After many failed attempts this evening; I remembered my password, so here we go with an update on all things Ginger Martini : )

2012 has been full of some pretty different experiences, even by my standards. In February, I Costume Designed a comedy web series, #BillandSonsTowing (http://www.billandsonstowing.com/) We had an incredible time shooting, the crew and cast were completely delightful, the costumes were alot of fun to create, (I learned that certain vintage ties catch fire when you iron them, actual flames. Valuable lesson.) Everyday on set was hilarious, so much fun to be there and genuinely laugh our way through the day. I think that truly comes across in the episodes, check them out, new episodes every Thursday for the next 9 weeks. Another wonderful part of this shoot was getting to include some local bands in the show through costume. One of our tow boys is quite the music guy, and several local bands have their band tees make cameos in the episodes : )

In March, I again worked with Canadian Music Week, this time as the Travel and Accommodations Manager, which had me organizing travel plans for a whole lot of important people from all over the world in a whole bunch of languages I am not fluent in. Talk about stress, wow! I spent the entire week of the actual event being fairly certain I had missed something and someone was waiting at the airport for a limo that wasn’t coming. Luckily, no such instances happened, and the event was unlike anything I have ever been a part of. It was hard work, but completely rewarding. Wonderful to meet so many new friends and business acquaintances, and nice to take a break from movies and fashion for a bit. It was also pretty great to live in the Royal York for an entire week and see some AMAZING rock shows, including Slash’s sold out Phoenix show and not one but 2 shows by Tupelo Honey from Edmonton, who I’ve LOVED for a lot of years, but have never seen live until that week, the second of those shows being in the basement of a pretty off the hook house party where a thoughtful visiting rockstar gifted me with a lovely rose : ) (not a bad way to close out an already surreal week)

Happily, late March saw me back on set for another comedy, The Prophet Elijah, as Costume Designer, Make Up Artist and Hair Stylist. (http://www.ibelieveinelijah.com/) This was a truly unique experience. Every step of the way was a complete adventure, some more fun than others, like when our production police car was pulled over by the real police resulting in said car being towed away and us having to roll with the punches to finish shooting the film, which our director, dop and cast worked out smashingly, and still managed to wrap a bit early!

April had me back at my sewing machine, creating a new collection, which I’ve named Vintage Vendetta, for the A1 Cover Girls fashion show. This is my third season showing at the annual event. I’m honoured to be back, and this year, they have requested me to be a judge! 8 girls compete to be the Cover Girl for Sing Tao Daily. Can’t wait to meet the girls and see Vintage Vendetta come to life on the runway, look for pics from the event on my facebook fan page after May 12th : )

Thanks for reading, chat soon!

G

Hello : )

Well, its been quite awhile since my last update, if you follow me on twitter, you’re pretty in the know with my goings on. If not, I’ll give you a quick rundown of the highlights:

In the beginning of Dec I was lucky enough to have the first movie I’ve seen at Tiff Bell Lightbox (ever) be a movie I Costume Designed. So exciting!!! How many people can say that! (Well, I guess a fair amount of other Costume Designers, but you get where I’m going with that. Anyhow- ) #HelloOctober was a super emotional screening, (they usually are in general because you’re so proud to see your work on a big screen finally and its so nice to see people you spend so much time with so long ago together again!) But, this particular screening was extra emotional because our director had passed away shortly after we completed filming. His kids were at the screening and spoke of how he had dreamed of directing a film, and that we truly helped their Dad realize his final wish. To hear that was so incredibly moving, especially knowing how lovely a person Doug was.

The #Citylife2011 projects that I Costume Designed this past October also screen at the #TiffBellLightBox on Jan 24th. These were 3 powerful stories written by 3 local Toronto at risk youth. It was really rewarding to work with such talented and passionate people. I can’t wait to see the films : )

In tv world, starting on Jan 10th on #CTV and #MuchMusic, a show I Assistant Costume Designed, #TheLAComplex will be airing. Its an awesome show, make sure you check it out!

