News

Ever Dreamt of Styling a Rock Band?

Calling all Makeup, Hair and Fashion Students and Grads! Don't miss this unique chance to break into the take-no-prisoners world of rock and roll styling. And win up to $2000 while you're doing it!

If you ever dreamt about having a band of your own to mould into the epitome of cool, you’re in luck. You’ll need to act quickly though. The competition is closing and we need entries in before August 6.

We're giving Blanche Macdonald students and graduates the opportunity to create a new look for one of Vancouver’s most promising young rock acts, The Colin Grieve Band! 

Your work may be used on the Band's promotional material on their rise to national and international glory. It may even end up on the album cover. On top of that, there's the added bonus of up to $2000 available in cash prizes!

Here’s what you need to do.

We want you to form teams of three: made up of one student or graduate each from the Makeup, Fashion and Hair programs. And in your teams of three we want you to present us with:

• a unified visual portfolio of your ideas for the band’s wardrobe, makeup concepts and hairstyles
• a 300-400 word written proposal explaining your plans
• a portfolio of your previous work: five photos from each team member demonstrating a variety of experience

Please hand your team’s completed band portfolio at the City Square Campus, attention to Kelly Schmidt or Jennifer Daerendinger, on or before August 6.

RSVP to our Facebook event for updates and to meet other students and grads who want to participate!  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101241073262466

The three top teams will be selected by the judging panel and will be announced on August 31. On September 8 these finalists will be invited to a studio location to put their ideas into action, dressing and styling the Band for a shoot with a professional photographer. Once those photos are in the judges’ hands, the panel, now including the actual band, will reconvene and decide the overall winner. The winning team's photographs will be used in The Colin Grieve Band’s press and promotional material in 2010. And maybe even more.

For more information please visit http://www.blanchemacdonald.com/news/current/2010/contest-style-makeup-band-colin-grieve/

Good luck. For those about to rock, we salute you.

Blanche Macdonald Fashion Design graduate Hrissa Soumpassis takes elika designs worldwide

When Hrissa Soumpassis was twelve, her parents asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up.

“I told them I was going to be a fashion designer,” she laughs.

It was a bold prediction. Hrissa is now the Designer and Creative Director of elika designs, a high-end women’s ready-to-wear label selling to fans around the world.

“I was obsessively drawing clothing from the age of six or seven,” she smiles. “I loved clothes. I always had my own weird style.”

Hrissa took inspiration from the vintage clothing that found its way to her hometown of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and began designing as a teenager. 

“I started experimenting with clothing in high school,” she recalls. “I was making outfits for my friends to wear at parties. I could do magic with fun fur!”

Hrissa had two major ambitions on graduating high school. She was going to travel and she was going to break into the fashion industry. Preferably both simultaneously.

“After high school I did a year at a fashion design school in Saskatoon,” she recalls. “It was totally ridiculous. They were geared to teaching women to become seamstresses, not fashion designers. So I studied Humanities at university then went backpacking for a year. In New Zealand I interned with a designer who taught me a lot about the industry, even how to experiment with possum fur.

“Before I left Canada I knew I wanted to enrol in a Fashion Design program. I’d loved Vancouver when I’d visited, so I found its best fashion school – Blanche Macdonald. I got back from Australia, drove straight from Saskatchewan to Vancouver and started the Fashion Design program.”

The travel junkie quickly readjusted to student life.

Olympic moments: Blanche Macdonald gives Vancouver a Golden Glow

The sights and excitement of the 2010 Olympics will be forever seared into the memory of anyone lucky enough to have been in Vancouver during the Games. The two weeks were awash with unforgettable highlights: spectacular ceremonies, incredible performances, dancing in the streets and many, many Canadian gold medals.

The Blanche Macdonald Centre had its own share of Olympic glory, with instructors, graduates and students seizing the unique opportunity to play their part in ensuring the Games looked great from beginning to end.

“Blanche Macdonald was the only makeup school contacted by MAC and VANOC to assist on the Opening and Closing Ceremonies,” explains Blanche Macdonald’s Makeup Program Director Karen Esprez, “Associate Makeup Director, Jennifer Powell and I worked with MAC’s Pro Makeup Artist Caitlin Callahan to determine who would assist the MAC Makeup team. With the entire world watching, it was an incredible vote of confidence from MAC in the quality of makeup artist we’re producing at Blanche Macdonald.”

Fashion Merchandising Graduate Nicole Dennis Durnin Puts Vancouver Style on the World Stage at LYNNsteven Boutique

We think LYNNsteven Boutique in Vancouver’s trendy Gastown is fabulous. But then again, we’re biased. Its owner, Nicole Dennis Durnin, graduated Blanche Macdonald’s Fashion Merchandising Program in 2003. That makes her family.

We’re not alone though. The International Interior Design Association agrees. This global organisation of Designers and Architects named LYNNsteven the World’s ‘Best Retail Space’ and 'Best in Show' in their 2010 Awards. The experts have spoken. And they think LYNNsteven is fabulous too.

Nicole didn’t become the owner of an award-winning boutique overnight. It’s the end result of a lifetime love affair with fashion, 18 years experience in retail and a Fashion Merchandising Certificate from the Blanche Macdonald Centre.

“Fashion has always been a huge passion for me,” she reveals. “I knew I had to work in fashion. My mother could tell you stories. Apparently I was dressing myself from the time I was two or three.”

Nicole had already found a job in the industry when she decided to further her career with some formal fashion training.

Fashion Design Grad Lisa Malcic’s Maternal Magic Brings Beba Bean Babywear International and Celebrity Status

Inspiration can arrive from strange sources. A falling apple was Isaac Newton’s first step towards developing of his theory of gravity. Seeds sticking to George De Mestral’s dog’s fur led him to invent Velcro.

