Squares Upon Square

Wow, this weather is really shitty. You're probably thinking "it had better be nice tomorrow, 'cause it's Friday and I really want to go see the 'Squares Upon Square' show"

Well, at least that's what I'm thinking....

"Squares Upon Square" is a textile based art show of works by the wonderful Serah-Marie from Worn Fashion Journal. This girl is constantly supporting the various artists, designers and writers from our fair city and beyond, so I think it's only appropriate that we get out there and support her ourselves in her first solo artistic venture.

As someone who studied textile arts as part of my fashion degree, I'm super excited to see this show, which Serah-Marie described to me as "patchworked and embroidered works...oh, and maybe a little crochet too." So nice to see techniques too often referred to only as "craft" brought up to the lofty status of "art". (even though I still like to call things craft, the word has great memories and only positive connotations for me)

Wooden Apples is located at 5319 Parc, between Fairmont and St.Viateur and they are open Tuesday thru Sunday.

Majolie for Fall

We just received beautiful new sweaters from Lysanne Latulippe, creator of Majolie (her womens line) and Fred (her mens line). I still can't get over how awesome Lysannes name is, sheesh.

This is our first time carrying a few of the mens sweaters, and they are so wonderful. With the perfect amount of graphics, great colours and a slim yet not overtight fit, they seem to be the perfect winter investment for stylish yet not flashy guys (well, not flashy except for the obvious camera flash in the pic, which I love by the way)

All of the Majolie sweaters are made of super high quality wool and wool blend yarns, and each special design is created by Lysanne, who then goes through the incredible task of programming each complicated design into her vintage computerized knitting machine, which she then uses to make the sweaters right here in her studio in Montreal.


With the help of a few speedy sewers she assembles all the knit panels, and a beautiful sweater is born. This is complicated stuff folks, each piece really is a little work of art. Congrats on another beautiful season Lysanne!


Check out more stuff from Majolie at www.majolie.ca

Back from Europe

Hi friends!

You may have noticed the blogging was a little light over the last week. Well, I was in Europe for work, covering London, Rome and Stockholm in one week! I'll try to post a few pics later this week. I arrived back in Montreal on Friday, then we were off to Ottawa early Saturday morning for the Ladyfest Craft sale. Tyson and I travelled with Elaine Ho from Roadkill (and her man Aaron) and Marc Simard from Broundoor, tightly packed with all our goods into a rental van. Yay for mini roadtrips!

The necklaces above are a new design Tyson and I worked on together. We dyed and varnished thin slices of Spruce, Poplar and Apple tree from my parents backyard and then gave them the high gloss Tyson finish. I added a little charm to each necklace, and ta-da our new design is ready. A lot of the charms are vintage, so each necklace is a little different. We now have them down at the store, and we also left a few behind with our friends at Victoire boutique in Ottawa.

There ended up being a whole crew of Montrealers heading out to Ladyfest (Yana from Supayana, Clayton from Complex Geometries, Serah-Marie from Worn Fashion Journal, Dana from Damned Dollies, and the ladies from Pin Pals) A big thanks to all the Ladyfest organizers and especially Regine and Katie from Victoire boutique in Ottawa. Hardworking girls who manage to remain constantly stylish, we love it!

I lied, we're open on Saturday

OK, so as it turns out, we will not be closed this Saturday. So, come on down, and say hello to our "Employee of the Month" Jill Kasian who will be manning the store for us. What a trooper!

Jill is the heart breaker on the left.

Closed this Saturday

If you're planning on dropping by HQ this Saturday we will be in Ottawa for "Ladyfest" so, we will be closed. Sorry. I love you.

your dreamboat,

tyson

p.s.

Ladyfest Ottawa 2007 does it up phat'n'funny for its 6th birthday bash!

September 20-23rd, 2007

Masia One, Eekwol, Kickers, Catriona Sturton, and Holly Prazoff to headline
Maverick's, Barrymore's and Endhits

Ottawa, ON-Ladyfest Ottawa, the capital's premiere women's music and arts
festival is thrilled to announce its 6 th year anniversary festival line-up
taking place in downtown Ottawa September 20-23rd 2007.

Ladyfest Ottawa 2007 kicks off its four-day celebration on Thursday
September 20 at Mavericks with live-wire performances by Toronto's Katie
Stelmanis, Ottawa's Hollowtip Hearts and Montreal's Kickers. Friday night
spotlights the female face of hip-hop, also at Maverick's, with local slam
poet Stargazer, Eekwol, a Native rapper from Saskatoon, hot Toronto emcee
Masia One, and a dance party with DJ L'oqenz. On Saturday September 22,
Doll and Catriona Sturton rock the afternoon away at an all ages Endhits
basement show.

