Last night, Chanel hosted a cocktail, (or champagne), party at their new beauty and fragrance bar in Holt Renfrew. The space is GORGEOUS! It is truly a Chanel wonderland of sparkly lip gloss, perfume galore and the latest Shanghai collection of nail polish. I’ll have to be careful about going near it, as I know I’ll be bound to find a few, or a lot, of things I just have to have! The party-goers last night were an eclectic mix of local celebrities, (Erin Ireland, Elisa Estrada), Chanel clients, beauty gurus, PR pros, bloggers and people from the office of Chanel.
Niki Blasina, of A Haute Mess, and me at the event! Love this girl’s style, and fierce boots!
The fabulous Niki and I went for a little Granville stroll after the party.
Wearing: BCBG Max Azria silk top, B.B. Dakota skirt, Chanel sandals, Marc by Marc Jacobs clutch, Fossil watch.
Thank you to the PR & Event team at Holts and at Chanel for putting on such a wonderful party, and for inviting me! And THANK YOU for the swag bags!! Eeee CHANEL USB STICK! Best thing ever!
Blogger’s Disclaimer: These are my thoughts. I may be ridiculous, I may be brilliant, (it has yet to be determined), but I’m on the road to figuring it all out, and this post is part of that. So I ask that you read this post as though you and I were having a conversation, a casual discussion of a current topic. Thank you in advance. And please do leave your thoughts below in the comments section!
Sitting on a Yaletown patio, (Starbucks), thinking about biz. Notice, I’m wearing a collared shirt, which is obviously very professional and pretty much makes me a bonafide business woman, (insert touch of sarcasm). (A Tommy Hilfiger collared shirt. From Winners. Love Winners.)
Today I’m thinking about perceived value, and how you can create that in the way you establish your own personal brand. Recently BC Business published a blog post on their site about perceived value, from blogger Tommy Humphreys, author of The Shift Key, and it made me re-think my strategy in terms of how I position myself as I build my career. Being a blogger, or a “fashion blogger,” as I’m often introduced as, (I prefer: “fashion, lifestyle and PR blogger,” but no biggie ; )), it can be tricky deciding who and what I should and should not align myself with. This is true with every single brand, and I think every organization really has to think and do their homework to make sure that when they do choose to partner with another brand, that their ideals, goals and values line up. If they don’t, the brand value can be damaged. What I’m aiming for, in terms of brand perception, and this is a lofty goal here, so get ready, is to be perceived as a luxury brand, like a Chanel, or YSL blogger. I don’t say this because I literally have hopes to work with such luxury brands, (though, wouldn’t that be a fierce job!), but I mean it in the sense that I hope for my brand to hold serious cred in the minds of those in my industry. Take Chanel for instance, we all want a piece of it. We love Chanel for the craftsmanship, the quality, the sense that it is special and limited in quantity and of course the fact that it is indeed, very top shelf. (I’ve got Chanel on the brain as I am currently wearing the CC sandals.) The ideal situation for a blogger is to be taken seriously, to be understood and of course, to be wanted. What I’m trying to get at, is when you are building a brand, and trying to create a strong, positive perception around that brand, how do you know when an opportunity to work with a company is a good or bad choice for you? I’ve asked around and put together a short list of check points that should align when such a relationship is considered:
1. Values: Is there a shared set of values? Think community involvement, philanthropy, treatment of employees, quality of life and quality of work.
2. Goals: Are you working towards common goals? When thinking about a brand partnership, consider what kind of relationship you’d like to create with the potential partner, is it short-term or long-term? And does the potential partner want to create short or long-term relationships with their clients? (The obvious answer is of course long-term, but many companies do not operate this way. As I’m sure you’ve noticed when you didn’t receive good customer service at that restaurant you visited recently when they forgot your food and then it was cold. Just an example.) Do their financial goals match with yours in terms of budgets and what kind of money each part of the budget is worth. Example: Is having an influential host at your event worth paying for? (Answer: Probably. It pays, literally, to have a job well done.)
3. Mission: What are you working towards? Does this potential partnership aid in growing your biz/brand? Do both brands hope to make a difference in society through their work?
4. Target Market: So important! Are you and your potential partner selling to the same market? This is an easy one to figure out, and it’s a deal breaker. If your markets align, then fabulous, if not, what is the point of such a relationship? If you want to be the Chanel of your industry, align with companies who also strive to be at the very top of their game, with brands of value.
I shall now take my own advice and (try to) apply it to my own decisions. Tell me what you think.
