Glynnis Mapp | torontolife.com

The comprehensive index of every blog post, magazine story and restaurant review that appears on Torontolife.com

All stories by Glynnis Mapp

Introducing: Sara Duke Factory Store, the new Bloordale location for the designer’s creations

The spare display at Sarah Duke’s new store (Images: Glynnis Mapp)

The place: Sara Duke’s Factory Store is a sight for sore sartorial eyes along the quietly gentrifying section of Bloor Street West between Lansdowne and Dufferin (“gentlemen’s club” House of Lancaster notwithstanding). Some vintage retail shops offer kin company—namely furniture–meets–fashion store Lost and Found and 69 Vintage—but it’s been a while since this ’hood has welcomed a new clothing hub, and a bespoke one at that.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Required Reading

September 8, 2010 | 8:51 am

1 Comment

Nylon magazine gives shout-out to young Canadian designers

Flip open the September issue of Nylon and you’ll find four Canadian labels featured inside: Evan Biddell, Greta Constantine, Marika Brose and newcomer to watch Amanda Lew Kee. All of them are making their mark in Toronto. The two-page shout-out, titled “Oh, Canada,” naturally, is thanks to Toronto’s 90210 starlet Shenae Grimes, who picked her favourite homegrown designers.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Shop Talk

May 12, 2010 | 3:33 pm

6 Comments

Just opened: Tabula Rasa gives vintage hunters a new reason to cross the Don

Tabula Rasa (Image: Karen and Preston Photography)

The place: On the edge of Greektown sits Toronto’s newest cheap and cheerful clothing hub: a reason for west-end vintage hounds to cross the Don River.

The stuff: After slaving at the Le Château design table, owner Jennifer Park began reconstructing vintage pieces (a hem here, an asymmetrical sleeve there) that she now sells at Tabula Rasa along with basics from Ports, Ralph Lauren and Wayne Clark. Silk-lined double-breasted academy blazers, riding leggings with shiny fabric on the inner thigh and teeny beret cocktail hats from Toronto’s Le Petit Beret (made of out Park’s vintage scraps) keep the mix fresh for fashion-forward customers.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Shop Talk

April 13, 2010 | 11:48 am

3 Comments

Just Opened: Judith and Charles boutique gives us another reason to visit Bayview Village

Jeanne Beker at the opening of Judith and Charles (Image: Glynnis Mapp)

When Parisian brand Teenflo was launched in Canada more than 20 years ago, it came into a market when women were looking for work attire to set them apart in a competitive marketplace. Today, women looking to float from the office to evening with ease should look to the well-edited selections at Judith and Charles, the new Bayview Village store from Teenflo co-founders Judith Richardson and Charles Le Pierrès.

Down the hall from the newly opened Andy Thê-Anh shop, the store stocks such brands as Paris favourite I Love My T’s, Velvet and 7 for All Mankind in addition to its own line of sharply tailored pantsuits, skirts and shift dresses. They’re wardrobe essentials for busy women, and if anyone is in need of a wardrobe that works with her busy schedule, it’s Jeanne Beker, who attended the launch. “I’ve worn this dress two days in a row,” said Beker of her little black Teenflo number. “Teenflo has been one of my favourite brands for years,” she said. “The fabrications and the subtle detailing always makes me feel sexy yet still put together and keeps me coming back to them.”

Judith and Charles, Bayview Village, 2901 Bayview Ave., 416-229-0918, teenflo.com.

The Goods

Shop Talk

April 7, 2010 | 10:55 am

2 Comments

Just Opened: Andy Thê-Anh has new stores in Yorkville and Bayview Village

The new Bayview Village boutique (Image: Glynnis Mapp)

When Andy Thê-Anh closed his only Toronto location at the beginning of the year, the splashy 83 Yorkville Avenue boutique, he promised two new stores in the near future. In the past two weeks, the Montreal designer, who’s known for creating polished womenswear, has opened a smaller Yorkville shop on Bellair Street and a store in Bayview Village, in addition to presenting his fall collection at LG Fashion Week.

The new stores show off the calculated rebranding of the label: runway-like sales floors, bright camera-ready ceiling and pot lights and very tidy, minimalist interiors. Each of the new shops offers colourful and geometrical lines not unlike Thê-Anh’s spring-summer collection. Thê-Anh is no novice to Toronto’s high-end geography, and the upscale stores are a way to reach his well-heeled customers. “Toronto is like New York’s sister city: you have all the important brands in the city, you have the socialites, the trend-setters—the cultural scene is every eclectic,” he says. “To me, Toronto is a showcase to the world.”