For Blanche Macdonald Fashion Design School graduate Lisa Malcic, owner of the Beba Bean line of baby wear and gifts, inspiration came directly from her infant son, Alex. Every time she or her husband Peter changed his diaper, young Alex would take the opportunity to pee on his parents. In an effort to stay dry Mr and Mrs Malcic invented the Pee-pee Teepee, defensive cones of cotton to place over the little hose during danger moments.

The rest is history. Today the company that began with these pee protectors is sells its lines in retailers including Gap Home, Babies R Us and Barneys New York, and California boutiques like Kitson, La La Ling and Fred Segal. Beba Bean now has over 120 sales reps across North America and boasts A-list celebrity clients including Brad and Angelina, Will Ferrell, Colin Farrell, Nicole Richie, Jennifer Hudson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Matthew McConaughey and Gwen Stefani.

Blanche Macdonald Fashion Merchandising Graduate Claudia Da Ponte: Gram Slam - Spears, Spamalot and Superstar Style.

No one is going to hand your dreams to you. Blanche Macdonald Fashion Merchandising Program graduate Claudia Da Ponte understands that.

She’s talented, of course. But it’s Claudia’s positive attitude and work ethic that’s turning her into one of Canada’s leading young professional stylists. The Vancouver native has worked backstage at concerts by Céline Dion and Britney Spears. She’s styled models for European fashion magazines and high profile advertising clients. She’s even appeared on Entertainment Tonight Canada, providing the fashion expertise for Cheryl Hickey’s Makeover segment. In fact, she’s rapidly approaching celebrity status. The facebook page for her company, Da Ponte Style, now has over 850 official fans.

That number is poised to grow as she’s recently taken the plunge and relocated from Vancouver to Canada’s fashion epicentre, Toronto. Looking back, it was a move that was almost inevitable.

Line & Form: 2009 Annual Graduation Fashion Show

THE BLANCHE MACDONALD CENTRE PRESENTS 50 GRADUATE FASHION COLLECTIONS

Tuesday November 24 2009
The Westin Bayshore
1601 Bayshore Drive, Vancouver BC
Fashion Show begins at 7:00 pm



See footage from last years fashion show, Fashion Collective '08, in our recently released Fashion Show Video!

Backstage Pass: Blanche Macdonald Students Shine At New York Fashion Week

This September saw a week to remember for Blanche Macdonald Fashion Merchandising and Fashion Design students Kaitlyn Kuipers, Jenn Co and Joshua Langston, as all three flew from Vancouver to The Big Apple to work as interns for Gottex Swimwear at New York Fashion Week. The students were able to experience the pulsating heart of the fashion industry from the inside, making hands-on contributions to a major fashion show, attending special events and generating potentially life-altering friendships and contacts.

Blanche Macdonald’s Career Director Brenda Wong and The Kirk Group, instructors of the Public Relations course within the Fashion Merchandising program, arranged the internships and selected the students. They chose wisely. Gottex was more than impressed with the interns’ knowledge and work ethic. So much so, all three have since been invited to work a launch at Barney’s in Los Angeles.

We asked Kaitlyn, Jenn and Joshua to tell their own stories.

Marcie LeBlanc: Award-winning Awesomeness at Style Bridge

Fashion Design Graduate
Co-owner of Style Bridge - Victoria, BC

It hasn’t come as a surprise that Marcie LeBlanc is making waves in the fashion community. Marcie graduated from Blanche Macdonald at the top of her Fashion Design class in 2005, and before long she was collaborating with owner Christine Lavdovsky on the reopening of the popular boutique Style Bridge in Victoria, BC. 

Having formed a successful business partnership and friendship, Marcie and Christine now use Style Bridge as home for their three exclusive house labels Stil Brucke, Ludmila and BlackFish WhiteFish. And it’s not just us who’ve been impressed. Marcie and Christine’s talents were officially recognised by Vancouver Island’s Times Colonist, being awarded the title of ‘Most Awesome Clothing Design of 2008’ for their highly customizable dresses which are created by hand according to the vision of the customer.

BMC: Congratulations on being named ‘Most Awesome Clothing Design of 2008’! Can you explain what Style Bridge is?

ML: Thanks for the congratulations! We had no idea we had won until a customer came in and said she’d seen us in the paper that day. It was very exciting and unexpected. Style Bridge is a clothing boutique located in Victoria, owned by my business partner, Christine Lavdovsky, and me. This is where we showcase our lines of customizable dresses, bikinis and other handmade pieces. We also carry a variety of lines from around Canada and the US.

Amy Lu, award-winning Fashion Stylist

Fashion Merchandising Graduate
Fashion Stylist 

Amy Lu is a 2001 graduate of Blanche Macdonald’s Fashion Merchandising Program and has since worked with renowned photographers, models and celebrities in locations around the world. Her work has appeared in editorials for FASHION Magazine (in which she was also voted one of Canada’s “best dressed”), Interview, Ocean Drive, Zink and Vanity Fair and in national advertising campaigns for Coca Cola, Nike, Air Canada and Timberland. Throughout her career, Lu has been the fashion editor for Donato Magazine and had a weekly fashion column called “Kool Thing” in the Georgia Strait for more than five years running.

This award-winning stylist also received BC Apparel’s Fashion Stylist of the Year award in 2003 and some images she styled for photographer  Barbara Cole won the 2008 Grand Prix of Fashion Photography at the International Festival of Photography in Cannes.

Chances are you’ve seen this fashionphile make appearances on Inside Entertainment and Canada’s Next Top Model.

To view Amy Lu's incredible portfolio of work, visit her website at www.amylu.ca.