Over at Barrymore's on Saturday evening, Ladyfest Ottawa joins forces with
The Ottawa International Animation Festival to present Animated Women and
Chicks and Giggles, an evening of female-flavoured animation, featuring
shorts by Signe Baumane (NYC), Joanna Quinn (UK), and Janet Perlman (Mtl),
followed by the hilarity of Much Music Video on Trial's Holly Prazoff and
comedic partner Inessa Frantowski (Toronto).

Ladyfest Ottawa's 2007's (in)famous workshops take place at all day at Jack
Purcell Community Centre. Topics include the ever popular I'm Coming! Guide
to the Female Orgasm hosted by Venus Envy, Write Here, Write Now: A Guide to
Blogs, Zines and Self-Publishing with local writers/bloggers Megan Butcher
and Jennifer Whiteford, What the Eff am I Signing?! Clever Girls' Guide to
Copyright and Contract Law offered by feminist law firm Galldin Liew, and
Cyberselling with Montreal-based clothing designer Supayana.

Also on Saturday at Jack Purcell, is our fierce and fabulous Not Your
Grandma's Craft Sale, featuring gorgeous goods from crafters from Ottawa,
Montreal and nearby!

And to close it out on Sunday September 23, at Capital Music Rehearsal,
Ladyfest Ottawa is delighted to present a Rock Camp For Girls, a chance for
the next generation to learn to play instruments, as taught by women
musicians. Registration for the Rock Camp is required.

Six years on, Ladyfest Ottawa has become a clear leader in showcasing
emerging women in the arts. Ladyfest Ottawa is a non-profit, primarily
women-organized and volunteer-driven music and arts festival that is open to
everyone. Ladyfest Ottawa spotlights the diversity of women's artistic
expression through the avenues of music, performance, and film and video
among others. Unique to Ottawa's arts festivals, LFO also prides itself on
its commitment to sharing skills, talents and knowledge through its'
workshops and panels.

For more information, including our full schedule please visit
www.ladyfestottawa.com or email ladyfestottawa@gmail.com

Ladyfest Ottawa 2007 is happily sponsored by Vrtucar, Shameless Magazine,
CHUO, Capital Music Rehearsal, VIARail, punkottawa.com and MotherTongue
Books.

Ladyfest Ottawa gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the City of
Ottawa.

Dudes gone wild!

Well Angie is off in Europe for the week so it looks like I'll once again have to pick up the slack and do some outstanding blogging while she's gone. (It's also going to be a full week of beer and nacho dinners, flatulence, poor hygiene and going to the bathroom with the door open... ahh, freedom!) And to celebrate my escape (although very brief) from my ladies sharp talons, I'd like to let all the guys know about the new stuff we got in for the Fall season, just for them.

We got all these awesome hats from Brixton which are $44.00 each (except for the top photo which is $68.) I love these.

More Than A Friend's new t-shirt series "Necromantic" $40. each

Angie took the camera with her so I can't show you pictures of the new t-shirts and hoodies from Paul Graham, the new luggage and men's totes from FSU or the Kick It Fashion hoodies. So, I suppose you'll have to come down and see for yourself.... and have a beer with me while you're at it, I suppose.

Also, keep an eye out for new men's recycled bags, wallets and cuffs from Broundoor which we will be getting soon.

Drawing Night

A small group of artists meet each week to eat, drink and draw. This blog is a collection of what the group pump out and the different exercises and drawing games they use to create the magic.
www.drawingnight.blogspot.com

Threadless Opens Shop in Chicago!

Many of you may be familiar with the Threadless shirts that we carry at HQ and the awesome concept behind it. Basically artists submit their designs to Threadless, who then posts them online, and all you people out there log in and vote for your favorites, then Threadless prints the designs with the most votes, and pays the artist for their work. It's a win-win-win situation! Threadless knows that their making stuff that people will actually buy, the artist gets $ for their work and gets their work out into the world, and the customer gets to pick what clothes are being made for them....genius!

Now the folks at Threadless have joined the world of retail, here's the info RE their new store which just opened in Chicago:

"When Threadless started back in late 2000, it has only existed online. Well, in September 2007, that has changed! Starting in our hometown of Chicago, we've opened our first-ever official Threadless STORE! Amazing! Why a store? A zillion reasons. Most of them revolve around ideas we come up with for giving back to the Threadless community and not having the staff, resources, venue or time to make happen. Ideas like teaching design classes, hosting galleries with Threadless artist's work, having real-world group critiques and other various events. Another big reason has to do more with our product. We've been quite selective with which shops carry Threadless product and have even turned down some big-box retailers. Our reason for doing so is twofold. First, our product line changes every week and most retailers are not equipped to handle change that fast. Second, the story behind each of our products and who creates them, how they are created, scored and selected for print often gets lost in a traditional retail environment. Our tees lose some of their specialness and become just another tee on the shelf. So, here it is! Stop on by, learn something, get inspired and enjoy the art of Threadless with us!"