The Goods

Telling Tales

March 25, 2010 | 3:13 pm

5 Comments

Tavi Gevinson gets access to John Galliano over Jeanne Beker

When we last wrote about Tavi Gevinson’s Fashion Television debut, there was just a teaser clip of her coverage of New York fashion week available on-line. Now, FT has released an eight-minute clip about the suburbanite turned celebrity teen blogger taking over for Jeanne Beker. Our favourite part: when Gevinson tells Beker she spoke with designer John Galliano after his show, an opportunity Beker was not granted. Beker turns to the camera and says, “She got a chance to talk to John Galliano and I didn’t!” Cheer up, Jeanne: you’re still our favourite fashion queen.

• Tavi Gevinson for FT [Fashion Television]

The Goods

Shop Talk

March 18, 2010 | 10:59 am

Comments

Just Opened: Evan Biddell’s Oz Studio Boutique

The interior of Oz retains a raw edge (Image: Glynnis Mapp)

From the outside, Oz looks like another one of Ossington’s trendy watering holes, but inside it’s clear that’s not the case. Instead, this new showroom-meets-art space will be home to live model photo shoots, new media installations, art shows and jam sessions.

“I wanted something different from just a flagship store. I wasn’t done being an artist,” says Evan Biddell, part owner and curator of the space, which opened on Tuesday. After being crowned the winner of Project Runway Canada’s first season, the Toronto-based designer has been prodded by fans for a store where they could find his clothes.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Rogue Fashion Week

March 15, 2010 | 11:00 am

1 Comment

Nada Shepherd to present Canada’s first 3-D fashion show

From Nada's spring 2010 show (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Like several other designers, Nada Shepherd is skipping Toronto’s official fashion week in order to do something more creative. This Wednesday, Shepherd will present her fall-winter collection with a 3-D film at the Scotiabank Theatre.

“I’m making a statement here. So much of fashion has become about celebrity, about being in the front row and getting there first,” she says. “We’ve lost the meaning behind shows, and we’re ignoring the clothing.” While this might be the case in New York, Toronto’s fashion week is hardly overrun with A-listers. Blame it on Avatar, then. Shepherd pitched the concept, a Canadian first—though Burberry did the same in London, streaming the video on-line—to the FDCC, which was excited about the idea but then decided to take her show out of the regular fashion week lineup. She didn’t want to have attendees crowding to see it.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Gossipmonger

March 8, 2010 | 1:36 pm

5 Comments

Tavi Gevinson’s gig on Fashion Television: less chat, more hat

Mad hatter Tavi Gevinson

When we first wrote about Tavi Gevinson’s reporting gig for Fashion Television—the pint-sized teen blogger was hired to cover a few runway shows in New York while Jeanne Beker headed to the Olympics—we still hadn’t seen the footage. A short clip of Gevinson’s stint is now on the FT Web site. In it, she walks from show to show, air-kisses friends and poses for photographers. Her personal style is the main draw, with blue-grey hair accessorized with a turban or flower-shaped hat. (We can’t decide whether she looks like she dresses from the Tickle Trunk or like a 60-year-old cat lady.) We see her chatting with model Coco Rocha, designer Jeremy Scott and fellow blogger Bryan Boy, but she doesn’t actually interview anyone. Instead, she’s the subject of the brief segment.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Toronto Fashion Week

March 8, 2010 | 9:35 am

3 Comments

Evan Biddell’s top-secret fashion week plans

Biddell used cellphones as accessories last season (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

One week before LG fashion week, Evan Biddell, winning designer of the premiere season of Project Runway Canada, and his business partner, photographer Joseph Fuda, will open Oz Studio Boutique on Ossington. Biddell has commissioned well-known stylist Peter Papapetrou to help display his wares and invited media and friends to attend the March 16 opening.

But Biddell’s collection is currently absent from the fashion week lineup, and the designer has said he won’t comment on whether Oz has affected his involvement until the store opens its doors. We got in touch with the Fashion Design Council of Canada, which organizes fashion week, who told us that Biddell would be participating, but the show may not be a traditional one. Reality television alumni Lucian Matis, Jessica Biffi and Brandon Dwyer have all been slotted in for the weekly catwalk shows in the meantime, though PRC alums Sunny Fong and Jason Meyers, who both showed last season, are also absent.

