Advertisement

Toronto Life - The Goods

Up-to-the-minute coverage of store openings and fashion gossip. Plus, daily finds for deal seekers

Design Scout

Comments

Our six favourite pieces from Come Up to My Room 2012 (including one we had to get on our hands and knees to see)

Walking from space to space at the Gladstone’s annual Come Up to My Room event (where the hotel surrenders its accommodations to be reimagined by a clutch of designers) is a bit like taking an absurd, down-the-rabbit-hole-type journey though the minds of several artsy archetypes. There’s the minimalist, who works with little more than white Styrofoam and LED lights; the maximalist, whose room is so packed with hundreds of abstract, laser-cut feathers it’s pretty well impossible to enter; the Parkdale hipster, whose half-shorn hair and acid-wash jeggings are more interesting than the art itself; and the conceptualist, whose work is likely very, very deep but will be likely be lost on everyone without a PhD in philosophy. That said, the show, which is on until this Sunday, is exuberantly creative, spectacularly strange, and well worth a visit. Our six favourite pieces after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Design Scout

Comments

The Interior Design Show kicks off with The Party (which is a party, except Karim Rashid is the DJ)

Last night was the kick-off of the Interior Design Show (IDS), and true to form, The Party, its annual splashy affair, was one of the hottest tickets in the city. Canadian and international design talent gathered at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, including Matali Crasset, Stephen Burks, Brad Ford, Bjarke Ingels, Fabio Novembre, Eero Koivisto, Amy Lau, Claus Sendlinger, Piero Lissoni and Sarah Richardson. Over 5,000 guests previewed the 175,000-square-foot space while sipping cocktails, sampling from an array of caterers (even at an opening night reception, the lines for mini sandwiches were at least 50 people long) and hitting the dance floor to tunes from a spinning DJ. That DJ?  None other than Karim Rashid sporting a casual white blazer and pants, white shoes and a pink hoodie (naturally). Our look at The Party in a gallery after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Reel Fashion

Comments

Calla Haynes meets Melancholia in a freshly launched fashion film series

Happy apocalypse (Image: Lewis Mirrett)

Canadian expat Calla Haynes has become quite the presence in Paris, but she’s in and out of Canada often enough that we get to see some glimpses of what she’s been up to abroad. Last fashion week, she previewed her spring/summer 2012 collection at The Shows at the Ritz Carlton, but now the collection has become the inspiration for Fashion magazine’s first video in a brand new series and we get to see it in a whole new light. Set in a north Toronto mansion that has giant marble walls, an animal rug and, presumably, an endless supply of fruits and vegetables (you’ll see), Eva Michon’s video clearly takes its cue from Melancholia. Check out the haunting video over at Fashion magazine »

Sweet Charity

Comments

Linda Lundström and other Toronto entrepreneurs will bring art supplies (and a yurt!) to Attawapiskat 

Toronto fashion designer Linda Lundström (famous for her LaParka coats in the late ’80s) has been gathering sewing machines, fabric and other supplies to send to artists and designers in troubled northern Ontario reserve Attawapiskat. It’s all part of an effort by a group of entrepreneurs, labour leaders and aboriginal leaders to improve the reserve’s living conditions through community-based projects. The end products will be sold at Toronto’s Design Exchange, and the group (which calls itself Design Points North) is also seeking out additional outlets—word is that Roots has expressed interest in the finished goods. Best of all, the Attawapiskat artists will get to work inside a bit of Toronto history— the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which provided the stylin’ yurts to the Occupy Toronto movement, has donated one of the structures to serve as an art centre, now that the city’s tent camp is but a fond memory. (Well, mostly.) Read the entire story [CBC] »

Business of Fashion

Comments

Sunny Fong launches Vawkkin (like, akin to Vawk—get it?)

Vawkkin sketches (Image: Sunny Fong)

Sunny Fong, Project Runway Canada alum and designer of Vawk, is expanding his clothing line with a diffusion label called Vawkkin, proving it has been a big year for the Toronto designer: he just dressed Elisha Cuthbert, star of Happy Endings (though we prefer to remember her as the girl from Popular Mechanics for Kids), for the People’s Choice Awards, on top of showing another successful season at Toronto Fashion Week. Vawkkin will be a cheaper collection than Vawk, geared toward the “young professional fashion-forward female” in a palette of blacks and neutrals. It’s exciting to see a young Canadian designer with so much demand that he has to start a more affordable line, so we look forward to see what Vawkkin will look like. A preview of the fall/winter collection will happen sometime this spring. We’re just going to start an unsubstantiated rumour that Cuthbert will be walking in the show right now (we can’t promise anything).