In addition to the films I’ve been working on, I started working with www.deadbolt.com doing some consulting for their articles on how to dress from your body shape. Check out the first installment here: http://www.thedeadbolt.com/1003023501-how-to-dress-for-your-body-type-the-pear-shape.html There are 2 more articles to come as well as an interview with me by the style editior Nadya.

Feb 12th at the Koslav Mall in Barrie the #BallroomBlitz will be back in full swing. Its one of my favorite charities. They collect old prom dresses & bridesmaid dresses, give them to designers who then re-design them into trendy dresses that are given out to girls who can’t afford prom dresses. Each new creation must be comprised of 3 older dresses, not using more than 70% of any one dress. I worked with them last time as a designer as well as a judge for the runway event.  The dresses that hit the runway were breathtaking and a ton of girls were able to see their prom dreams realized because of those designers. I totally teared up when they sent me the photo of a girl wearing the dress I made : ) I’m excited to start working on my dress for this year. It involves zebra, black, white, and tangerine (and probably some tulle, if I know myself)

This is getting pretty long, so I’ll wrap it up:

Wishing you a happy, healthy & safe holiday season,  with many successes, much love and good health for 2012

Thanks for reading!

Hello World : )

Its been a wild few months since my last post, and many exciting changes have occurred.  I was struck with the craziest inspirations and The Key To My… collection is currently on hold and scheduled for 2013. Instead Spring/Summer 2012 is going to be Yummy! Not too much I’ll say right now (a little mystery is always sexier) But I can give a few fun hints: sparkles, candy and 1950s!

Other highlights from these past few months include Canadian Music Week back in March, total insanity at the Royal York  and this past April, I gave a seminar on Band/Musician Styling at Durham College’s School of Music Management’s Reel Music Festival, with keynote speaker Alan Cross. (Brilliant man, if you have the chance to check him out, make sure you do!)  Also in March I was the make up artist on a short film, Silent Cargo, starring Ellen Wong. This was by far one of the most moving stories I have ever been apart of, look for it soon on the festival circuit.

I’ve been spending the majority of my time this summer on SYFY’s upcoming show Paranormal Witness (This Fall) Ghost and other odd occurrence stories. Some pretty scary/crazy things have happened to these people. I’m actually slightly concerned my place is haunted now as well, too much time on set or something more? Who knows, might be a bit of both, today on set I saw 2 deer in the forest  about a foot away from me and almost had a heart attack when they turned to look at me, I’m just so used to everything being a prop it never occurred to me they would actually be real :s

Look for more teasers for Yummy in the coming weeks. The collection is designed and fabric tests are underway to make this a truly unique collection!

Can’t wait to show you what I’ve been up to : )

Happy Belated Valentines Day : )

2011 is just zipping right along! With the addition of a new line of hair accessories to the Ginger Martini roster, and The Key to My… in full design mode (with 2 new outfits added!!!), I’m very excited to start draping, sewing and getting back on the runways! Hopefully I’ll get the chance to do something new for this collection: posting some teaser pics of the outfits in their various stages of progressions : )

Films and other fun: On the weekend, I FINALLY got to a screening of Modra, a film I was the make up consultant on. Shot in Slovakia last summer, this film is incredibly sweet and if you missed it at TIFF, make sure to get yourself to The Royal on College St this week to check it out : ) http://punkfilms.ca/modra/

Tonight I’m off to Temple Street Productions screening for the City Life projects we shot back in September. 3 shorts films shot over one week (absolutely insane shooting schedule, but wonderful crew, cast and scripts made it a completely fantastic experience) Can’t wait to see everyone tonight (and of course the films!!!)

Happy New Year!

