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Happy Holidays 🎄 We value each and every one of our customers and cannot express our gratitude enough for your ongoing support. We hope you have a beautiful Christmas and a Happy New Year. 
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 Tomorrow is Black Friday, the beginning of the end of the year shopping frenzy.
Though it seems like it started earlier than usual this year. I've already seen a few early Black Friday sales and one "Green Friday" sale, whatever greenwashing craziness that is... I know most of us will probably buy something this season, so here are some general tips with links for more details.
Generally speaking, made in Canada is good, but read the fine print. Make sure it is MADE in Canada, not just designed here. I learned doing local artisan & craft markets and Canadian fashion shows that "local" isn't always so local. At the markets & shows I attended that claimed to be Canadian and local, about half of the products were actually made outside of Canada. I hope these tips will help you make good choices for your holiday spending. Of course, I also encourage you to check out our online store, where you'll find lots of items designed by me and made in Canada.  Happy Holidays! I hope all is well with you and your loved ones. I know this has been a challenging year. For our Boxing Day Special, we will be donating 100% of the profit from ALL Hourglass Heaven in-stock merchandise from now until the end of the year to charity. Buy a Hourglass Heaven T-shirt, silk ribbon or a dress to give to a good cause and support our small business. :) 
I wish you a safe and happy holiday season. I hope the new year will bring us all safety, good health and joy!  We have made a few changes we wanted to let you know about.
We want to make sure everyone is safe! We have prepared and posted a Covid-19 Safety Plan on our website (as required by the local government). Here are some highlights we wanted to share with you:
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to Contact Us! I'm happy to announce that Hourglass Heaven is in the June issue of Tatler in the "Hot Couture" section & will be featured in Condé Nast Traveller UK's Luxury Gift Guide in June as well. This month's issue will feature a picture @jennita18. Like many places in the world right now, most businesses are closed. Photo-shoots often involve a lot of close contact, just like Film/TV sets. The make-up artist & hair stylist get quite close to the people they working with, you often have someone helping out with clothing & accessories making sure everything looks right (the designer, the photographer, wardrobe), and photo-shoots are often indoors. With the current state of emergency here in BC, none of these things are happening. So I struggled to find photos in time for print! I was glad I had a Plan C, a backup plan for my backup plan. Jennit was at the model tryouts for Startup Fashion Week Toronto last fall. She looked great in the sample! Sadly, it was the XS and all the samples for the mini-collection were bigger. I remembered the photos, so I sent her a DM on Instagram to ask if I could have permission to use them for the magazines. Happily, she agreed. She says, "I'm an elementary school teacher, model and social activist, I was doing those activities at the same time in Colombia the country where I am from, but since a year and few months ago I moved to Canada."
I think Covid-19 has been really hard for everybody. And I know I miss hugging too!
Thanks to Jennit for modeling and for sharing her thoughts during these challenging times. Jennit is wearing the Red & Black Sheath dress from the Dark Fire Collection. This dress can be made to order for $550 CAD. The dresses are manufactured locally in Metro Vancouver. Manufacturers are essential services, as I mentioned in a previous post, we were actually surveyed early on about capabilities to help with producing masks and gowns for healthcare workers. Hourglass Heaven is one of the many companies who volunteered to help out with the BCAG Local Covid Response, in whatever way we can. #tatler #fashion #designer #slowfashion  Here in Canada, like some areas of the world, there are plans to begin lifting some restrictions and opening more businesses. Since that means we’ll all likely be going out a bit more, I thought it was a good time to post some fashion tips for pandemic times! First for men, because I feel like sometimes guys don’t get enough fashion tips & these articles are often girl-focused. Shave your Face No, I’m not kidding. I know you’ve been in quarantine and all, and when you were staying home, as much as possible, sure that was fine. Now, there’s an issue. Masks don’t fit well or tightly over beards. One of the first people I heard about testing positive for Covid-19 was a friend of my mother’s who was very careful. He carried around a spray bottle of 99% alcohol that he used to sanitize surfaces and his hands. He even wore a Vogmask (which is a reusable N95 designed for the public). Still even he admitted, the mask didn’t fit well because of his beard and he commented that he needed shave to get the mask to fit better. Just a few days later, he had a fever and cough and was being tested Covid-19. The test came back positive. It’s possible he caught it some other way, like droplets hitting his eyeballs. But to be safe, shave! Updo for You   For all genders, if your hair is long, tie it back when you go out.