Business of Fashion

4 Comments

The FDCC announces that its fashion week will have a new ridiculous name (that we won’t use)

The Fashion Design Council of Canada convened Toronto’s media folk and fashion personalities at the Telus Centre for the Performing Arts for a “big announcement” last night. No, Robin Kay isn’t stepping down as president or anything that monumental—the FDCC has simply found a new partner in MasterCard. Toronto Fashion Week will now be presented by MasterCard, instead of previous sponsor LG, which worked with the FDCC for three years, spanning six seasons. Those hoping for a less convoluted title than LG Fashion Week, Beauty by L’Oreal Paris will be pleased to find that fashion week’s new official moniker, World MasterCard Fashion Week by the FDCC, just rolls off the tongue, to say nothing of its new Twitter handle (@WMCFashionWeek) and its not-at-all ridiculous hashtag #WMCFW (so much simpler than, say, #TFW).

Of course, this will be the last time we make any mention of the title sponsor, since The Goods makes a point of only referring to the event as Toronto Fashion Week. Why? Because that is actually what it is. World MasterCard Fashion Week also had some fun with the logo, omitting all vowels so it reads FSHN WK. In today’s fast-paced world, people don’t have time for luxuries like spelling, grammar or stinking vowels. Still, this is big news for the FDCC who, on a shoestring budget, puts on a bigger fashion week with every passing season. And, hey, if MasterCard wanted to hand out pre-paid credit cards as swag, we certainly wouldn’t object.

UPDATE: Torontolife.com originally ran an image with the MasterCard logo removed from the Toronto Fashion Week design treatment. We have updated the post to reflect the proper treatment. We regret the error. (January 27, 2012 at 4:47 p.m.)

Shop Talk

Comments

LAB Consignment moves from Ossington to Avenue Road

Lauren Baker, owner and curator of LAB Consignment, has decided to move away from her little nook inside Silver Falls Vintage at 15 Ossington Avenue. The shop within a shop will remain open until March 1, and Baker says her new location at 1956 Avenue Road. (Avenue and Lawrence) will open on February 1. Her new Avenue Road space will not be shared (goodbye Silver Falls!) and it spans 500 square feet. Baker notes that she will only be carrying high-end designer goods this time around, so expect more vintage runway pieces, and perhaps some socialites (Suzanne Rogers, maybe?) will consign some old furs for socialites in training (fingers crossed, ladies!). Consigning can be a service and a lifestyle.

Shop Talk

5 Comments

Introducing: Of A Kind, a record store on College that doubles as a clothing shop

Of A Kind, 1037 College St. W. (Images: Fraser Abe)

The place: Of A Kind is the latest in a string of openings on College (Virginia Johnson is opening her stand-alone store nearby in the spring and Rob Rossi’s new restaurant, Bestellen, is slated to open soon), and this shop combines vintage clothes with new and vintage vinyl (it’s an upmarket Black Market). It’s the brainchild of Robert Moseley, Storm Luu, Kyle Turner and Tamara Salpeter, all of whom have worked retail across the city. With the requisite exposed brick wall, hand-made display cases (indeed, the only thing in the store not handcrafted are the rolling display racks) and vintage accessories (jewellery displayed on an old sewing machine and a heavy typewriter sitting among the shelves), the decor hits all the notes required of a new store in Toronto. There’s a listening station for the vinyl to try before you buy, but our favourite feature is the adorable store mascot, Turner’s dog Raiden.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Find

Comments

The Find: socks (even Justin Bieber is wearing them!)

It’s a morning ritual: two socks on, then shoes. Ladies know it, men know it and Justin Bieber knows it. Over the past couple of years, there’s been a big boom in loud socks offsetting a solid shoe, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. Spring and summer are always opportune seasons to throw on a bright pair—like these Paul Smiths we found at Holt Renfrew—and call it a day, but judging by the fall/winter 2012-13 shows from Dolce and Gabbana, Missoni, Dries Van Noten and Kenzo, there’s really no reason to tuck them away, um, ever. They’d go perfectly with the laces we talked about last week, and for those people who don’t feel this look is dramatic enough, we suggest pairing it with a colourful suit. $35 to $40.

Holt Renfrew, 50 Bloor St. W., 416-922-2333, holtrenfrew.com.

From the Print Edition

4 Comments

The Chase: a couple finds an east end pad with room for a granny suite in the basement

The ChaseThe Buyers: Johnny Williams, a 36-year-old bail supervisor, and Christiann Holweck, a 33-year-old operations manager at Foresters, a life insurance company.

