Today*

Today I sent a text to some Wonderful friends, asking them what words came to mind when they thought of Sugarbum.  Here is a delicious list that I have grouped into 4 sections (4 being the number of Macarons delivered to me today in Canada from a friend as beautiful as an emerald which she had received from her friend who is visiting from Paris. Wonderful!)

1-The Whimsy words
Spirited Spirit Flowing Whimiscal Delightful Bright Enchanted Enchanting Sparkling Sparkly Fantasy Other-worldly Fun Colourful Free Inspired
2- The Love words
Heart Heartfelt blissful loving passionate made-with-love beautiful sweet
3- The Style words
Chic Sexy Confident Ecclectic Empowering Intellectual Responsive Unpredictable Unexpected Ever-changing Confidence-giving
4- The Earth words
Conscious Butterfly Earthen Green Organic Canadian

Infinite Love and Gratitude to all those who bless Sugarbum with their beauty and continue to inspire the world around them.

XOXOXOXOXO

Sugarbum*
 

A day in the Life*

Sugarbum Sale: A Beautiful Adventure
First of all, as I write this, I listen to Beethoven's 9th Symphony, which is a beautiful piece to write to. Perhaps you would enjoy tuning into this also while you read this post.  


Sugarbum had a sale yesterday morning at the York Street Spa (in Ottawa).  I decided to choose a tarot card the morning of my sale while sipping on Matcha tea (which is full of anti-oxidants and almost the colour of these letters!).  I pulled the Adventure card which featured a picture of a young girl walking through the darkness with a vibrant aura around her.  Her aura seemed to be lighting the way.  I had no real idea what the day would bring, who would come to the sale, or what might be sold.  I just had to trust and to flow and to allow things to unfold as they would.  Every day is essentially like this, but when you do something really different, something that you realize is completely new, you feel even more so that you are embarking upon the unknown.  I was enchanted to find that some very beautiful friends came to support me and I sold a few dresses, which is WONDERFUL in itself and for Sugarbum  and also because I am saving up for a journey to Paris and Berlin.  
Paris and Berlin:  I choose to go to Paris and Berlin because I have not yet been to Europe and a friend posted pics of her trip to Paris on facebook and I instantly felt that I had to go and be a part of the beauty.  Berlin is currently the hot spot of all things cool and I would simply LOVE to be a part of the energy where things such as fashion and passion for Life and Fun are really happening. Even as a teen, I thought it would be extra cool to party with people in Berlin because I think that they are really rad and know where it's at and I envision them as having this pulsing raw energy that I could totally resonate with and harness while I am there.  Also, Karim Rashid recently helped design this hotel in Berlin called NHOW and since it is new they are offering fantastic deals.  So yes, I am saving up to go to Paris and Berlin.  Unfortunately I will be missing their fashion weeks by about 2 or 3 weeks but that is okay.  Just being in these cities will be like experiencing a fashion show live and direct from whatever cafe/cobblestone road I happen to be absorbing all the magnificence from.  Yes, Paris and Berlin.


Furthermore, I want to thank the people who support Sugarbum.  I am SUPER STOKED that the energy is so Awesome and Amazing and that I continually inspired to create new things and offer new vibrations to the Universe.  
Sending you all LOVE and THANKS,
XOXOXO
Ashley.*


ps  Here are some photos from the Spring/Summer Sugarbum collection at Ottawa Fashion week, which took place on October 31st 2010.

Here is a photo of the beautiful Bianca rocking a simple sheath dress and shawl with gorgeous Canadian made Mukluks.

The beautiful model Goldenbird, rocking a vintage style dress made with Vintage fabric and adorned with a headpiece from Chapeaux des Madeleine, who is a very talented milliner in the Byward Market in Ottawa.  I was very fortunate to have her co-create the magic at the fashion show with the Sugarbum beauties!

I love this piece because it is so cosy and comfy and flashy.  I love this combination.  I also LOVE looking at the spectators in this photo.  They are staring! It is fun to watch them watch! 

The Power of Creating*

The thing about creating is that it can sometimes seem like a very daunting task.  In actuality, our thoughts create our reality.  So, instead of freaking, what would be more helpful would be to sit down and think about how I am totally in the flow and that design comes from my heart and flows through me easily.  What is most daunting about being a fashion designer for me is the actual process of producing the vision.  Other things are easier for me.  For instance, I LOVE sourcing fabric; coming up with ideas is my absolute forte.
When I design, I think in terms of brilliance and beauty, of innovation, of my heart's creativity.  I tend to not think in terms of "where am I/the client" going to wear this.  This notion does not interest me at all.  The clothes that I make are art work and should be seen and desired as such.  I desire to create a beauty which I imagine when I feel inspired and am not truly inspired to create the mediocre, status quo, regular kind of garment.  I am interested in creating what is different.  I am interested in wearing what is different and beautiful.  I am inspired to create in order to inform the world that there is so much fun to be had out there and the way we dress is part of how we can convey the specialness and magicalness that is life!  We can express the beauty of ourselves and the intricacies of our moods and our creativity through our clothing.
We can choose to enhance the well-being of our Spirits by applying Art to our Lives. 
That's all for now.  I think i just needed to vent.  Blog-vent.  So good.  Thank you.  I hope you got something out of this too... something useful...!

Inspired*

So, it has been quite a little while since my last post.  Things are flowing beautifully in Sugarbum world!  Sugarbum has a fashion show coming up this Saturday called Fashion Rocks @ Ritual in the Byward Market in Ottawa.  It is a charity event, designed to help to eradicate hunger in children called "Feed the Children."  I am so stoked to be a part of it.  Sugarbum will have it's very first male model.   I will tell you more about the outfit he will be rocking after the show.  I have to keep the creativity bubbling within the realm of my consciousness and universal creativity for the time being.  All I can say is that the outfit has ties to Mahatma Gandhi.


