Swanking It Up at Lululemon Lab with Emme

The last time Emme called me out for a real mission, it was to head up Grouse Mountain in the middle of the night to catch an early morning sunrise while snowshoeing uphill.  I have to say, she more than made up for that by inviting me to check out the line of clothes at Lululemon Lab.  I didn’t even know this place existed! I am a lover of lulu and think their clothes feel so great that I feel uncomfortable when I take them off.  I have been dreaming about everyday clothes making me this happy and Emme brought me to just the place.  On this special evening we were allowed to shop with a glass of wine (thinking of starting a petition to make this acceptable in stores all the time), and with my first item I proclaimed myself a Beverly Hills girl.

Beverley Hills or Lululemon Lab Vancouver?

Swanky lululemon means I can look like a diva when I leave the house instead of a mom who made sure her kids looked good, but ran out of time for herself.  The designers, who work on site, made us feel pretty great about ourselves as we headed into the fitting rooms to create some new looks.  This is more than I can say for my friend Emme, who told me I remind her of an elf!  In her defense, she claims she meant an elf of the sexy variety, so I suppose I will let her off the hook.  She also discovered my belly piercing for the first time and got quite distracted.  After much bumbling around, we put something together.

Our new backs, lulu style

Of course, Emme and I kept everyone late because we just had to try everything.  I realized we were in trouble when we found out they design new items every two weeks.  Guess who will be seeing more of us?!

Playing Dress-up at Lulu

We didn’t overstay our welcome though, because we still got our goodie bags on the way out!  Little did I know, more adventure was in store.  There was a piece of fabric in our bags that we had no idea what to do with.

A Curious Gift

I spent quite some creative thinking time when I got home and….this is what I did with mine Emme!  What did you do with yours?

Lulu Wrap Designs

Being Emme’s July Fashion Week

Seems to be a bit of a fashion week for me, and as cities and even countries declare their own fashion weeks, it only seems fitting that so should I and that I should start it mid-week.

So why a fashion week?  Aside from the clearly obvious, aka that I am just such a gorgeous glam puss that wouldn’t you all want to know what I am wearing. Well, it seems that I have joined the ranks of the fashionistas in the last week and am now on the guest list at a variety of fashion events.  Definitely not something that my Grandmother would have ever suspected of her tree climbing, bomber jacket wearing, running shoe clad granddaughter during the height of her career as a fashionista, when she owned a plush store of beautiful fabrics and tailor made women’s apparel.  But clearly since then I have learnt what the word ‘apparel’ means and I now wear dresses on my tree climbing excursions, making me uniquely qualified to discuss fashion.  Will that frock make me look absolutely fabulous and leave something to the imagination whilst I am climbing trees?  How washable is this garment when I inevitably spill red wine down my top? … All very important queries to a tomboy turned fashionable gal-about-town.

So what does the week have in store for you lot?  Well currently on the agenda (which tends to be ever changing), we have lined up:

RootsxDouglasCoupland Collection

Fashionably Fighting Chance

Now for my fashion muse:

In this picture, our model - @hummingbird604, is sporting sandle clad feet and sparkly toenails. This is all the rage for men this season.

Yes, gentleman, thats right.  It is fashionable this season to accessorize with sparkly nail polish.

So I hereby decree this Being Emme’s July Fashion Week (added the July in there, in order for sequels, which I know you are all just dying for).

Pantless in the Mall

I write about maintaining positive body images, how natural figures and curves are sexy, being comfortable in your own skin, and embracing that inner sexy Goddess.  I finally, in my mid-30s, pride myself in being comfortable in my skin, in being able to look at myself in the mirror and smiling at what I see. I don’t have the body of a model, but I don’t want that body.  For the most part, I am happy with me just the way I am!

And then I go pant shopping.

That was yesterday for me. And somewhat of a disaster on the whole ‘positive body image campaign’. Yes, at the age 35, I may have had a temper tantrum or two in the store and I may have been on the brink of tears.  My companions, sillily suggested mall stores at one point, that quickly spiraled the experience out of control.  Why our main fashion outlets, like Esprit, Banana Republic …etc, can’t make clothes for a gal with curves and hips is beyond me.  I have a small waist and big hips and can’t for the life of me find flattering pants that fit correctly in such stores. And I know my figure is not abnormal.

It's Winter - Dress for the Weather

My body (Photographer: Lola May)

At the end of the day, I ended up in a store carrying expensive European fashions and I found some pants that made me feel exquisite and are exceptionally flattering to my figure.  Will I still need to battle the trauma of the other stores and feeling fat?  Yep, and this is likely why I avoid pant shopping until my clothes start looking tatty. But I was lucky, I had someone that wanted to splurge a little on me and buy me the pants that made me feel exquisite. Not everybody is as lucky.  Not everybody can afford to shop in the fancy stores, and then I think about the teenagers.  The shops in the malls are designed with the teenage shopper in mind.  What does it do to the impressionable teen, whose body is changing drastically, when all the clothes in the trendy stores in the mall are designed for women without curves?  Should these stores not have something for all shapes and sizes as opposed to hipless women?

At what point is the mainstream fashion industry going to join campaigns, like that of Dove’s, and celebrate real women’s bodies and help women to feel like the sexy devils they are? Fashion should make us feel good about ourselves, not horribly insecure.