The author purchased a Kapital Jersey Bandana Huge T from Blue Button Shop, confident in its fit. Transitioning from searching for Kapital jeans, they discovered Latre’s collaboration with Viapiana, appreciating its unisex design.
It’s always fun to watch a debut unfold before you. Tara Rivas unveiled the Fall Winter 2015 collection from her newly minted womenswear line, TMR Collection. Tara began her career altering store bought clothing and after years of that she made the jump into creating custom clothing for herself. This collection is the logical conclusion to those efforts. “I want to create collections that offer women maximum style with minimum effort,” said Tara Rivas, founder and designer. “My desire is to create clothing that makes women look and feel good.” For her first collection, Tara has wisely focused on a tight edit of beautifully made foundation pieces that can easily be integrated into anyone’s wardrobe. She’s taken classic pieces and added a bit of flair which makes her collection both stylish and office appropriate. Pleather inserts and mesh detailing bring the style and sex appeal to the garments. In addition to pleather, Tara uses triacetate crepe, bamboo and rayon. The entire collection is produced in Toronto and uses locally sourced fabrics. Lets take a look …
This is the result of the Eve Gravel Garden Party Challenge style challenge. Eve Gravel sent me a Garden Party kit that included a dress from the SS15 collection and some addition styling items to add to the shoot. I chose the dress but everything else was a surprise. With this box of goodies I was to come up with a Garden Party themed photoshoot. The Red Hat dress is amazing and has some beautiful movement to it. At first I was like, I don’t have a garden! I thought about going to a park but it was cold and brown out there (this was a few weeks ago). I realized that this would be have to be an I want – I got style garden party and that meant my balcony would take centre stage. In the #evegravelgardenparty party kit styling items included a super cute pineapple bracelet from Horace Jewelry, Misslyn nail polish (available at Shopper’s Drug Mart) and a pair of incredibly cool Italia Independent sunglasses (available at Pink Eye Optical). I’m …
I’ve been completely spoiled by my custom fitted boots from Poppy Barley. It won’t be possible for me to buy another pair of tall boots off the rack again because nothing is going to fit as well. Poppy Barley is an Edmonton based shoe brand that I first heard about in the summer. They offer custom, handcrafted footwear that is Canadian designed and ethically made in Mexico. Sisters, Kendall and Justine Barber are the brains behind the brand. The idea of Poppy Barley came to Justine when she was on vacation in Bali. She came upon a local shoemaker and was disappointed when a pair of boots she wanted didn’t come in her size. The shoemaker said no problem, measured her feet, processed her address and payment. A few weeks later, her custom made shoes showed up at her door in Edmonton. While this is an affordable option for many shoe buyers in other parts of the world, it isn’t common in Canada. Justine had the idea that she wanted to bring custom made footwear …
My down parka boycott began last year. I was sick of wearing the damn things and longed for the days when the wool peacoat ruled. (Does anyone remember that?) I have nostalgia for the stylish look of a wool coat but I really didn’t miss the unfortunate side effect of freezing my ass off in extreme cold weather. How was I going to get the best of both worlds? Last year, I started to wear a down vest from Danier Leather underneath my Philip Sparks pimp coat. This combo did a great job of keeping me out of my down parkas on some really horrible days. It was a good solution but not perfect. The down vest was the purple and really didn’t match the coat. Then spring came and I put all thoughts of winter coats and optimal layering solutions to bed. During the summer, I received an email from Marissa Freed. She’s the President of Freed and Freed International, an outerwear company based in Winnipeg. The company is 95 years old and you …