Hair can get contaminated with coronavirus. I have no idea how long it lasts on hair, I haven’t seen any studies specifically talking about hair, so I’m guessing it’s similar to fabric, which means 4 to 48 hours. Have you ever had the wind blow a strand of your hair in your eyes? Or accidentally gotten a strand of hair in your mouth? If so, tie your hair back! Put it up! Keep it away from your eyes & mouth! Short, Natural Nails are In For women (or I guess anyone else who likes to do their nails), keep your nails short and just add polish. Avoid gel and acrylic! You want to keep your nails short, because they’re much easier to keep clean and short nails work better under gloves. (Invest in a good nail brush too, to help clean under your nails.) You want to avoid gel and acrylic for similar reasons. Natural nails are much easier to keep clean and there’s also the issue of lift with gels and acrylic, or any kind of applied nail. Lifting is always dangerous, not just in terms of damage to your nail, but as an empty space that stuff can get into… You do NOT want to provide a location for coronavirus to hang out on your hands! So short, natural nails are in! I am very happy & proud to announce that Hourglass Heaven is in the May issue of Tatler! This month's issue will feature a picture Teresa who is an essential services worker here in Vancouver! She says, "I'm a maintenance worker (painter) in a hospital. We keep the place together and in working order. The maintenance teams in all the hospitals have been doing allot of prep getting ready for covid-19. There are so many people behind the scenes. This is a team effort.❤️"  A BIG thanks to ALL of the essential services workers helping out with this crisis!
And a special thank you to Teresa for looking amazing in one of our dresses too! She's wearing the Limited Edition Black & Blue Color-Block dress. Only 25 of these beautiful dresses exist & they no longer make that lovely blue fabric, so I can't make more! We took these photos many months ago at Photoart by Simpson. Hourglass Heaven is also one of the first clothing brands to be featured in the new Tatler Shops online! #tatler #fashion #designer  Happy Earth Day!
I thought about what kind of Earth Day post to do in the era of Covid. I saw one article about sustainable fashion & I think that is a good area to rethink. Now that most of us are at home, what do you really need? Can you make it yourself? Can you buy it from a sustainable company? And are they really sustainable or just greenwashing garbage? Here are my suggestions Earth Day & Fashion: 1. Do a Wardrobe Review I think it may be a good time for a wardrobe review. Try on what you have. See what needs repairs or adjustments & get familiar with what you have. So the next time you see some pretty item for sale you can consider: Do I really need it? Will it fit into my wardrobe? 2. Consider Sewing, Repairs & Alteration This goes along with the wardrobe review, but it's also something you should consider in general. Do you want to make your own clothes? Do you have the skills and machine(s) to do that? Do you want to do your own repairs & alterations? Or do you want to find a local tailor who can do those things for you? If you want to learn to sew, now is a great time! I encourage you to do so. I think it's good to know a bit of sewing. At least enough to do small repairs, like simple seams and sewing back on a button. 3. Change How You Buy & Who You Buy From Now that pretty much all retail stores are closed, this is a great opportunity to go direct. Buy directly from the company who actually makes the item! Most companies offer this & it ensures you get the high quality product directly from them. Not some knockoff from China who stole their pics & is posing as them on Amazon, eBay or Etsy (Yes, this happens a lot to all sorts of businesses.) This also gives you a chance to connect directly with the company. Read up! Find out who owns the company. Where are they located? Where do they manufacture? Do they make a high quality product that's going to last? What efforts are they taking be sustainable? If you have questions, contact them! I think any business is eager to talk to customers right now, or at least any business interested in making customers happy & keeping customers. :) So for this Earth Day I'm going to encourage you rethink how you approach fashion. We can make choices that make a difference! I know one of my first question as a clothing company was, how long does coronavirus last on clothes? The answer is they don't exactly know & it varies by fabric type, but on average viruses last 4 to 48 hours on clothing. Washing clothing will destroy it, just like washing your hands.
Here are a couple of articles you may find helpful about clothing & coronavirus:
I think what we're seeing is that shopping online is likely to become the way of the future. And trying on clothes at the store probably isn't really safe. If viruses last 4-48 hours on clothes, then you could catch something from trying on clothes that someone else tried on recently. I can also tell you that the supply & manufacturing chains for the clothing industry are significantly disrupted. And clothing manufacturers are being asked to help make masks and gowns for healthcare workers.* So any orders for pretty clothes will take a while to fulfill. I'm happy to provide time estimates & I trust you will be patient and understanding under the circumstances. :) I wish you and your loved ones all the best! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. #coronavirus #covid19 #clothing *If you're in BC and would like to help, please visit the BC Apparel & Gear Association Covid-19 page for more information. I'll be sending out an announcement & sale in just about 12 hours to newsletter subscribers. If you want to know, sign up before Midnight!  |
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Lalena
Designer/Founder Hourglass Heaven Archives
December 2021
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