and had the eternal debate: too many clothes and nothing to wear. I wanted to capture that easiness of French woman, just throw something on and look fabulous, blah blah blah you know the deal. I liked the idea of something layered, but I wanted to keep it light for summer. I ended up searching through my sister's closet and found this little gray dress from Urban Outfitters. And then I threw my lightest tank over for a little more interest.

I think it works nicely for just a little stroll in the park. Have a good day mes amies!



gray dress, Urban Outfitters; random white tank; gray shoes from Paris; vintage purse; sunglasses, Missoni.

comme des garçons

This is my menswear inspired look for summer today!


cardigan, Marc Jacobs; cotton/silk top; shorts, Gap; belt, Holt's; shoes, Keds; glasses, Chanel.

la la lola

I was doin a bit of blog-reading follow up when I came across these lovely photos of a new book called Lola's Ice Creams and Sundaes.

A book inspired by and old 1970's van turned organic ice cream parlour, it reminds me of why everyone loves summer so much. The book looks so friggin cute and delicious, I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy. Such lovely and beautifully styled photos of the perfect summer treat, with flavours like melon and ginger sorbet, lemongrass icecream, and burnt orange and caramel ice cream.

This reminds me of why I named my blog vanilla cardamom. I was out with friends one night and we came across this tiny little miniature ice cream shop. Everything was organic and homemade and had amazing flavours like lavender blueberry, fig and chocolate, and finally vanilla cardamom. It was the most delicious combination of fresh, sweet, and spicy. Sigh.

Dreaming of icy sweet treats on this hot summer evening. Yum.

happy father's day!

Here's what I wore to father's day brunch this morning. We went to the most adorable little french bistro that's totally off the beaten track. Lovely.

I'm pretty much obsessed with these jeans. Come to think of it, I am completely playing favourites in my closet. I've had this leather jacket for like.. four years or something, but I love it and it's easy. My obsession with nude in summer is also quite evident with the pumps from BCBGirls. Oh well.
I'd better start changing it up or else the rest of my clothes are gonna think I don't love them..


leather jacket, H&M; blouse, H&M; jeans, Nitrogen; shoes, BCBGirls.

mademoiselle

blazer, Forever21; striped tee, H&M; shorts, Gap; shoes, from Paris; fedora, UO.

Bonjour mes amies!

I have decided to be très French today oui oui since French people are just automatically way more fashionable than the entire rest of the world. So I am une mademoiselle for today. Baguette! Croissant! Piscine! Bibliothèque!

Ps. I actually do speak french. So I'm not THAT much of a poseur....

Me and my co-designer had a LOOOOONG day of work. Lots of ridiculous mistakes involving an evil printer which I am no longer speaking to. We ended the day with a lovely Iced Chai and biscotti (for me) at Crema, a lovely fair trade organic coffee shop in the Junction, a surprisingly undiscovered area of Toronto.

Now I am awaiting the delicious aroma of homemade burgers, lounging outside with my mum, pretending to be in the south of France... Ha. I'll just wear more striped shirts and eventually it'll be like I'm really there!

Also feeling quite inspired by Scott Schuman's lovely Governor's Island photos:

The Sartorialist

summer sweaters

My co-designer and I FINALLY got together to do some sewing. She looked quite cute in her fresh white top and handmade blue sweater, I had to snap a shot of her!

We mostly organized ourselves in terms of selling our clothes, talking to buyers, etc.. but we did manage to design and whip up a quick little summer sweater. The collection is for fall, but why not wear sweaters in summer too? Show some leg... balance it out. My crappy old cutoffs worked well, but I like the piece with a pair of really crisp black trousers too.

The sweater is vintage, made of lambswool and angora, and the floral silk is a scrap from a dress I designed a few years ago. The buttons I found in my basement, and they're actually mismatched.. which I think makes it even cuter.

check out more of our stuff on our flickr at : EDMUND AND LOU


sweater, Edmund and Lou; shorts, DYI; shoes, Michael Kors; ring, Forever21.

shredder

So I figured since I'm new to this whole bloggin' business, it's pretty much my duty to attempt the ol' shredded tee.


So here's my version... worn with a pair of Nine West heels I got last year which are borderline too colorful for my monochromatic wardrobe. Since it's summer now, I figured I oughtta crack em' out for a go.
Excuse the out of focusness in the fourth photo, I just thought it showed the bag well. The bag is vintage from my bf, he gave it to me about two years ago... or something...


Off to my girl friend's place to make delicious Indian curry and rice!


top, DIY; leggings, AA; shoes, Nine West; scarf, H&M; bag, vintage; sunglasses, Chanel

she's back!

Alas! The wonderful Phoebe Philo has returned!
Having finally created the much-awaited, very sophisticated and mature Celine Resort 2010 collection, it's definitely been a long time without her.

A fantastic pump from the collection that I probably need to own.


I would definitely say that I'm an all-over Chloé girl, and I do enjoy what Hannah McGibbon has done with the last few collections... but I have to do the cliché fashion thing and stand by Phoebe Philo as my favourite Chloé designer... maybe even more than Karl.


Some of my personal favourites from Phoebe Philo for Chloé.

I just love her girlish flair! It's def something I aspire to create with my own designs/art. It's simultaneously young and still grown up.