So inspiring! I just finished Anna Wintour’s Master Class on Creativity and Leadership, and my heart is bursting with creative ideas. There were so many inspiring photographs of fantastical scenes in the class, and style tableaux that my eyes literally wanted to drink up. So many details—such richness and beauty—that I wanted to keep looking at them forever. For example, the Vogue photo above is captivating for so many reasons:

• The three dogs on the floor—aren’t they amazing creatures?
• Each model is holding another fascinating dog, except the model who has hair similar in shape and color to the dogs!
• They are wearing Prada parachute nylon dresses with zippers—interesting textures and shapes
• They are all wearing the same boots, with a pleasing simplicity to the low heel and buckle at the top
• The aesthetic of the black and white photography, which elevates the style to art

There is so much to look at, I want to drink in every detail. This captures what the class did to me—made me want look, and absorb, and then to create something equally fantastic and grand! I am definitely inspired for my Quirky Style column in December!

Finding a Mentor

I think about some of the women who mentored me in my early writing career in Vancouver. Heather Sommerville, Diane Forsyth, Sylvia Dodd. It was so helpful to have successful women to look up to, and to have support in the moments when I was lacking in confidence or not sure how to handle a challenge.

Anna Wintour is a mentor of a different order, and her realm of creative leadership takes place on a much larger stage than the women I’ve known personally. But finding women like Anna and learning about them and fostering the characteristics that I admire in them is an important way to grow and develop as a person.

My parents launched me, but they could only take me so far. Similarly with my mentors in my early writing career. Now it is time to look up once again and reach a little higher. Since almost modeling for Vogue 😉, and then taking on the role of Kris Jenner, it seems new women are popping up to help me to manifest different aspects of my soul. I am inspired by Anna’s creative brilliance and influential power and by Kris Jenner‘s fierce determination.

Taking Inspiration from Life Around You

One of the things Anna emphasized is getting out into the world and being inspired by life. It’s an endless fascination in New York, to see what others are doing. There’s also a certain pressure to have as much fun as possible! Halloween is a crucial night for being on the prowl and taking in the scene. The excitement is palpable everywhere you go, with people stepping into the wilder side of their true nature.

After thoroughly enjoying Dorothy Bishop’s antics as a Dozen Divas at the Triad Theater, I headed over to Characters with a group of friends and we sang and partied and closed the place down. It’s important to blow off steam from time to time, and then come back to the creative life feeling refreshed and reset.

Takeaway: Dream It and Manifest It

Now I am ready to go forth and manifest my heart’s joy and passion, through writing about quirky style in this blog, writing on other subjects elsewhere, and through participating in all the adventures that life has to offer. Are you with me? What is your joy and passion? Let’s go on the adventure of our lives!