• Evan Biddell sends out a troupe of intergalactic warriors for spring collection [Toronto Life]

The Goods

Trend Alert

March 2, 2010 | 10:03 am

Comments

Canadian style so hot, HBC Web site crashes

Smythe's blanket coat for The Bay (Photo by Carlo Mendoza)

With Alexander McQueen Olympic scarves and maple leaf mitts at a premium, Canada is officially, like, so hot right now. So it was no surprise when we took a look at the catwalks recently and saw a bit of home.

The boys at Dolce and Gabbana took a page out of DSquared2‘s look book for their D&G line. The fall-winter 2010 show in Milan lacked the polished Italian glam we expected; instead, snow bunny models looking ready for après ski at Cypress Mountain strutted in patterned leg warmers and tights, reindeer- and snowflake-patterned knits and fur mukluks.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Beauty School

February 25, 2010 | 10:05 am

2 Comments

Grey hair trend makes its way to Toronto

Drew Barrymore's TIFF dye job (Photo by James Helmer)

We’ve been wondering when the grey hair trend would make its way from celebrities, teen bloggers and fashion runways to the streets of Toronto, and it seems that time has come.

Toronto junior stylist Mike Baronowski went from dark brown to a platinum-silver months ago to match his clients at Greg May Hair Architects in Yorkville. But Greg May, owner of the salon, has seen a serious increase in demand for all kinds of wacky shades.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Shop Talk

February 24, 2010 | 12:56 pm

2 Comments

Andy Spade takes on Hudson’s Bay Company branding

Partners and Spade products for HBC (Photo via partnersandspade.com)

Many Canadians are proud of the Hudson’s Bay Company, passing the striped wool blankets and coats on as heirlooms, but there’s one New York ideas man who thinks our patriotic staples—and their founding company—are in need of an upgrade. Andy Spade, the husband of trendy tote maker Kate, has taken on a new hobby of late: under the banner Partners and Spade, he is re-imagining tried-and-true branding images of big retail institutions. Also on his long list are California’s Swanson winery and Target, which he will infuse with some of the imagination that helped the couple’s own brand succeed.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Trend Alert

February 23, 2010 | 1:48 pm

3 Comments

London calling: Canuck designers take centre stage during London fashion week

Canadians are getting a lot of attention from Londoners during the city’s fall-winter 2010 fashion week. The designers have politicians’ wives in a tizzy, American pop stars are paying personal visits, and the shows are the setting for controversy and catfights. Here, an introduction to three must-know Canucks—all with Toronto connections—who are dazzling Britain.

A frock from Erdem's fall show (Photo via catwalk.com)

Erdem Moralioglu

Shtick: Feminine, frilly, graphic prints (more sophisticated than cutesy) perfect for tea parties and après five.
Toronto connection: Known in the industry by his first name only, the half-Turkish, half-English designer grew up in Montreal but spent time at Ryerson for fashion design. Months later, he dropped out and skipped town to study in London, where he won the Chevening Scholarship from the British Fashion Council and was later nominated for the BFC’s 2009 Collection of the Year award.
Path to success: Erdem stocks the shelves of luxe global retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Browns and The Room (at The Bay). He recently received a nod from the wife of Britain’s prime minister, Sarah Brown, when she wore an Erdem dress to give the opening speech for London fashion week.
Celebrity fans: Sarah Brown, Michelle Obama, Thandie Newton, Chloë Sevigny and Toronto-born model Tara Gill.
Web site: erdem.co.uk

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

Gossipmonger

February 22, 2010 | 1:14 pm

9 Comments

Jeanne Beker trades N.Y. fashion week for Vancouver 2010, blogs about it

Norway's clownish curling pants (Photo by Kenny Louie)

Jeanne Beker swapped her Fashion Television mic for an Olympic torch in Vancouver—a far cry from her regular rounds backstage and in the front row at international fashion weeks. Beker has been getting her bearings as Olympic fashion reporter while pint-sized blog pundit Tavi Gevinson takes the reins temporarily during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, a gig Beker has already underlined as a one-time deal.

Read the rest of this entry »

All stories by Glynnis Mapp

Erdem Moralioglu

Contests

Links and Offers

The latest from across the St. Joseph Media network