One of the reasons we loved Threadless since the beginning is that we feel they are in the same frame of mind as us; give to the artists and the community, and it will give back. Way to go Threadless for sticking to your guns and doing it right!

Read more about the various features of the new Threadless store:
- New Tees Every Friday
- Learn Something Upstairs in the Gallery
- Reusable Bag Coupons
- Weekly Mashup Store Window Paintings
- Arzie13 and Glennz Store Launch Tee

www.threadless.com

Get a steady fix of the HQ blog

So we've had a couple people ask us how they can get automatically updated when we put new stuff up on the blog. It is so easy, you're going to be so relieved. See the orange icon thingy above? That's the RSS feed, I really don't know what RSS stands for, I'm really not that computer savvy. There should be a tiny version of that icon up there in your nav bar. Yeah, right there, up and to the right of the place where you type the website you want to go to. You just click on that icon and it leads you through the steps, so you can get an e-mail when we put up new stuff. So easy, just like Tyson (har de har)

xo
Angie

Outfits of the Week: Sept. 12/07

Happy Hump Day everyone, enjoy the outfits!


Cotton floral dress by Valerie Dumaine (Montreal), vintage forest green elastic belt, Charcoal Designs leaf necklace (USA), vintage forest green suede pumps with black bow on heel.


Raspberry jersey top by Soi Disant (Montreal), metal and stone necklace by Nea (Montreal), white shorts with suspenders by Anastasia Lomonova (Montreal), vintage fabric bag by BLUEprint (Montreal)

Support Local Designers!

If you love local design but are looking to save a dime (har de har) check out this special new designer run venue featuring designs by HQ alums Anastasia Lomonova, Majolie & Valerie Dumaine, as well as fellow Amherst store Dinh Ba and many others. The grand opening event is this Thursday Sept. 13th. The event is right down the street from HQ, so why not stop by and say hi to Tyson as well, after all we're open 'till 8pm on Thursdays and Fridays.

(click on the image above for a bigger version so you can read all the details)

Anastasia Lomonova, Fall 07

OK, I'm back. Although I think I'm not 100% back to my normal self yet as I was advised by Tyson this morning that I shook him awake at about midnight last night telling him to watch out because there were matches on his pillow (all with eyes wide open but fully asleep). How weird is that?


Anyways, we've got lots of new stuff in the store for fall, such a treat to see all the new things arriving! Latest on the list: Great fall pieces from montreal designer Anastasia Lomonova.


This is Anastasias second full collection, and we just love her work. She's carried over some of her signature spring 07 pleating details into the fall collection, but with an additional pleating method (box pleating for all those of you who know what the hell I'm talking about) and has used satin and tweeds instead of chiffon.

I'm telling you people, working with a knife pleat (like the skirt above) is hard enough, but working with box pleats is a nightmare. They always shift around and get all distorted. So mad props to Anastasia for pulling this off, the dress with the box pleats (below) looks killer!


There are also some great heather jersey pieces that combine the sporty fabric with feminine silhouettes and girly details. I think these are some great pieces to start a fall wardrobe, they'd look great with a pair of opaque tights and all the nice oxford booties that are coming out.

Fall's on its way folks, and if we're gonna freeze our asses off, we may as well look good doing it!

Osheaga-time!!

So, alot of us are slowly recovering from an amazing weekend at the 2nd Osheaga music festival. It was an amazing time full of free booze, kick ass music & art and good friends.
YPF-ers Milena, Emily and Neil (on his way down the dark whisky path, never to return).

Toronto's hardcore heart-throbs "Fucked Up".
One of the best shows at the festival.

Cutie-pies Jen, Krissy & Emily.

For some reason I always thought "Panthers" were some weird 70's pussy rock band (like the Kings of Leon...yuck). But guess what. They are not and to my great surprise, they kicked my ass!

MIA

Miracle Fortress featuring the YPF's monsters. After the set he mentioned that the YPF was OK with it if people wanted to steal the monsters they created.........

2 seconds later, almost every piece was taken.

Marc & Kevin Simard from "Broundoor" www.broundoor.blogspot.com

Spencil and Little Miss Moss

Holy fuck, I'm looking in two different directions. Yeesh!

Awesome people's club founders, Tristan & Michelle.

Yes, we did get golfcarts but I don't know if anyone really took advantage of it.

I'll post more pictures tomorrow at www.passthepepper.blogspot.com
Also, be sure to check out www.theypf.com