LAURA KIDD: bev kidd

While staying with my Aunt Bev last weekend, I said we got up to making a beautiful fur clutch. Remember that 'useless' piece of white rabbit fur that I bought for a buck while breaking my shopping hiatus? Well it turned out to be not-so-useless after all. I'd encourage you not to throw away craft materials because you can always turn them into something beautiful. In creating the clutch, Bev involved me in the whole process from concept to creation. It was so interesting to see how a purse is made, especially when working with leather and fur. I have to say a huge thanks again to my Aunt for helping me turn my piece of fur into a masterpiece, one-of-a-kind Bev Kidd creation. I await a fancy occasion to rock little Alice at. We called her Alice since Alice in Wonderland had a little white rabbit.

This past weekend was incredibly refreshing and relaxing- two words you wouldn't have heard me use to describe my weekends in a while. Relaxing, sure. Refreshing, though, is a very special word. Feeling refreshed- to me- means seeing, hearing and learning something new. I drove down to my aunt Bev's house in Pembroke (about 1.5 hrs away) for a night. We both adore fashion, design, and are into eating healthy so we had lots to talk about and there was a lot I learnt from her. I think a love for fashion must be ingrained in our genes as my grandmother had an amazing sense of style (and still does), many of the paintings in my aunts house were either done by her or my grandmother, and my great grandmother used to make the most beautiful clothes. She first gave me a tour (see below her beautifully decorated abode), we then chatted and caught up, went out for dinner, and returned to her house to rummage through all her old fashion illustrations and favourite fashion books (she's got a tonne!) Sunday morning was spend turning my $1 piece of white rabbit fur into a beautiful and glamorous clutch (stay tuned for the pictures).
She's so talented. And I know that word gets thrown around a lot, especially in fashion, but this lady IS talented. We have a similar sense of fashion and tend to like a lot of the same things when it comes to fashion and personal style. I regret not taking any pictures of her fashion sketches and pieces she's made because I don't think I can convey how beautiful her work is in words. To give a bit of back story- she once lived in Toronto, working in the Toronto Fashion Incubator and as an assistant to Arthur Mendonca but now works as an engineer. So she knows her stuff and she's very good at it. I loved going through all her work and hearing all her amazing stories. I can't wait to spend many more weekends with her- we were both so glad we made the time to get together and really get to know each other. If you're lucky enough to have relatives near you that you haven't got around to visiting, go now! You'll never be not busy so make time and go. You'll be surprised at the good it'll do.