Holidays were exactly what I needed, time at home in Niagara Falls with family and friends. Lots of sleeping, and eating homemade goodies and dinners and tons of reading. Got The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx for Christmas, absolutely loved that book, finished it in 3 days (for me, that’s a record) Had a bit of a mishap on New Years Eve, went to get my hair dyed, for the first time in 5 years, which felt like a lifetime, I use to change my hair every month. Anyhow, the hair stylist let the chemicals sit a bit too long and I ended up platinum blonde, which wouldn’t have been awful, except she put pink dye in as well for highlights, which ran and  I ended up with several shades of pink and some white as my new hair style. I looked like a 14 year old raver girl from 1997. eek. (it’s since been fixed) Anyhow, I LOVE visiting my parents place : ) Down side is it makes me incredibly home sick to be back in Toronto for the first few days. Luckily, I’ve been busy with work already to keep my mind off it.

2011, here we go. Already shot a short and have 1 week til we head to camera for the next one! First shoot of the year- Peter Mabrucco’s Attachments starring Shauna Mac and Jeffery Smith. 1,500 sandwiches for set dec, quite the sight. (and smell, woah enriched white bread and mayo with lunch meat under the lights for 2 days) Other adventures on the shoot- on day 1 we had a light catch fire! Bright orange flames and black smoke. I’ve never seen that happen on set before, neither had anyone else on crew. What a way to start the year! Even weirder though-our DP, Walter, was on the phone with someone on another set in Toronto and they had the same type of light catch fire on their set the same day ours did, what are the odds! (i guess pretty good cuz it happened, but you know what I mean) Its a fabulously written and acted (and costumed if I do say so myself!) short, if you get a chance this summer, make sure you check it out!

Second shoot for 2011- The Air Balloon Circus. Its a period fantasy piece (my favorites to design for!) set in a dark and dreary 1800′s style London England about a lonely orphan girl and the power of positive thinking (literally!) written and directed by Jim Goodall, I’m very excited to be working on this project, it’s been in development for quite some time and it’s going to be one of the more elaborate things in my portfolio once we finish it : )

Best for last- Ginger Martini Clothing line, the new collection has been all designed up, (with the exception of my runway outfit, those usually pop into my head as I’m 3 days away from actually walking down a runway :s )currently sourcing some more fabrics and some places to make custom skeleton keys (if you have info on that, send it my way!)

Looking forward to 2011 and all the exciting things to come, as a note, check out:

Peter Turns Pirate  http://www.myspace.com/peterturnspirate

Raggedy Angry http://www.myspace.com/raggedyangry

Anu Beginning http://www.myspace.com/anubeginning07

MGO (Musical Gurrila Offensive) http://www.reverbnation.com/mgoband

Courage My Love http://www.myspace.com/ilovecouragemylove

all bands I have worked with, all bands I’m expecting big things from in 2011. Remember, you heard it here first : )

Its no secret that the two driving forces in my life are music and clothing. My all time favorite thing to do is merge those passions in the form of band/artist styling. As you know, image is a large contributor to success in the music industry. This is an open call for bands/artists of any genre who are currently looking to update (or create) a style to call their own.  You already kick a** on stage with your music now lets get your stage presence amped up to match! Send me your myspace, facebook or website and lets get started!

Hello : )

Vancouver was an incredibly  fun trip full of sunshine, warm weather, fun, fashion and friends! A huge thank you goes out to the staff of Vancouver Fashion Week 2010, especially the Creator and Founder Jamal, and to Stephanie, Daniel and Emmy for all their tireless effort, before, during and after the show. Exciting news this year is my friend Judson was able to record my entire show!!! I can post Ragdoll’s debut in a few weeks once he edits it together and my wonderful web designer Trevor is able to upload it to this site. Its always sad to see a good trip to come an end but also nice to be home again. I posted a whole bunch of pictures from my trip on my Ginger Martini facebook page, check them out  (I posted 277, so make sure to get a snack and a drink before you sit down, it’ll take a bit to go through them all)

Shooting for Hello October has wrapped up and last night’s wrap party was wonderful to see everyone again, looking forward to seeing the final edit of the film, I think we have a fabulous little movie here : )

