A Monstrous Occasion

Although Halloween has already come and gone, I still wanted to share with you all my decor for the haunted holiday. I really love decorating my home for Halloween and Christmas every year, because holiday decor adds festivity to your home for the special occasion. My boyfriend Alex and I had a Halloween party at our apartment this year, so for the party I really wanted to decorate our home as much to the theme as possible. A lot of my decorations were ideas I came up with myself and others I researched inspiration on websites such as "pinterest". Although, my ideal recommendation for a Halloween filled website is Martha Stewart's official web page. Martha's favorite holiday is Halloween, therefore she has plenty of Halloween related content on her website. She offers crafty decor ideas, Fall recipes, floral arrangements and much more. Further, every year Martha releases a Halloween edition of her monthly magazine "Martha"! But this edition is more than your average issue. The magazine includes craft cut outs, tons of recipes and hundreds of glossy pages, featuring pictures of the holiday.

www.marthastewart.com

Here are some craft ideas of my own that I wanted to share!

Tape scary shaped cut outs underneath your lamp shade and it will project an eerie silhouette.

Medicine jars are a great accessory for Halloween decor, as they create the appearance of a haunted laboratory. Try placing items such as skeleton bones, eye balls or insects in a glass jar and you'll instantly create a spooky look.

An angry bird atop a rusty bird cage looks like it's straight out of a scene from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". I found my bird cage at Winners for $14.99 and the bird at the Dollarama! Truthfully, the majority of my Halloween decorations are from the dollar store. Decorating does not have to be expensive to look amazing, you just need to be creative.

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween and that you'll remember my decorating tips for next year! xo

Falling in Love

Fall is one of my favorite seasons of all. Mainly because I love Fall fashion. Weather is the perfect temperature to wear layers of different textures, patterns and fabrics. When I envision the ideal Fall outfit I see a camel-colored cable knit sweater, layered on top of a long-sleeved, collared denim button up with a beautiful classic poncho atop dark denim jeans. A full brimmed, floppy hat, great leather boots and a slouchy, casual, python and leather handbag. 
Fall also provides a personal annual tradition - the September Issue of American Vogue. Which this year featured Lady Gaga on the cover. I was in heaven! October 7th also presented a first annual celebration. The one year anniversary of my relationship with boyfriend, Alex. I won't get mushy, but I will say he makes me the happiest girl in the world. On a recent gorgeous Fall day we decided to do a little photo shoot in the park near our apartment. My go-to Fall piece for the photo shoot was my camel- colored knit poncho which I purchased at Zara last year. Also, a new favorite addition to my Fall wardrobe, calf hair chetah print loafers from Michael Kors. 

On a side note, this is my first blog post in over a year! I hope to be posting more, so stay tuned! 

Have great night! xo

Montreal Fashion Week

Montreal celebrated it's 21st Fashion Week this year and what a celebration it was! I saw some irony in the fact that I myself am also 21 years old, and just as the Fashion Week feel I am growing towards bigger accomplishments every year. This was my first year working as a photographer at the fashion week, while covering runway shows and backstage beauty for local fashion blog, Montreal In Fashion (www.montrealinfashion.com). The Fashion Week took place at it's usual location of the Marché Bonsecours, located in beautiful Old Montreal. While the location was gorgeous, I must admit that this fashion photographer did not look so graceful tackling the cobble stone road in 4 inch heels. Very funny! I was seen wobbling towards the Marché Bonsecours each day of the fashion week, which lasted a duration of four days, from September 6th to 8th. I was lucky enough to be accredited a media pass for the entire fashion week, thanks to my amazing co-worker and Montreal In Fashion creator, Candice Pantin. Candice and I covered a majority of the shows from Martin Lim, UNTTLD, Travis Taddeo, Dimitri Chris, Barila and many more. We also were granted special access backstage for many of the shows, which allowed us to do some beauty photography, capturing the amazing make up done by Cover Girl and the beautiful hairstyles, created by Pantene. Many veteran fashion week attendees expressed to me their admiration for the caliber of talent and precision to technicalities by this year's designers. Proving that Montreal has some incredible talent to offer in the fashion and design industry. Seeing this talent and beautiful craftsmanship first hand, I encourage anyone who is reading to attend your own local fashion weeks and to support local designers by purchasing unique pieces from their collections.