The Story: Three years ago, Williams and Holweck bought their first place together, a two-bedroom bungalow at ­Victoria Park and Gerrard. Not long after, Holweck’s mother, ­Mildred, relocated from Ottawa to be closer to her family—and settled in the couple’s basement apartment. The arrangement worked fine for a while, but single-floor living started to feel cramped. Williams and Holweck, who were ready to start a family, decided it was time to trade up. They wanted a move-in-ready place with two storeys, three bedrooms and a finished basement suite. “Lots of basements are fine to rent out,” says Holweck, “but this was for my mom! It had to be more than just decent.” They also wanted to stay in the east end. The couple set a budget of $500,000 and began a search that would take them to roughly 100 homes in just over six months.

Read the rest of this entry »

Best Dressed

10 Comments

Meet Logan, the most adorable fashion pup from Toronto (add to Google Reader now)

Logan does not wear Canada Goose (Image: Julianna Le)

If there’s one thing we can say with certainty, it’s that dogs (and cats on Roombas and hand-holding otters) on the Internet are very popular. Toronto resident Julianna Le is one of those dog-loving, dog-owning sorts who likes to prepare cute outfits for her little toy poodle pup, Logan—and now she’s sharing those outfits online with the world, making him destined, we think, for greatness in the dog modelling industry (and, bigger still, we figure Logan could be the next Boo). This dog is so adorable, we imagine he turns his nose up at doggy fashion shows. Check out some of Logan’s choicest outfits in a gallery after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Business of Fashion

Comments

Brandon Dwyer is out and Wesley Badanjak is in at Basch

Basch, the clothing line from Eleventh Floor Apparel (with a sort-of eponymous store in Yorkville called Eleven selling all Canadian-made merchandise), has announced that Wesley Badanjak will take over the helm. Badanjak is known for his line Lovas, which he will continue to run concurrently. Fashion lovers will remember Basch used to be called Basch by Brandon when Project Runway alum Brandon Dwyer ran the collection, but those itching for flame-out gossip will be disappointed—Dwyer has just moved to Revive magazine. The fewer Galliano-sized blow-ups the Canadian fashion industry has, the better (although it does make us seem a little boring).

(Images: Brandon Dwyer, Keshia Chante; Wesley Badanjak, Wesley Badanjak)

Buyer's Market

Comments

Gary Taxali teams with the Royal Canadian Mint to produce zany coin sets (caribou are not happy about this)

Gary Taxali, the Toronto artist and illustrator famed for his retro, cartoonish drawings, has teamed with the Royal Canadian Mint to issue a commemorative set of coins for its 2012 gift sets. The sets will cover the big gift-giving occasions, like birthdays, weddings, losing a tooth (though we imagine the card would be tough to sneak under a pillow) and the birth of a child. A commemorative “O Canada” set (maybe we can institute a gift-giving policy for Canada Day) and a holiday-themed collection are due later this year. Now that we’re not seven and angling for that Optimus Prime Transformer set, this is a gift we’d love to receive. Hear that, Grandma?

From the Print Edition

1 Comment

Where to Get Good Stuff Cheap 2012: our guide to living the good life for less

Where to Get Good Stuff Cheap | 2012

One problem with living here is how easy it is to part with a loonie. The temptations—exotic cocktails that cost as much as a gourmet locavore dinner, gourmet locavore dinners that cost as much as a designer dress, designer dresses that cost as much as a German sedan, etc.—multiply by the minute. Even our cheapskate mayor couldn’t resist upgrading his business cards with gold filigree. The safest way to avoid following in Greece’s footsteps is to swear an oath to cheapness: never buy full-price, always be on the lookout for a bargain, and haggle when appropriate. Here, our annual shortcut guide to the good life for less.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Find

2 Comments

The Find: shoelaces (no, seriously, these ones are awesome)

There are a number of shoe options for men: fancy brogues, casual brogues, wingtips, chukka boots, godawful fur atrocities, creepers, oxfords, spectators, loafers and more. What there aren’t a lot of are shoelace options for our dressier shoes. We recently stumbled upon David Barclay’s Stolen Riches, a Toronto-based online shoelace manufacturer who seemingly grew tired of white laces getting dirty and black, brown and grey laces looking like, um, everyone else’s laces. Right now, his creations are only made for three to four and five to six pairs of eyelets, but there’s word of boot and sneaker laces coming down the pipeline. Just like at Pitti Uomo this year and Dunhill last year. We’re just happy to have a local dealer who can take care of our penchant for ostentatious colour. $14.50.

Stolen Riches, 416-560-0246, stolenriches.com.

Follow Toronto Life on Twitter, Facebook and via RSS

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Most shared stories today

Advertisement