Year: 2009

Lanvin Stamps

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As part of continued celebrations for Lanvin’s 120th anniversary, Alber Elbaz has designed two stamps for the French postal service, La Poste, illustrated with his iconic playful doodles images: WWD.com

The Blanket Statement by The Hudson’s Bay Company

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I was invited to the preview of  The Blanket Statement in the Hudson’s Bay Company Shop on Queen Street.  The Blanket Statement is a collaboration that saw 10 Canadian designers rework the traditional Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket into coat. In addition to unveiling the 10 one of a kind coats, the event also showcased new items created for the Hudson’s Bay Company Shop. Specialty items from fashion to home to collectibles have been created by several Canadian fashion designers and artisans — encompassing everything from organic T-shirts to artisanal maple syrup cubes to women’s recycled fur accessories. My favourite coats are a toss up between Comrags and Smythe. It wasn’t just womenswear designers, Krane and Klaxon Howl created something for the guys. The new collection at the Hudson’s Bay Company Shop included custom made canoes, canoe paddles, Pink Tartan Hudson’s Bay Point cardigans, $75 pure maple sugar cube (I was astonished at this item to be honest. I even had to twitpic it.), specially made tshirts from Shared, chocolates, chunky sweaters, Virgina Johnson printed scarfs, …

Holt Renfrew Pop-up Shop is now open till December 6, 2009

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I got a sneak peak at the Holt Renfrew Pop-up Shop last night. It’s situated in the Fashion House showroom and is now open to the public. I liked the setup. The Holt Renfrew visuals team came in and gave it a “general store” store feeling. The clothing is casual with a lot of tshirts, relaxed sweaters and plaid button up shirts. Denim was the staple pant but there were a few non denim choices too. There were a lot of non clothing options too like jewellery, candles, bath products, scarves and hats. Great options for gift giving and a smart move with the holidays coming up. I love the Christoper Sherman ties, Philip Sparks curling sweaters, the kick ass Dandi Maestre jewellery and silvery hat. The clothing wasn’t as androgynous as I expected but it does have that unisex feel. There’s also a range in prices. I saw a fabric necklace/scarf thing for $22 $28 and then I would see an oversized Balenciaga Motorcycle bag which is around $2000+. Don’t feel too intimidated, walk …

i want: Onyx Indian Necklace

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I’ve discovered a lot of beautiful things on CoutureLab and the Onyx Indian Necklace is one of them The lave stone and black onyx beads of this necklace originate from India. Two antique engraved brass amulets are symmetrically strung above the abounding torsade of beads. The necklace fastens with a brass hook and eye clasp at the back. image: CoutureLab.com

i want: Hand Belt by Delfina Delettrez for CoutureLab

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Hand Belt by Delfina Delettrez for CoutureLab I get a real chuckle out of this Hand Belt by Delfina Delettrez made for the website CoutureLab.com. Made from soft black leather and silver. The hands meet in the center of the waist and the belt fastens with a knot tie to the front or side depending on personal style. CoutureLab was created by the co-founder of Net-a-Porter and it’s ultra luxury. This belt costs a whopping $3,353 and can take up to 30 days for production and delivery. Everything on the site is unattainable but a lot of fun to look at. Each product page has very large images with multiple views. The key mission of CoutureLab is to maintain the value of human craftsmanship and keep creative individuality alive. This is CoutureLab and this is my vision of what luxury means. image: couturelab.com

Miori Boutique Opening

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The Miori Boutique opening was in my stomping grounds, The Path so I decided to check it out. This new womenswear store opened up in the Exchange Tower. I talked to the owners and learned that they are long term retailers in the city. They even had a store that I was one of my rounds in Scotia Plaza before the reno and Brooks Brothers. The woman behind Miori Boutiques is Gita Kowsari, a Toronto-area entrepreneur who opened her first store in 1990 and has over 17 years of experience in the fashion industry. Gita Kowsari’s personal flair for fashion combined with her expertise as a buyer can be found at the core of Miori’s success. 60% of Miori’s merchandise is from Canadian designers. The others are mostly from Europe like 2026 clothing, Rinascimento, Soyaconcept and Sinéquanone. Miori carries Mackage for those path dwellers that don’t want to head to the Eaton Centre on lunch. I was surprised at the selection of casual items, it was much more than I expected. I thought it would …

Balenciaga Menswear Lookbooks Fall 2007 and 2009

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I got the Fall 2007 Balenciaga Men’s lookbook at the Meatpacking district store in NYC. I was there for fashion week and was checking out the stores in the area. I prefer the Fall 2007 collection. It’s very preppy, which was keeping with the Balenciaga Fall 2007 woman minus the lego shoes. The Fall 2009 lookbook I got in the menswear sections of Holt’s bloor street. Not as exciting as the Meatpacking District, le sigh. I like the simple layout of the lookbooks. The format hasn’t changed either, I like that. The Fall 2009 collection is a lot more sleek and angular. I like the use of colours. I didn’t really see the connections with Balenciaga women’s as it was drapey, sparkly and full of prints.