Hey Yall, I’ve created a new column called Up Close and Personal,  which will become a regular post on Style Vanguard.  The column was created to hightlight people who are shaping the ever growing plus size community in their own unique way.  New and Upcoming Designers, Veteren Entrprenuers, Bloggers and/or Our Dedicated Readers and Everyday Regular People with a real flair for fashion.

I had the pleasure of  corresponding with the dynamic Annika Reid Owner and Creator of the newest plus size label out of Toronto;  Candi Apple Couture and now introducing her as the feature person for the very first Up Close and Personal post.  In addition to being a super diduper cutie she’s a talented designer, mother of one beautiful little girl and genuinely a really nice person.   

Name:  Annika Candace Reid
Label:  Candi Apple Couture
Age:  26                                                                                                                                                                                                           Zodiac Sign:  Scorpio                                                                                                                                                                  Birth Place: North York , Ontario Canada 
Current Location:  Toronto, Ontario Canada
Size: 18                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
What does fashion mean to you:  Fashion to me, is one of the greatest ways humans have for self expression, your clothing says so many things about the person you are, how you feel about yourself and how you convey that to others around you. Fashion is Art, without it we would be plastic carbon copies of one another and who wants that? To sum it up, Fashion is one of the most important aspects in my life because it allows me to be me with out having to say one word..I love and live for it.

Five Must Haves:  1.Great pair of fitting jeans, the kind that hug and compliment you in all the right areas 2. Lancomejuicy tube lip gloss (never leave home without it) 3. comfortable heels, they lengthen your legs and add appeal to almost every outfit 4. My high wasted Victorian shorts from my collection …  Hunny; that with fishnets, a yellow blouse and a print dramatic clutch it makes a great combo for a night on the town 5.Most importantly Confidence is key to selling any ensemble or fashion trend

What was the first article of clothing you ever designed:  When I was 11 years old I designed a baby doll pink empire waste a line dress which I wore almost every Sunday.

Describe the general process you go through to design and realize a piece of clothing: Nothing I do is conventional with Candi Apple Couture, almost everything in each of my collections are either based on dreams I’ve had, places Ive traveled or experiences I’ve been through. Usually I’ll have a vision of myself in an item, then I’ll begin to sketch what I’m thinking about, I then either sew the sample myself or take my sketch to my sample maker to create it free hand based on my sketch, we then use a fit model and review the style to insure quality, Then we have the item pattern drafted and create duplicates of the the item based on demand from my clientele after advertising it.

Favorite Designers:  My favourite Designers right now would be Heatherette, Marc Jacobs, Roberto Cavalli, Carolina Herrera and Vera Wang.

Style Icons:  Queen Latifah, Uma Thurman, Gwen Stafani, Lenny Kraviz, Beyonce 2005-2009, Jackie Kennedy and Michelle Obama

Favorite local models to work with:  I’ve had the pleasure of working a huge roaster of beautiful ladies between Canada and the United States in such a short time it’s hard to pick a favorite because each lady model is unique and brings her own individual flair to my projects and I’m just so grateful to know and work with the ladies I have, they support my work and offer their images to the success and growth of Candi Apple Couture

Favorite clothing stores/catalogs/websites:  I enjoy shopping in my own boutique, usually at formal events you will always see me in one of my own creations, not for marketing but simply because I love each piece equally and enjoy wearing my visions.

Where can readers buy your clothes: Readers can log on to my website www.candiapplecouture.com to purchase my designs, we are pleased to announce at Candi Apple Couture that we will be relaunching our website just in time for the Fullerwoman Expo it will be more customer interactive, user friendly and will feature the new collections that were featured at FFFweek and the new fall collection,  Also I will be carried in a different boutiques across Canada and the U.S and will be adding a store section to the website to direct my clients to the nearest boutique, so please add yourselves to my facebook: Candi Apple Couture and stay tuned to that announcement.

Photo credit: candiapplecouture.com

Toronto’s own Annika Reid will be showcasing her new designs at the upcoming event.  Annika is a Plus Size Model and the owner of Candi Apple Couture.  Our girl Annika will also be making a guest appearance on  Plus Model Radio on  May 26th 2009 8:30 EST tune in www.blogtalkradio.com/plusmodelradio.  Annika SV is proud of you keep up the good work!!  

Excerpt from Full Figured Fashion Week.com

In America alone, there are 40 million women over size 14, spending $25 billion a year on clothing, or a quarter of all clothing sales, according to American Demographics. So, why isn’t there a Fashion Week event dedicated to showcasing fashions available to the curvy consumer?

There wasn’t…until NOW!

A partnership of independent fashion designers, retailers, event producers, models and plus industry businesses, Full Figured Fashion Week (FFFWeek) was created to increase economic development in the area of plus size fashion design, clothing merchandising and plus modeling. Our goal is to highlight the very best in plus size fashions – both retail and independent designers, while providing an inaugural showcase of talented designers, models, stylists and plus industry businesses that serve the plus size consumer.

It is estimated that this long overdue and highly anticipated three-day fashion extravaganza (June 25-27, 2009) will debut before an audience of over 1500+ plus size fashion enthusiasts, style mavens, models, boutiques, vendors and the media.

The FFFWeek finale showcase, which will take place on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at The Prince George Ballroom, will feature the runway collections of high-end plus size fashion boutiques, retail stores and local and out of state independent designers.

History is about to be made—We hope you’ll join us!