Today I am headed to the studio to finish up the dresses, which will also require a trip to the bead store to pick up some Swarovski crystals to attach to a new dress.  This will be the second Sugarbum dress that incorporates Swarovski crystals into the design.  


Anyways, here is a dress in progress that will be in the show...

Gotta jet!


Sending Love and Thanks,


Ashley & Sugarbum!

XOXOXOXO

Couldn't resist in Montreal*

I want to tell you something Amazing and Wonderful.  I want to tell you all about how electric and fun Montreal was this past weekend.  It was incredible.   I live in a government city in Canada (hmmm what could that be) where fashion is not quite dead, just muted to almost painful extremes (sorry to sound dramatic but that's the way it feels to me sometimes).  People have dimmed their lights so much, it is perfectly tangible after a fabulous trip to the raucous and rolling city of Montreal.  I felt like I was flipping through the pages of the Sartorialist when I was sitting on Prince-Arthur in all it's cobble-stoned glory after visiting the fun U&I boutique on Saint-Laurent, Saturday evening.  Oh it was just so much fun.  In lieu of consuming beer, as is often characteristic of my companions, I was consuming the eye-candy, tasting the flavours of our new-found summer (and just 2 weeks after Spring began!).  It was delicious.  I returned back to my government city (where some of my most favourite people live, I should add), with sparkle, flash and light... as well a a big heaping Betsey Johnson bag full of fun and inspiration.

I have started designing for my next show, which will be taking place at the end of May.  I have also begun scribbling a list of my inspirations for the next show which include:
capped epaulettes
jersey fabrics
the colour peach, in a watered down form
texture (playing with light)
And of course: fun fun fun

Part of the reason I am placing an extra emphasis on FUN is that:
Okay, is it just me or have you also noticed that much of the spreads in fashion magazines are kinda dismal and lacking a wonderful lustre and light within?  I went into a magazine store that is typically Amazing and I looked at so many magazines, but I was unable to find something yummy and fabulous (I apologize for saying this).  I LOVE magazines, pouring through them, being inspired by them and I, quite simply, have not found a true beauty within them as of late.  If you have any ideas of what magazines a Sugarbum like myself might adore, please let me know.  I have found Boho (an eco-chic magazine) and Lulu to be the most enlightening recently.

With LOVE,

XOXOXOXOXO

Ashley and Sugarbum.*

Spring Thaw*

Some heart graffiti found just outside of Kensington Market in Toronto

Hello all! It is officially Spring!! I saw the Canada geese fly overhead about an hour after my last post! It was very magical. These days I am gearing up for Spring Thaw this weekend!!  It is an indie-Artisan fair happening Sunday, March 28th at the Routhier Community Centre (272 Guigues Avenue, 10am-4pm).  There will be lots of artists there and I am looking forward to seeing what they are up to these days.  Sugarbum will be selling dresses and the like all ready to add sparkle and light to each Spring day.  It is going to be a blast!!!  

In other news, I am still getting caught up on what has happened on the runways this past February (which is only okay in an ironic sort of way since I am already catching up on Fall 2010).  And speaking of getting caught up with fashion, I am still processing the loss of Alexander McQueen.  Since his passing I have seen the September Issue (a documentary on Anna Wintour and the making of the hefty September issue of Vogue magazine).  The documentary shows part of the funeral service of Isabella Blow who was a close friend with Alexander McQueen (not to mention Jean-Michel Basquiat).  It is insightful to see the fashion world mourn.  They are creative people and are moved deeply, like majestic Elephants with the passing of one of their kin.  

Spring is an interesting time of death and rebirth ("April is the cruelest month" to quote T.S. Eliot).  It is an in-between time where the veil between the dream-world and the real-world seems even more transparent.  Interestingly, I am not the only one who is feeling such an apparent unsheathing and juxtaposition of the two worlds.  The Mulleavy sisters of Rodarte have also expressed this feeling in their Fall 2010 collection.  You can see a Wonderful depiction of the Rodarte Fall 2010 runway show at the tents in New York on Tavi's blog (my absolute fave): Tavi's blog

With Love, Light and the magic of Spring.

XOXOXOXO

Sugarbum.*

Spring*

Well, good day to you!  It is Spring, not official equinox Spring, but a Spring of soul, mind, body, and well, weather.  I haven't seen or heard any Canada geese returning home yet, but I am sure they must be thinking about heading this way soon enough.  There is a festival of fun happening outside the window where I type, as people are walking their dogs and jogging their little winter buns off.  Most heart-tugging of all is a Mom playing with her two little sons, placing one up on the low branches of a tree for (seemingly) the first time in their lives.  Oh, and the youngest one is on a little red wagon, of course (but he was just usurped by his big brother).

In any case, Spring means Spring cleaning, and I have been tidying my sewing studio like it is everyone's business!  I have friends and acquaintances coming over to explore the world of Sugarbum.  Some are past models turned PhD's (for real), and some I have just met but adore. 

Model-turned-PhD on the right, and myself wearing Sugarbum on the left.

So, I have begun the Spring clean of my Sugarbum studio.  Winter fabrics into their own compartments and Spring fabrics have come to breathe new life into the new Sugarbum creations.  It would be Amazing if one day my studio could come to resemble this, but with more delicious garments:

I saw an interview with Karl Lagerfeld once and his home was this streamlined and clean.

Clean is definitely the theme of the day.  I even went to visit the accountant today so that I could brush up on my book-keeping skills.  Now that is taking it to the next level.

Love and Light and Fun in the Sun,

XOXOXOXO

Ashley and Sugarbum.*