Fresh Start
Elicia MacKenzie’s
rise from reality TV
wannabe to Mirvish
stage sensation
Published: April 2009
Olivia Stren
Articles on torontolife.com written by Olivia Stren.
Five Breezy Pieces
The Interior Design Show is proving that high design hasn’t
gone the way of the Dow
Published: February 2009
Industrial Strength
Transforming an abandoned warehouse into an ultra-urban living space sounds like an appealing way to snag a cool house in a pricey neighbourhood. But it takes some serious imagination to see a leaking, greasy factory and imagine
a home. Here are six formerly dodgy buildings and their intrepid owners, who endured endless overhauling and interminable renos to weave their lives into the city’s history
Published: April 2009
Buy, Buy Babies
From Fifth Avenue to Bloor Street, vendors of $1,200 bags and $400 cellphones turn to the store design firm Burdifilek. The art of retail seduction
Published: October 2008
Cashmere Mafia
Why designer Paul Sinclaire’s Tevrow & Chase has become high society’s uniform du jour
Published: April 2008
Leave It to Beaver
Two west-end scenesters have turned a rough-hewn hoser aesthetic into the toast of the design world
Published: July 2008
Shop Girl
Bonnie Brooks has a black belt in retail make-overs, but can she bring shoppers back to The Bay?
Published: December 2008
The Rise of Jay Godfrey
How did a guy from the Bridle Path end up outfitting Eva Mendes, Lauren Conrad and Audrina Patridge? Toronto’s Jay Godfrey designs party dresses that are saucy, sexy and paparazzi-friendly
Published: March 2008
Avenue Road and Lawrence
There’s more to the pristine north Toronto neighbourhood than designer produce (Pusateri’s) and high-end footwear (Zola). Six reasons to give your bank account an uptown workout
Published: July 2007
Collingwood
Despite the slow start to the ski season, Collingwood’s shops, cafés and stellar new spa provide plenty of off-piste amusement. Seven standout reasons to head north this weekend
Published: March 2007
Dream Girl
How to become a certified pop diva without losing your indie boyfriend. The unstoppable ambition of Feist
Published: July 2007
Liberty Village
With sexy new storefronts, high-gloss condos and plans to build a canopied walkway modelled after a Milanese arcade, the former factory blocks are poised to become the next Chelsea Market
Published: January 2007
Ossington
Once a sad-sack strip littered with booze cans and long-dead storefronts, Ossington is quickly becoming a stylish destination. Sketch of a neighbourhood on the verge
Published: May 2007
Parkdale
Parkdale—now trimmed with sweet cafés, bars and vintage boutiques—cleans up good. Your guide to a thriving bohemia
Published: August 2007
Picton
Prince Edward County, with its farms, vineyards and postcard lake views, is blooming into a winning caloric
capital, and graceful, historic Picton is its civic centrepiece. Seven reasons to weekend in the country
Published: June 2007
Radio Active
When not discovering the new Björk or performing in Whitehorse, he’ll be
hosting his own show. A portrait of Jian Ghomeshi, modern-day renaissance man
Published: April 2007
Rebel Rebel
George Stroumboulopoulos is a loner who loves attention, an anti-authoritarian mama’s boy and a motorcycle-riding hedonist who doesn’t drink, smoke or sleep. His job? Save the CBC
Published: January 2007
St. Clair West
Sweet boutiques and boulangeries are bringing exuberance to a strip better known for its thrift shops and jerk chicken joints. Here are eight reasons to brave the endless construction and behold the rebirth of an avenue
Published: February 2007
Stunt Woman
Ex-Breakfast Television host Liza Fromer's new show has her walking on hot coals and flying in a biplane. It should be easy compared to 4 a.m. wake-up calls
Published: September 2007
The Hedonists
Yorkville
The city’s reigning pocket of posh is, like many of its denizens, in the midst of a serious facelift. Seven fashionable roads to financial ruin in Yorkville
Published: April 2007
Augusta
Kensington’s main avenue trades in
more than pupusas, produce-filled
pushcarts and frayed Levi’s. A parade
of new restos and boutiques is turning the strip into the city’s premiere
bohemian boulevard. Eight reasons
to go to market
Published: June 2006
Church and Wellington
Heritage buildings, like the iconic ruddy-hued Flatiron, make this city wedge downtown’s most photogenic. Frilled with charming storefronts and stylish restos, the area abounds in that Toronto rarity: postcard-worthy beauty
Published: August 2006
Creemore
Set in a valley by the Mad River and
hemmed in by the Purple Hills of
Mulmur, this hamlet has a sleepy,
lost-in-time feel. Free of subdivisions
and big-box stores, it has retained what
Gap-ifying towns like Collingwood
have lost. Eight ways to enjoy a little
town and country
Published: October 2006
Eglinton West
This vogued-out strip is well travelled by cell-toting teens and families (accessorized with Starbucks, Buga boos and schnoodles) seeking to enhance their closets. Where uptowners come to swipe plastic
Published: November 2006
Forest Hill Village
Full of gossiping teens, the village is as twee as it was 20 years ago. But the charm of this oh-so-posh ’hood lies
in its changelessness
Published: April 2006
Laugh Track
Port Hope
The small town is a postcard of quaintness. With the prettiest (and best preserved) main street in Ontario and a slew of chic new boutiques, it's on the verge of a mini-renaissance. Eight reasons to weekend in the country
Published: May 2006
The Outsider
In a departure from her usual homicidal subjects, director Mary Harron’s latest film examines the sinister side of beauty
Published: April 2006
Trinity Bellwoods
Once a dissolute drag flanked by flophouses and seedy bars, this newly gentrified strip of Queen West is now filled with stores geatred to a G audience. The truly hip come squiring a stroller
Published: July 2006
Q & A with Morwyn Brebner
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