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SNEAK PEAK

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@702 Queen Street West. (Queen & Euclid)

                           

photo by Nettika Berthelot

Just. Elise.

Gillian Young

SYD & DUEY

        

What happens when you put a soft-spoken Serbian over 6’3, and an exuberant multicultural beauty under 5’4, together? Well, you’ll just have to scroll down to find out…brace yourself it’s one of the longer ones!

                        

        While attending George Brown for Fashion Design Studies, these two met, and have since, been proving their individual uniqueness to the world. You can’t help but be curious about this duo. I like to describe their lifestyle as artistically scavenged. They do as they please, and probably don’t use the word “restrictions” very often. Both extremely loveable characters, they are indeed characters. People like this, simply make the world a more interesting place. 

                            

This is Rayna Sydney Syed, otherwise known as Syd. She likes Farmers Markets, house music, shoes, knives and bakeries. She rather dislikes fast food, processed meats, and most of all, people without manners.

Job -  Server…for now
Age -  23
Hometown - Mississauga
Currently living in - Toronto
Nationality -  half Chinese Jamaican & half Indian but living in Canadiaaa

Who are your style icons? Rumi Neely from Fashion Toast, Mary-kate Olsen, Kate Moss. Her favorite designers are: Stella McCartney, Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, Helmut Lang, and Celine. 

How would you describe your style? I am inspired by a few things. I love the 70s, widelegged pants, platform shoes, and disco. Yet at the same time I love a badass woman who can kick ass in combat boots and leather . Mostly my style is comfortable; It changes a lot but is usually tomboy meets femine edge. 

When you were in highshchool you dressed in? Ah - too many matchy-matchy colours and too many tracksuits. 

Must have items? A statement shoe makes the simplest outfit all the better. I love my acne black wedges and my line leather jacket.

How do you decide what you wear each day? Depends on how I feel and the weather.
What do you feel most comfortable in? Soft and loose knit fabrics and wedges.

What’s your most cherished item/items?  I love my collection of kiminos, my tiffany rings (one from my mom and one from my dad), and my Shun knives 

You splurge on…? Without a doubt, shoes and jackets/coats
Never be caught wearing..? Work out clothes outside of  the gym and fur.

Key pieces for this upcoming summer would be?
I don’t really follow fashion trends but I heard pastels and mixed prints

Do you have any particular fashion rules? 
Wear what makes you happy and rock it with confidence and grace. 

How do you like to spend your free time ? Weekly trips to farmer’s markets with Duey, making food, boxing, watching tv.

Your favourite places to shop are? Holt renfew, TNT Blu, Sole Struck, Free People

What perfume do you wear?  I haven’t worn perfume in years, but I used to wear and love Flower Bomb by Viktor & Rolf 

Do you have a shopping secret? Buy key pieces that can mix and match with other things in your wardrobe. I give away garbage bags of clothes every season because I get over it. I am learning to refine my style, closet, and spending habits/addictions

        

Second up is Dusan Vlajic, but he goes by Duey. He’s a simple man really, usually of little words, although he’s clearly a genius. Duey likes Moto GP, and dislikes (in his words) Meanies.

SE ASIA

I spent 2 months in south east Asia as of recently, and from it, I took away thousands of photos, and many great experiences. For the purpose of this blog, and the purpose of my current editing sanity, here’s my quick Asia 2012 in a nutshell via Instagram. To enlarge the images or to scroll through just click on one and continue.

Before I left, I received the two cents from almost everybody I knew who had travelled there before. I’ve been a few times, because of my relatives, but was always much younger. I got a heavy amount of mixed reviews but had to go determine the outcome myself. I had many fond memories of running the streets eating things on sticks, pop out of bags, and catching lizards. This time would it be different?

When I came back to Canada, I knew I would have people asking me, “where was your favourite place?” That’s probably the hardest question to answer, because without a doubt, as you all know, every place has it’s own uniqueness, whether good or bad, its always interesting. Travelling is a funny thing. Every experience will be completely different depending on your company, on where you go, on where and what you choose to eat, and beyond that, it depends heavily on your state of mind and the energy you exude to  others.

One thing Asia taught me was how to become not only a more patient individual, but a more understanding and compassionate person. How to be happy with what you have, because what we have here is so much more than a large percentage of the world, yet they exude kindness and happiness to us as strangers. Many people travel abroad and say oh I hated this city, or this country, street vendors wouldn’t stop harassing me, the people were not nice, or there was McDonalds everywhere and it was basically like being at home but hotter and stickier. All of that…is because of us. Less we forget, the west has heavily influenced the growth of these countries in such a short amount of time, that their infrastructure can’t hold the changes. Example: “there was garbage all over the beach”! 

Your travels become what you make it. Of course in every country there will be places of dense backpackers, idiots getting bombed on the streets because it’s legal to buy beer from the corner stores. It’s easy to forget where you are, and what your purpose is in this foreign place if you’re always hitting up Starbucks.

My advice would be; search far and wide for those sacred places, because they won’t be sacred for much longer. Even since the last time I was in Asia, 10 years ago, it’s barely recognizable, other than the awesomely shady alleyways. Do your research, get to know the locals, definitely eat something that looks uncertain, try and immerse yourself in their culture and once you do, you’ll remember why you just travelled20,000 km to get there. Not once in those 2 months did I have a bad experience with anyone from the grumpy bus driver, to the street vendor, to the pushy children. Staying far away from the backpacking hubs, I met locals and heard their stories, tasted their dishes, learnt about what it was like before we invaded, and saw a side of Asia I will most certainly return to. 

In the end, I thank Asia for showing me how to become a better individual, and please remember to be a considerate tourist. PICK UP YOUR GARBAGE.

From Hong Kong, to Thailand, to Malaysia, to Indonesia -Bali and back….Enjoy!