- SS
And what I wore while I wrote this business-themed post: Tommy Hilfiger striped collared short, white denim Trina Turk shorts, Chanel platform sandals, rose gold fossil watch, vintage bling, H&M sunnies and a tan leather Makowsky bag. Laptop by Apple. Just another day at the office!
Hot pink leather Kate Spade bag, all the way from Palm Dessert!
Recently I was the lucky recipient of this beautiful bag, which has quickly become one of my favourites! I take it everywhere, from photoshoots, (it held my Nikon on the day of the Kensie shoot), to Starbucks to school, (at school it sits proudly, though kind of in the way, on my desk). It is just exactly the right shade of hot pink! And I have been searching for a pink bag for years, it’s hard to find one that is the right balance of cute pink and sophisticated pink, seems bag designers out there want to make all pink bags out of pleather, or cheap vinyl, which is like handbag suicide. And the gold accents are so beautiful, it really makes me very happy to carry it around town.
Outfit I wish I’d captured: Last week I went to meet with the lovely lady I’m currently interning with, Andrea Baxter of Bratface Marketing, and wore a navy and cream striped knit blazer, a light pink ribbed cotton tank tucked into super dark, super long Fidelity jeans that have this fantastic wet-look waxy finish to them with my Chanel platform sandals and this bag! I felt FABULOUS! Though, I spent the majority of that day traipsing through the city, walking city blocks, catching a bus and then another bus to get to all my appointments. In the afternoon, after I finished my hair appointment, (got a little blonder, LOVING being blonde!), I had to walk through this unpaved alley, it was like off-roading in Chanel. I nearly broke my ankle on those 6 inchers trying to make my way over a seriously uneven road. I must have looked ridiculous, but I’d wear them for a day of adventure again!
Recently I did a blog post on a certain new pair of summer sandals, well, here are said sandals!! (Whoever said money can’t buy you happiness, I beg to differ with them. There are times when money can buy you a little happiness, and one of those times involves Chanel.)
Wearing a vintage silk top, Sirens jeans, Chanel shoes. Bracelet brand unknown, from Macy’s, H&M headband.
It’s been ages since I’ve done one of these types of outfit posts, it felt good today to get the camera out and snap some photos. I mean, get the Nikon out, stacking it on top of a huuuge pile of books that balanced on top of my stool, then setting the camera to a 10 second automatic timer, getting a shot, then running back and forth from pose to camera to check each shot. Oh, the life of a fashion blogger without her own personal photographer. Fun. : )
Anyone remember that SATC episode? The one where Carrie loses her silver Manolos at a baby shower? Well I didn’t lose any shoes, (the horror!), but I sure did add a pair to my collection! As I’m sure all the Vancouver fashionistas are aware of, Holts is having a MASSIVE shoe sale right now, (and it’s quickly being picked over, so run, don’t walk, to Holts to get in on the good deals!). MASSIVE because for the first time that I’ve shopped their sale, Chanel was 50% off. I know right?! What the heck?? That never happens! (In Canada anyways). Wellll, I fully took advantage of that 50% off. The funny thing is before I reached the Chanel boutique in Holts, I was going through the shoe sale racks and wouldn’t even look at anything over $250, and in the end convinced myself I was better without and should keep my money in my savings account. But then there was the land of Chanel, where 50% off of $825 seems reasonable, and my card practically came out of my purse on its own. Practically an out of body experience.
Now I just have to create some outfits for these (now favourite) fabulous platform sandals! What would you wear with shoes like these??
I know there are millions of us out there, women who LOVE designer fashion, (for more than just the label of course, there’s the uniqueness, the design house’s history, the quality-most of the time, the fabrics and how we feel in it), but can’t realistically figure a $2000 piece into their budget. It seems crazy hey? Most of us don’t even pay that much in rent each month! But every now and then we save up and splurge, or are crazy enough to pull out our plastic. (Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet built her business on this!) I’ve been known to spend up to $500 retail on an item, and so far that’s my limit. Most often, if I want designer I only allow myself to dig through the sale racks. I don’t really care if an item is from a season or two back, I think that good design stands the test of time, especially if the piece is by a house like Chanel, or Lanvin. Actually, almost every designer item I own I bought at a vintage shop or as part of a terrific sale, ex: Chanel silver pumps, $400 from $950, sequin Miu Miu’s for $4oo from $1000. And most recently the Jason Wu skirt! $100 from $1635. I still can’t get over pricing a skirt like that, and it’s not even made of gold. Anyways, I thought I’d show you this skirt that retails for approximately 1.7 times my rent:
How to find designer deals? From my experience, the best place to find a good deal, (an item that you love at a marked down price that fits your budget), is to buy from the quality American shops after they’ve marked down. Sadly, Canadian shops don’t often have giant sales where you can get big designers for cheap, although you can sometimes find a steal at Brown’s. Visiting the states when the stores have just brought in the next season’s lines is THE BEST TIME to buy! This is when the previous season’s merchandise is seriously marked down. The funny thing is, say in July when Fall is starting to arrive in store, the Summer merchandise is on sale, yet, the hot weather has only just begun. It almost makes me feel bad for retailers, I suppose most people wait for the sales, as I do. If you have any tips for finding great deals, let me know!