I have a few projects lined up for the next few weeks, and some of that includes finally getting around to some renovating for my apartment: bathroom- check. Its super girlie now with a pink shower curtain and purple and black hand towels and mats. Now onto making the kitchen a bit more fun looking, maybe then I’ll be motivated to use it. (probably not, but we’ll see how it goes) And getting back to the gym, and of course starting to sew the next collection. I was thinking it might be time to move on from a full line and look to specializing in lingerie, but a few ideas for some skirts and hoodies popped into my head so I think, for now, the next collection will continue to be a full capsule collection yet again. But I do change my mind 100 times a week, so I guess no one will really know until the collection is finished and we see what we end up with on the runway : )

Happy November!

Ginger

Hello : )

Just a quick note to update you about my show this Nov 6th at 5pm for Vancouver Fashion Week. It’s at 1400 Robson St. I’ll be showing my new Ragdoll collection! can’t wait to get back to Vancouver and crazy excited to show off Ragdoll! Its taken almost a year to sew all these outfits (I’ve been quite busy with film work, finding time to sew my own stuff has been crazy!) I’m proud to finally sow them off, can’t wait to get some feed back!

New pics to be updated to the site soon.

Until then, check out the web series I Costume Designed, Ruby Skye P.I  http://rubyskyepi.com/ launches this Monday, October 25th : ) and follow Hello October movie on Twitter  http://twitter.com/octobermovie for the latest updates for the film I’m currently shooting with K.C Collins, Joanna Douglas and Colin Mochrie : )

Happy (almost) Halloween!!

G

Hello : )

Here I am in Sudbury, left Parry Sound this morning and had the most visually stunning drive ever to get here! The mountains which have been blown in half to make way for the highway, the forests which line that highway, the trees and lakes, Ontario truly is an amazing place to drive across. Sudbury really is an industrial city. Living in Niagara Falls and then moving to Toronto, I’ve always been use to cities with things to do and see, but Sudbury at first day look seems to be different from that completely. This is an industrial city. The mines, Coca Cola bottling plant and bread factories are clearly the bread winners (no pun intended) and the city with it’s train yards and seedy main drag are reminiscent of some previously more prosperous days.  The drive up here is amazing from a natural stand point with the rocks, trees, lakes and bridges, but the hotel is really located in the heart of the city, which seems to be slightly forlorn. There are homeless people all over the streets, more so than in Toronto even and the downtown has more boarded up windows than Toronto’s downtown during the G20.

The shoot is going well so far, hard to believe we have already finished 3 weeks and are headed into the victory lap already. Its weird how time has this way of crawling by as you are actually living each moment (especially when you are shooting overnights in forests filled with mosquitos who are completely eating through your bug suits and bug repellants, which,despite the deet which is possibly slowly killing me in general, and  isn’t really actually killing the insects)

I was able to visit the Big Nickel (turns out its not actually made of Nickel) and tomorrow I plan on checking out a mine tour, then back to work on Monday to finish out the week and the movie. (I actually have no idea how to upload pics to this blog, so I usually just post my pics to my facebook page, feel free to check them out there, Ginger Martini, its usually a pic of Super Mario in his underwear trying to decide which costume to wear while staring at his closet)

I’m looking forward to finally getting back to Toronto as well as eventually getting back to the Falls to see my family, who I have been missing like crazy, especially since it was my Dad’s birthday this week and I also had to leave Versace with my parents in May for the Hamilton shoot and basically haven’t seen him in months, I wonder if he even remembers who I am half the time since I’m hardly home. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and I love traveling for it, but sometimes it does get a bit taxing, living like a nomadic carni and hoping that at the end of the month I’ll have enough money to pay my bills. Either way I guess I am lucky to be able to love what I do and make somewhat of a living off of that.

Stay tuned for more adventures and pictures (pictures via facebook of course)

Jinj

Off to Parry Sound for the month for a shoot, will be updating the Costume Design and Make Up Artistry sections of the site once I get back.

See you in August!