I had the most incredible time photographing at the Montreal Fashion Week and am extremely looking forward to the next. I felt like I was really in my element combining the two things I love most in life, which are fashion and photography. I'm so proud and lucky to have opportunities to work at such events and credit my hard work and determination, which has finally paid off. However, my experience at the Fashion Week would not have been so enjoyable if it weren't for Candice being there to show this rookie the ropes.

{ALL PHOTOS BY AMY LEE CORKUM*}

*first photo by pagguy guillet

Mercedes Benz Start Up

Hosts: Jarrad Clark of IMG Fashion and Project Runway Australia and JoAnne Caza of Mercedes-Benz Canada.
Model: Fred Lamarche

Winners, Simon Belanger and Jose-Manuel St.Jacques (UNTTLD) and Pao Lim and Danielle Martin (Martin Lim)
Guests: Carolyn Quinn of the FDCC (center) and Shawn Hewson of Bustle Clothing and judge to Project Runway Canada (far right).
Designer Denis Gagnon and myself.

Blogger Candice Pantin (www.montrelinfashion.com) and myself.

Last Thursday I attended an event called the Mercedes-Benz Start Up; a national initiative to discover and mentor up and coming Canadian fashion designers. The event took place at l'Usine C and was organized by IMG, the same public relations company responsible for organizing the New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The program was designed as a nation wide competition, in which Canadian designers were mentored by a panel of industry professionals on the process of building a sustainable business. The winner of the Canadian wide search will receive their own show at Toronto's LG Fashion Week by l'Oréal Paris. I attended the first round of semi-finals, which included the top five designers/labels of choice, including "Martin Lim" by Danielle Martin and Pao Lim, "Faren" by Faren Tami, "Travis Taddeo" by Travis Taddeo, "Anastasia Lomonova" by Anastasia Lomonova and "Unttld" by Simon Belanger and Jose-Manuel St.Jacques. At the end of the runway show a panel of judges announced the two winning finalists, which were "Martin Lim" and "Unttld". The four lucky winners will move onto the final round in Toronto in October, during the Fall/Winter LG Fashion Week to represent each of their labels. Ironically, both sets of winners are not only partners in fashion and design, but also in life. Whoever said couples can't work together is sadly mistaken! In conclusion, it was a lovely night of cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, a runway show and mingling with some of fashion's best.

All photos by myself, Amy Lee Corkum

www.corkumphoto.carbonmade.com

5 Bloggers 5 Looks

While attending the Festival of Fashion and Design I shot one particularly special runway show. This year for the first time the festival presented a show crafted by five influential Montreal bloggers, including Gabrielle Lacasse, Robyn Chalmers, Patrick L'Aristocrate, Lolitta Dandoy and Marie Darsingny. Each blogger styled five outfits and the show was appropriately named "Collective: 5 Bloggers, 5 Looks". The show was a beautiful demonstration of the knowledge and love that bloggers have for fashion and authenticated that bloggers know style and know what they're talking about. Each blogger's style ranged drastically from vintage and lace to dark and modern, appealing to all demographics in the audience. One blogger in particular, Lolitta Dandoy, who is a blogger for fashion magazine, Clin d'oeil featured one of my photos on her web blog post. It was a pleasure meeting Lolitta, along with all of the other bloggers and it is wonderful to see my photograph on such a credible website. Thank you, Lolitta!

Follow this link to Lolitta's blog: http://blogues.canoe.ca/clindoeil/festival-mode-et-design-2011/1000e-post-defile-des-blogueurs-au-fmdm/

(Top Image: www.festivalmodedesign.com All other photos by Amy Lee Corkum)