I started this day off rushing around my cramped apartment, (I’ve pulled everything out of my closets in an effort to de-clutter and re-organize as well as down-size), readying myself for an important appointment. This meant running out last minute to London Drugs with wet hair to buy a toothbrush and toothpaste, (somehow the night before a big morning I lose my toothbrush and use the last of my toothpaste??), giving myself my best version of a blow-out and a last minute iron job on my silk blouse. I left feeling fairly confident, which I considered to be quite a success considering how panicked I was when I jumped out of bed!
Anyways, when I returned home, I was greeted with a MESS. Winter coats strewn across my bed room, shoes everywhere and old school books lying around, something had to be done! So naturally, I reorganized my purses, even though they were already doing just fine in the purse cupboard…
Top: My collection of evening clutches. Bottom: A stack of soft purses. Braided leather handles peek out from a vintage sky blue leather tote.
I then moved on to reorganizing my shoe collection, and ohh boy there are a lot of them! Altogether only about 70 pairs, that’s not so bad, (compared to Imelda Marcos). Though, I’m starting to think that it would be a good idea to get rid of some of these shoes, especially since most I don’t often wear, or wear at all. While trying to figure out the best way to store my boots, I discovered a little trick to make them store standing up…
Stuff your boots with Vogues! Or really any magazines. Brilliant.
I try not to play favorites with my shoes, but really, who am I kidding? Miu Miu sequin heaven!
And then there are these lovely mules, passed on to me from my Mum’s friend’s friend. They fit, but are not so comfortable to spend much time walking in. Which makes them the perfect sitting-sandal, which I suppose is appropriate for the lady who buys Chanel sandals, it’s not likely she has to walk very far at any given time. So they sit in my closet waiting for the day I decide to have a “sophisticated WASP” moment.
And now a snapshot of my decidedly reorganized coat closet and purse cupboard:
That’s it for now, tomorrow morning I think I shall report to you on social media, though if you’re reading this you’re probably already fairly versed in social media, as this is a blog, and I tend to promote it via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, which are all tools of social media. But in any case, that’s what I plan to do. Goodnight readers!
Casually strolling through my living room in a vintage rabbit fur/sheepskin vest, zipper-edged bow belt, (faux) leather pants and Chanel heels. Naturally this is a regular Saturday activity for me.
Hairband from True Value Vintage on Robson St. I love this thing, it’s got personality.
This vest and these pants are two of the birthday gifts I got for myself on Friday while shopping on Main St. at Front & Co. LOVE that shop.
My beloved Chanel shoes, purchased on a summer trip to New York City in 2008.
The belt, which was taken off a B.B. Dakota dress I got in New York on the second and latest trip, November 2009.
Me. Very happy me decked out in fur and Chanel, which in my world equals fabulosity. This post was put together while listening to Paul Simon’s “She Has Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”
The Brands: Vintage vest and pants. Black tank, hidden by vest, from Target, B.B. Dakota belt and Chanel pumps.
Only 4 days until my birthday, let the countdown begin! xoxo
Note: Oops, I can’t take the credit for the “champagne bar” comment, that was all Mat! Keep Reading.
Mat Wilcox, photo credit: The Globe and Mail.
In the field of Public Relations, one woman in particular stands out. Her name is Mat Wilcox, founder and CEO of the Wilcox Group. Just to give you a bit of an idea of what Mat does on a daily basis, she and her team handle corporate communications and crisis management. For example, when we were all hearing about the Avian Bird Flu scare, or H1N1 sine influenza, Mat was behind the scenes managing the communications side of these high-profile crises. Pretty big stuff hey? Impressive doesn’t do Mat justice.
A bit more background from The Wilcox Group website:
In 1995, Mat founded Wilcox Group, one of Canada’s largest national corporate communications and crisis management firms.