I have a saying that I’ve repeated a lot these days, “I need another one of these like I need a hole in the head”. Lately, its been applied to coats, sweaters and shoes. I said it to myself again once I spotted the Sully Wong x Amanda Lew Kee sneaker collaboration. I don’t need another pair of sneakers because my closet is full of them but the Sully Wong x Amanda Lew Kee Swalk Hi sneaker is one incredible shoe. Amanda has incredible style so I had big hopes for the design when I heard about the collaboration initially. She has surpassed anything I could have imagined. The shoe is perfection, I cannot lie. “The SWALK HI collaboration personifies all aspects, both in design and philosophy, which Sully Wong and I share as a team. The design itself is sleek, smart, and constructed with the finest attention to detail and luxury materials. Together we are aiming to give the women’s market a sophisticated limited edition option, in the realm of casual athletic footwear, focusing …
It’s the 10 Anniversary for Toronto’s own Smythe Jackets. To celebrate this amazing milestone, Christie Smythe and Andrea Lenczner created a capsule collection consisting of their 10 most beloved silhouette reinterpreted for 2014. I’ve been a fan of the brand since the beginning of this blog. It seems like it was only yesterday when I wrote my first of many posts on the brand. It was way back in November of 2005 and I have to thank Now Magazine for turning me on to Christie’s and Andrea’s beautiful designs. Man, looking at those early posts are painful 🙂 To celebrate 10 years, Smythe is hosting a Flashtagram Right Now! Upload a photo of yourself in your favourite Smythe Jacket to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter using the hashtags #smythejackets #10X10 #flashtagram. The Smythe social media channels will be posting their favourite shots of their fans. You can follow the fun on Smythe’s Twitter and Instagram pages. It was an absolute honour to be asked to take part in the Smythe flashtagram. So much so, that a …
eBay Canada contacted me this with a Style Challenge request. My mission, should I choose to accept, would be to style an office and nighttime look featuring the Bee Print Bustier by Jordan de Ruiter. A couple of weeks ago on twitter I mentioned how much I liked the Bee Print Bustier so I was happy to take on the challenge. Let’s start with the office look. I pretty much did what I always do when I want to wear something inappropriate to the office, put a blazer on it. This look obviously wouldn’t fly in my financial district office place but many of you work in lest draconian dress code environments. I’m wearing my Junya Watanabe Commes des Garcons blazer (which I picked up at The Room for a steal), H&M high waisted pencil skirt and 3.1 Phillip Lim Chelsea boots. For the night look I ditched the blazer and swapped out the boots for gold sandals from Aldo Shoes. The night look is my World Pride 2014 look for Saturday’s parties! The Bee …
I get a lot of t-shirt pitches. If you could see the face I make when I read them you can understand that I don’t pay them much attention. I’m a fashion blogger and I like clothing design. If you t-shirt is just showing off your graphic design skills on some American Apparel t-shirt I’m generally not impressed. I have a shit load of Threadless t-shirts, believe me, I’m over that phase in my life. However, I’ve learned to never say never in life and last week a t-shirt pitch arrived in my inbox which I adore. Fairgood’s art director Shauna Luedtke came up with the Sorry t-shirt which puts a tongue in cheek look at one major Canadian stereotype, politeness. Anyone that has lived in Canada for a long time falls into this trap. We say sorry all the damn time, even when we don’t have to. I do this regularly and I don’t even have an idea of where in my upbringing this politeness thing manifested itself. The Sorry t-shirt was pitched to …
I never knew I wanted a linen jumpsuit in pale pink until I saw that Horses Atelier created one for Spring Summer 2014. Now, that’s a bit of a lie, I’ve always had an interest in jumpsuits. A military flight suit is on my military “I want” list and has been for a long time. I haven’t pursued acquiring a flight suit very actively. When I do come across them they are either too weird-looking like this Soviet MIG flight suit or they are just too big and beyond the magic of alterations. Then there are the colour options which don’t really leave much room for light-hearted fun. Combinaison by Horses Atelier provides a great fitting silhouette that looks slim fitting and roomy at the same time. The cotton linen blend will make it cool for the summer even though you’re encased in fabric. It’s got pockets which are a must. I love that it can be dressed up with some heels and a great handbag or it can be completely casual with sneakers and a baseball …
