From the Front Row - the Final Edition

Over the last couple of weeks in my From the Front Row feature, I've shared snapshots of bloggers, radio/tv hosts and photographers with their high-tech cameras. Typically I rely on my trusty iPhone 4G to capture photos for my blog. In fact, each of my subjects was shot with my iPhone. But this fashion week, Samsung let me test drive their new Galaxy Camera. Allow me to share my own experience in the final post of this feature.

Fashion week day 5 - could someone fix my hair?

What are you shooting with?

I'm using the Samsung GALAXY Camera. Their tagline pretty well sums it up - "Shoots like a pro. Shares like a Smartphone."

Do you share the photos? How?

I use the photos for my blog (this one!) as well as on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  Beyond the runway and fashion week, I have been using it to shoot client events or random scenes that I use as inspiration for future events.

What’s your favourite feature of this device?

I cannot name just one.  First, the touch screen is HUGE and the colour is truly fantastic.  Even though I've dabbled with photography for nearly 20 years, I consider myself an amateur. The GALAXY's Smart Mode lets me choose the scene so I have the perfect camera settings.  

So, for instance, the Action Freeze setting is great for those fast walking models at Joe Fresh, but with the Macro setting I can get up close with fabric detail.  However, if I want to play professional, there's also an Expert setting where I can change the aperture, F-stop and all those other finite camera details.

 

I love the connectivity of the GALAXY.  It's wi-fi enabled, so I can share instantly via email or Instagram. It comes with Dropbox installed so I have the option of backing up there or on the Cloud. It runs on the latest version of Android OS, Android 4.1 JellyBean, giving me access to a slew of apps.  And for someone who appreciates good design, I have to say I adore its sleek, white, minimalist design.  If wearable technology is the next big thing, I foresee it being a huge success with Samsung driving it. This camera rocks.

The colour-rich Bustle runway

Joe Fresh models create wind, you must shoot fast

The details on Dreamboat Lucy's collection don't get missed

Toronto Fashion Week - Part Deux

Fashion week isn't just about what happens on the runways, it's how we capture and share it. Since the dawn of Twitter, live events are for the audience -- whether actually in attendance or not -- to offer their play by play. Now with Instagram and Vine, it's not just about what we say, but how we see it. I saw many use Vine  to record the final walks from designer shows in New York, London and Paris, so I put my own spin on it frequently last week. What else can you say in six seconds?

One of my favorite moments of the week was the Joe Fresh show. If you wouldn't have guessed in a million years that the fast fashion of Joe Fresh could be heavily influenced by the British impressario Malcolm McLaren, you don't know Joe Mimran. McLaren and his girlfriend Vivian Westwood were largely responsible for the punk style of youth in the 1970s. Joe went straight to Paris for punk (with a hint of jazz) in the form of a French ingenue, a stylish young thing who, channeling a young Carine Roitfeld, donned mostly black. He brought us art in the form of Ed Ruscha -- an artist known for painting words on large canvasses -- and his lettered sweaters that wrapped up the collection. And then he brought us the best after party of the week. That's Joe.

Photo by George Pimentel

Photo by George Pimentel

Loved this...

I skipped out on Friday's shows due to commitments for Canadian Music Week (why, oh why does everything have to happen at the same time in Toronto?) but not before co-hosting FGI Toronto's Speed Networking event with Fashion Takes Action. This is the second season we've worked together with IMG to host the event during fashion week. Speed networking matches you up with someone new every two minutes, so if you're not good at conversation, you will learn quickly!  The event was sold-out, thanks to everyone who came out for it. Check out FGI on Facebook and Twitter for more upcoming events.

Ready, set, go!

Pattern Loving

We're almost halfway through the week's entries to the Fashion Finder Blogger contest at Pickering Town Centre. Each day we are posting a finalist; one lucky "stylist in the making" will win. Today's finalist, Avery, loves stripes and has a good eye for combining patterns -- a very hot trend right now. Click here to view Avery's style video.

Currently, on the runways of Toronto Fashion Week, we're seeing more stripes and patterns for fall 2012...

Lundstrom Collection, fall 2012. Photo by George Pimentel.

Matis by Lucian Matis, fall 2012. Photo by George Pimentel.

Joe Fresh, fall 2012. Photo by George Pimentel.

March Break Fashion Week at Pickering Town Centre continues through Sunday, March 18th. You still have time to enter the contest and a chance to win a $500 gift certificate to PTC, a Blackberry Playbook from Best Buy Mobile and a chance to appear with the F-list at the America's Next Top Model Live show in May.

I'll be at the mall on Sunday between 12 - 2pm, so come down and let's talk style!

FTBC in the Boob-doir

Earlier this month Rethink unveiled the 2009 Fashion Targets Breast Cancer shirt design by Joe Fresh Style at Jezebel, a saucy little club in Toronto's west end. The newly revamped venue is billed as a burlesque club, and what's a burlesque club without some fishnet-clad ladies? Dancers treated guests including Joe "Mr. Joe Fresh" Mimran, to a couple of sexy (and fully clothed) numbers, while bartenders sweetened up the night with Vitamin Water cocktails. The shirt is available at all Joe Fresh locations, $12. For more information on Fashion Targets Breast Cancer plus fun contests, click here.