what i wore: nordstrom opening gala

wearing: coutu kitsch jewellery, zara dress (vintage), louis vuitton clutch, topshop heels

i’m doing something new on the blog. you might have noticed that the layout has changed slightly again, with the addition of tumblr and the personal style nature the blog has taken on in the recent years i found it necessary to compartamentalize a little. we have been shooting so many events over the years and they sometimes get lost in the rest of the content on the site. some of the events we go to are also very local, which may be of little interest to those readers who are not familiar with the everyday goings-on of the city. nonetheless, they are all close to our hearts and we want to make sure we have a place for them on the blog. the idea is that all event coverage will now find it’s home under the new event tab at the top menu of the blog regardless of wether or not they were ever on the main page. along with some of the other changes happening in the coming weeks, the site will become a little more of a place to explore than it was before. so i welcome you to look around and familiarize yourself with the new aniab.net as it evolves. but enough housekeeping talk…

just last week marked a benchmark in the growth of calgary as a big canadian city. the doors to nordstrom’s first international store opened to the public on september 19th, 2014. but before the countdown to what was, hands down, the biggest event of the year, we celebrated in style with the pre-opening gala event for patrons, in support of alberta children’s hospital and united way. it was a very bitter sweet moment for tyler and i. as the opening drew nearer, the closer we were to wrapping up our involvement with the project that has really been such a huge part of our lives for what will almost be a year. it never really is a good bye, and we certainly don’t intend to move on that quickly. with amazing new projects already under way and the positive public response, nordstrom will remain a big part of our lives, professionally and personally. in the meantime we loved taking the chance to dress up and reconnect with the community during the opening gala. dorian, of coutu kitsch graciously accessorized me for the evening with her amazing body jewellery and i dug out this gem of a gown from my very own zara archives. much pre-dating the angelina red carpet moment this one had to come out to play. perhaps a tad overdressed for the occasion but hell, we have a lot to celebrate.

another important moment of the night, as you can probably tell was the hair. thanks to some helpful hands at leasa renae and our friends at schwarzkopf professional we were able to do something fun. the initial idea was to achieve a soft wave to go with my first dress choice, that quickly changed and so did the vision for the hair. i got a little ambitious, referencing sonia rykiel’s famous body of curls, which threw the plan for a loop. nothing that a good finishing spray can’t work through. stay tuned for a how-to post coming next and for more images and links from the night click here. xoxo