New Hours at Victoria Shops.

We recently changed the hours at our Victoria shops, partly because its a new year (yay!) and partly because of a little girl named Violet. Violet needs her mom to be home with her on sundays and by 5 throughout the week for the next month and a half. Therefore, we have changed the hours at Johnson Street to allow Aiko to spend more time with her daughter.

Johnson Street - Sundays closed, Mon - Wed 10:30- 4:30 and Thurs - Sat 11-5:30 (250 382 5459)

The Milkman's Daughter - Sun - Mon 12-5 and Tues - Sat 11-6 (250 590 5451)

Lily Inspiration: Tone-On-Tone

Here in the shop we spend so much time discussing cut, form, the pros and cons of various necklines on different body types, etc., I find it is easy to loose sight of one of the most important things: colour! Colour is such a key element in fashion and how we dress; the very same item in red, as opposed to blue, will have a completely different look and feel to it!

Lately I have really been into "tone-on-tone" looks and colour blocking (yes, those are my grey legs and feet!). Bright juxtaposition can be very fun--and Glenda is a master of the very difficult art of layering bright colours and divergent shapes--but these days I find myself drawn to the quieter sophistication of more nuanced contrasts. Some random examples (and please excuse my crummy cellphone photography!):

This is a special order Hama Hama that arrived in the shop a couple days ago. It's a little hard to pick out the colours in this picture, but it has a really fantastic melange of dark and light grey inks over a black background. Plus, there are skulls. Lots of skulls. (No-brainer, I know!)

This is a close-up of the beautiful white-on-white floral fabric that backs an anatomical heart duvet cover in the shop at the moment. It's such a gorgeous, subtle contrast...

Ah, the remnants of a manicure with a polish almost exactly the same colour as my skin. Subtle and sophisticated a week ago? Yes! Looking a little chipped and white trash at the moment? Definitely! But you get the idea...

Not to get too "Lauren Hutton" on everyone, but I just love the effect of the lavender printing on this purple cotton obi.

And last, but not least, is this super cute kid pulled off The Sartorialist. All the brown and tan tone-on-tone, with a little pale pink thrown in for yet more subtle contrast? Awesome. Why didn't anybody tell me to dress like this when I was twelve?!!? Come to think of it, why didn't anybody tell me to dress like this when I was twenty?? Hhmmm......

Inspiration: Victor Dubrovsky

Today I was searching the web for hardware for the "perfect bag" we are currently designing (read yesterday's post), and somehow, through the mystery of side-tracking, I came across this. Love Victor's work. There are a lot more example here of felted animals. Check out the photo gallery here, too, if you need to look at some nice cat and dog photos (am I pms-ing?)

The Magical Quest for the Perfect Bag

The rain was falling and the sky was dark on a cold January morning in Victoria. In the Smoking Lily studio, however it, was HOT, hot with desire for the ultimate purse. Earlier in the week we had received a note via messenger pigeon from a certain Julie, asking for a bag that she could not find, a bag that did not exist, a bag she could only dream of. All morning Nicole sat at her sewing machine, fabric, ruler, and zippers in hand. She was feverishly pondering the structure and dimensions that Julie had asked for:

1. Size--large enough to fit a normal girl's lunch (who uses tupperware not plastic wrap) and maybe a book and craft project and water bottle perhaps? Just needs to be large.

2. Zipper closure--so that when it tips over in the car during a sudden stop not everything spills out

3. Secure External pockets (2)--one to slip in keys and one for a wallet so that you always know where they are and you don't have to rummage around inside the purse to fish them out. Secure--like with a zipper or snap button so there's no chance of you losing keys or wallet, but not with velcro (which can wear out)--yes.... I've thought about this for a ridiculously long time

4. Strap length--must allow the option of wearing messenger style

5. A few internal compartments--I'm flexible here--my purse usually ends up in a chaotic mess no matter how many internal compartments there are

6. Leather would be nice, but fabric is fine too.

7. Here's the difficult part--a fun, slouchy shape! I was in school for a ridiculously long period of time, and although I do love the messenger bag, that's all I carried while in school, and now that I'm working, I would love something a little...well... less messenger-like. But...if messenger is the only way to make this bag, so be it.

If there is anything to add to Julie's list please let us know so we can complete our epic journey towards the perfect bag.

Vancouver Update II: Snrain?

It's hard to tell from the photo here, but we've had a steady stream of not-quite-rain, not-quite-snow here in Vancouver today. It looks like it's finally tapering off a bit (yay!), but things were looking pretty grim for a while, there.

All the icky weather made me appreciate the warm jolt I got this morning unpacking today's shipment from Victoria all the more, however. Sitting right on top of the first box I opened was a stack of bags printed with the Rock Cod--AKA Creepy/Ugly Fish, one of my favourite screens--in the most beautiful, shiny, "flesh"-toned ink. I've decided to make 2011 all about being mindful of life's little pleasures, so having such a fabulous pop of shimmer and colour greet me first thing today felt particularly wonderful (and I felt particularly wonderful handing the first one out shortly thereafter!).

On a vaguely related note, I also noticed that the studio gals have been sending us lots of lavender on the bags of late. Oddly enough, I was just reading on J. Crew's website this morning that Lauren Hutton highly recommends lavender as flattering for all complexions. Hhhhhmmmm....So what's stranger: our amazing printer, Liz, being psychically in tune with Lauren Hutton, or; Lauren Hutton's apparent new status as a J. Crew spokesmodel? Weird!

Brussel Sprouty Goodness

Yesterday, Margaret and I were discussing the bad rap brussel sprouts get with a customer; all three of us agreed that 'sprouts are delicious and that their poor reputation is entirely undeserved (apparently somebody out there agrees with us, as my mother-in-law and I had a comically rough go of it trying desperately to find four pounds of the little buggers on the 24th!).


At any rate, all this brussel sprout talk has inspired me to share a fabulous recipe for maple dijion roasted sprouts that I found on a food blog from Toronto. I've made it several times now, always to great effect, though I do usually throw in some pearl onions for a little extra oomph. Happy roasting!

Vancouver Update: Random Fun

As I was walking in to work yesterday, enjoying the fabulous sunshine and reveling in the thought, "Life is good!," I noticed something funny in the yard of a house just around the corner from us: a birdcage! I don't know why, but there it was--a solitary, empty, cheerfully blue birdcage hanging from a tree, in January, in someone's front yard. Life is good :)