Bets are on that hundreds of brides-to-be will swoon over Keira Knightley’s long, draped, emerald-green dress in Atonement. And then, as they regain consciousness, they’ll think, “Hmm, now wouldn’t that look good on my A team?” (A meaning attendant).

Jo-Anne Stayner was planning to get married at Jericho Beach in August 2007, a fact she told the saleswomen at a wedding-dress store in Toronto. The 31-year-old had traveled there on business, and wanted to check out the collections in Canada’s largest city.

Galib and Cinnamon, then, are pioneers for Vancouver’s future weddings: different traditions, different religions, different style, and different communities.

So, you and your bride- or groom-to-be just don’t look like the stereotypical couple on top of the wedding cake? And, hey, you’d really like a cake topper that does kinda look like the two of you? No problem.

Modern girls do not aspire to virginity and purity above all else, according to Ariel Meadow Stallings, the author of Offbeat Bride: Taffeta-Free Alternatives for Independent Brides (Seal Press, $16.95). So why do so many wear a white wedding dress, which symbolizes those things?

Wedding hair has a problem: it must last through an entire wedding day without falling apart. In the past, this was achieved by stylists wielding lots and lots of hair spray and creating tight, close-to-the-skull updos with crispy curls on the perimeter to “soften” the look. Ugh. No longer, thank goodness. In fact, wedding hair has gone to the opposite extreme of the heady southern-belle days of the 1980s.

Vancouver park-board commissioner Spencer Herbert recalled with a laugh how he wanted to dress on election night in 2005. Herbert, who enjoys fashion, donned an outfit that he described as "half-Mountie, half-bullfighter". He told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview that his partner, activist Romi Chandra, told him he couldn't go out looking like that. Herbert, who was elected later that night on the COPE slate, decided to tone it down.

Any ex-Easterner will tell you that when you move to the Wet Coast, bad hair days are the norm. Luckily, there are steps you can take to keep your complexion and locks looking dewy through the winter

Prepare yourself for chilly winter days and nights by snuggling up in this season’s coziest design: the cocoon dress. Also known as a shift, trapeze, or smock, this silhouette has been around for decades. Notoriously difficult to pull off, the latest incarnations of this voluminous garment offer considerably more style than a sack, and are forgiving for all figures. Recently seen on the runways of designers like Stella McCartney, Moschino, and Chloé, the cocoon dress is a favourite of fashionistas around the world, who appreciate its clean, simple lines

At the Quick Cobbler, the average pair of shoes costs from $25 to $35 to repair, depending on the work that needs to be done, and it can take anywhere from three minutes to three days. Owner Ronald Nijdam’s never met a shoe he couldn’t fix—but he says if the pair of shoes cost less than $25 and came from a discount store, it may not be worth it. "Unless you really like it, I would say it’s time to buy new shoes," Nijdam advises. But a good pair, he says, can last 20 years, and they’re well worth the investment

For Randi Obenauer’s tough designs, it’s hot-rod ceiling foam and reclaimed leather.

Last spring, while top models strutted down runways in New York, London, Milan, and Paris, Vancouver's catwalks sat empty–not because our city isn't a fashion destination, but because for the first time in four seasons, BC Fashion Week failed to materialize.

Success is all in the details. That's how Megan Dengerink and Nadine Spidla begin most pieces: a tuck here, a gather there. And then the rest follows.

Given her birth name, it seemed only natural that Sèa Adams would wind up with a career related to the ocean. That career saw her travelling the world for 17 years as a lingerie and swimwear model. More recently, Adams (who's changed her first name to Cea) has become a designer who counts Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Nicole Richie among her fans. The former Vancouverite says the progression felt natural.