FFW Cheap is the New Chic: Design Contest Final at Nywood

THE 3 DESIGNERS WITH THEIR BEST DESIGNED OUTFIT

THE 3 JUDGES

THE CROWD

Cheap is the New Chic is a contest where the three designers battled against one another in the finals of the design contest. Three judges was to vote the best collecting for recycled clothing that the contestants got from Goodwill. They were to vote on who had the best designs overall and who made the best use of old/used clothing also.

The first contestant Erin Summer had a nice 70's retro edge to her designs. I liked it a little bit, but it wasn't enough to wow me. The second contestant Mady Bone is from Vancouver. She had some really pretty, girly, elegant designs which I really liked and I actually thought that she was going to win. However, when I saw the third contestant Devlyn Van Loon's collection I changed my mind, but it was a close one. What really made her a big winner is that she wasn't afraid to use a bunch of colours especially the bright ones. More importantly she really made use with what she got from Goodwill, whereas Mady Bone had used some old curtains/tablecloths that she got from Goodwill. I think that was a minus because she had more room/fabric to work with from curtains/drapes & tablecloths. Van Loon had to make sure that the was enough fabric from the old pieces to turn them into the new pieces and not waste anything. She made drastic changes from what they were and what she turned them into.

At the end Devlyn Wan Loon won according to the judges and the audience's vote. She had my vote too. Surprisingly, she is a newby to designing. That was her very first collection!

FFW Gala at BSM

The gala was held at the Bata Shoe Museum which is one of my favourite venues/museums in Toronto. I used to go there all the time when I had the membership a few years ago. I was a fashion/shoe nerd. I wanted to know everything about shoes back then from history, styles, the designers, trends throughout history, etc...

I haven't been there for so long so it was nice to have the chance to go there again for something other than just looking at the artifacts.

There was a small fashion show which was the main highlight of the entire event and what most of us was there for. I don't know who the designers were. I just know that they are local and a friend said that some of the designs were shown at Alternative Fashion Week back in March.

Summer Fresh served some really healthy food. It was sorta like a mini buffet, but you could really eat a lot if you were really hungry and really took the time. I only tried a little bit of each, but I get full really quick anyway. There were several different kinds of salads and veggie dips. I didn't see any meat, but there was cheese. So I had a vegetarian meal without realizing it until now, lol!

Foxy Originals jewelry was there selling their stuff. They are two local Canadian very passionate girl designers who started their jewelry making business in highschool. I really love the necklaces with the words on them, but unfortunately that night they didn't have the one that I want to get, "Dreams Come True." So maybe I'll get it off their website later on. On their website there's a section with a bunch of photos of celebs wearing some Foxy designs, eg. Paris Hilton, Megal Fox, Nelly Furtado, Tori Spelling, etc... I really wonder how they got that to happen. But what I really like is the cute little pink plastic giftbag with handles they give you with your purchase.

I met an asian/chinese girl who happened to be the blogger of the blog that I happened to be following as of lately. Check out TheCheapGirl by Oliva. It's a great blog, looks quite successful & she works very hard at it. She posts quite frequently & updating us on all the latest deals & stuff. So it's quite a helpful/useful blog for everybody. I made up my own meaning for the world "CHEAP-chic hot elegant and professional/posh" since I don't generally like the world cheap. Mostly I prefer frugal or thrifty but it's an easy to remember world & more catching than any other word I guess.