Mat has provided strategy and counsel to prominent Canadian business leaders on more than $4 billion worth of merger and acquisition projects, garnering millions of dollars in media coverage and national – and international – headlines. She has personally advised CEOs of multibillion-dollar, publicly-traded organizations and provided key counsel to client accounts including TELUS, KFC Canada, Obelysk Inc., Scott’s REIT, Translink, BHP Billiton, Whole Foods Market, Dave Wireless, and Priszm Income Fund.
I believe the word you are now looking for, is WOW. I know, right?
So how did a fairly new blogger like myself come in contact with such an outstanding and powerful woman? I’ve been familiar with the Wilcox group for sometime now and so when I joined Twitter I looked Mat Wilcox up and immediately became one of her followers. Oh, the power of Twitter! Anyone who spends enough time around me is lucky enough to hear me go on about how much I adore Twitter.
Let me take a moment out here and take this opportunity to tell all of you non-Twitterers what you are missing out on: if there is someone you admire, say a celebrity, a journalist or a woman of PR BRILLIANCE with fun, witty 140 character “tweets,” GET ON TWITTER AND START FOLLOWING. What makes Twitter so amazing is the contact it allows you to connect with just about anyone. I often tweet to @FLAREmagazine, and now, oh happy day! Flare magazine follows me on Twitter! And this is how my relationship with Mat Wilcox came to be.
Mat sent out 140 characters saying something cute about how she wasn’t getting full use out of her kitchen at the time, so I responded and she wrote back!
StyleStruck@matwilcox I really think modern kitchens ought to accommodate the modern woman: more shelving, perhaps a shoe rack or two and a wine cellar
MatWilcox@StyleStruck And a full on champagne bar. Plus an automatic hair stylist.
In January I got to thinking, I’d like to publish a few posts about inspiring and influential established and up-and-coming women. All are Vancouver women with a story to share, and a closet that would make any girl a little envious! Here is the first interview; the role fashion plays in a busy, professional and fabulous woman’s life:
StyleStruck: How do you think fashion influences your life?
Mat Wilcox: I am a minimalist. I look at fashion that I can travel in easily. I have offices in Toronto and Vancouver so I buy two of everything that I love so I don’t have to pack a suitcase. When you travel as much as I do you want clothes that can stand up to airplanes yet look professional and stylish at all times. i.e. my Laboutins!
SS: How does fashion help you shape your personal image/identity?
MW: I am a big fan of structural and clean lines. I love the minimalist look – especially a black turtleneck and riding boots. However, that said, I am having to break away from my all black routine. My favourite designer these days is Pink Tartan – they have a striped coral wrap dress that’s the perfect day to dinner dress for spring. The silk jersey fabric makes it an amazing solution for a weekend away – just pack and go!
SS: What is your favourite occasion to get dressed for?
MW: Truthfully, I don’t enjoy black tie events and fussy hair even though I have to attend a lot of these kinds of functions. My favourite occasion is well…New York anything. I do love to get dressed in New York. It is where I feel most comfortable, especially in the fall. Maybe it’s the all black theme women wear there? I like the sophistication of the city and I feel like a million dollars there.
SS: What have you learned about fashion as your style as changed?
MW: I learned early on to buy the most expensive classic style you can afford. I remember when I was broke buying two items a year. The great thing was that over time you build a wardrobe. Amazingly I still have those pieces (i.e. a classic Chanel bag) and I rotate them in and out.
SS: How did you get your start in Public Relations?
MW: I launched the Globe and Mail newspaper in Western Canada. That was my first PR job and I immediately loved it and knew I had found my niche. From there I worked at the Olympics, Hyatt Hotels and then started my own corporate communications firm. We specialize in corporate communications and crisis management for major companies all over North America.
SS: What part of your job do you enjoy most?
MW: I really enjoy working with our clients and coming up with solutions. I sit on several corporate and charitable boards and really enjoy my work with them. It’s a challenge and keeps me thinking.
As I edit and re-read this post I can’t help but feel an urge to be entrepreneurial! I hope you do too! : ) Check back for more of these over the coming weeks!
And of course, a big THANK YOU to Mat for generously giving her time!!
Niki Blasina, of A Haute Mess, and me at the event! Love this girl’s style, and fierce boots! 
With Ryan Bazely, of PINQ.
DJ Blondtron, a.k.a. Samantha Mathews spinning for Chanel. 
Maria Jose Hernandez Cos and Nadia Chu of String Magazine with Marilyn Wilson of Vancouver Fashion Ezine.
The fabulous Niki and I went for a little Granville stroll after the party.
Wearing: BCBG Max Azria silk top, B.B. Dakota skirt, Chanel sandals, Marc by Marc Jacobs clutch, Fossil watch.
