FASHION Magazine

If I could live in store, then I know this boutique would be my home. With a minimalist design, big wood letters spelling out the shop name, a Victorian-inspired black and beige couch hanging in the middle of the room and amazing designer clothes all around, boy oh boy have I found my fashion nest! Amélie Thellen and Mélanie Robillard’s, Unicorn (5135 St-Laurent Blvd, 514-544-2828, boutiqueunicorn.com) has found a sweet niche right on the main drag in the heart of Mile-End. Carrying local, national and international designers (such as Eve Gravel, Minimarket, WESC, Lifetime, Dace and more), the shop, which launched last year, offers also an amazing selection of vintage clothing and bags, carefully picked by the two owners. Inspired by their social conscience, Thellen and Robillard also started the monthly CollectiveUNI nights, where women meet to develop their creative side by knitting, sewing, make jewellery, food and so on. A great activity for a tourist in town who’s looking for an inside look at Montrealers! To keep my blog tradition alive, I asked Amélie if she could answer some of my questions with just a few words:

I’m not sure if it’s just something in the air, or something in the water, but it seems as if every woman I walk past on the street is pregnant.  And it’s not because I’m eagerly looking for baby-bumps to live vicariously through, the myriad bumps are hard to ignore.  As is the fact that maternity wear has clearly changed for the better.

To me, the recession and climate change are the best excuses to convince you all to start shopping for vintage (hence recycled) clothes. Whatever your budget and however you like to shop, these are both good reasons to join in. First of all, don’t be afraid! The secret on how to wear old stuff is pretty simple: don’t wear it from head to toe. Mixing up designer labels, vintage clothes and low-cost goods not only to makes for an original outfit, but also helps you create your own fashion identity.

After 30 years of collecting vintage clothing from all across Canada and storing it in what little space they had, Doug Shand and wife Lana decided they needed to open a store.

“The clothes were starting to take over our bedroom,” exclaimed Doug while explaining that their whole home had become overrun with fine vintage finds.

Like its name suggests, The Cat’s Meow (180 Avenue Rd., 647-435-5875, thecatsmeowcouture.com) delivers the best of the best when it comes to vintage couture. With a striped awning framing mannequins in color coordinated dresses, it seems like Betty Boop could stride by the cartoony exterior at any moment. Inside, the shop is very casual with a constant […]

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An expanding waistline is never a good thing unless, of course, you are pregnant.  Yo Mama Maternity Boutique (10122-124 St, 780-488-0040, yomamamaternity.com) is where you’ll find Edmonton’s soignée moms-to-be (the ones who wouldn’t dare think of covering up their yoga-toned prenatal bodies with shapeless frocks or oversized T-shirts) skillfully navigating the racks of fashion savvy maternity clothes from much sought-after brands including Ripe, Olian, Love My Belly, Inca Mama and Jules et Jim.

Hands and shoes. That’s what I’ve always looked at first in a person. I always thought hands captured the essence of someone and shoes captured their level of style. After all, shoes are what makes an outfit perfect. Some see footwear as an ordinary necessity–I see it as the final touch of elegance and creativity. Shoes should make a statement and people should look at you with a question mark in their face (Is she crazy or she’s cutting edge? Could I really wear those shoes?) or else, they’re just not worth the ride.

  

I visited New York for the first time last week, and the bounty of boutiques and shops for every taste really blew me away. It really is endless.

When I compare New York and Vancouver, I question which of these two places I prefer. In New York, the world is at a fashionista’s fingertips. The variety of styles available is incredibly exciting. But then I wonder what there is to look forward to in the world, if you already have it all. In that respect, being in New York gave me a greater sense of fondness and appreciation for Vancouver’s boutiques. Their rarity makes them that much more special.

Has there ever, in the history of cute boutiques and salons, been a shop with a more appropriate name than Absolutely Fabulous (218 University Ave., 902-367-3398, abfabpei.ca)? I highly doubt it. Ab Fab (as the locals lovingly refer to it) is one of Charlottetown’s most unique and wonderful clothing hotspots; in 2008 it was even recognized by the Vancouver Sun as one of Canada’s top ten small shops for dresses. For the last several years this boutique has been located on University Avenue, but the little shop with huge aspirations is moving this May to a bigger, better location on 284 Grafton Street (their phone number remains the same).

This news has been bouncing around for a while now, but it seems to have hit critical mass in the last couple of days, because now we have a date: Rejoice, oh lovers of achingly pretty Victorian-boho chic, Anthropologie is coming to Canada on April 22.

Spring’s love affair with all things golden may be the opulence we need to distract us from dreary economic times.  Luckily, a glint of gold does not have to be extravagantly priced.  It’s not about the cost–it’s about catching the eye, and adding something special to the season’s nude palette.

March is always a funny month here in Vancouver; the weather is always taking us by surprise. It’s sunny one minute and snowy the next. Not to mention these moments are interspersed with rain, rain and sometimes even more rain. You never know what to expect, so dressing for the weather can be a challenge. But if it weren’t for this mix-up of meteorology, we would never be able to come to enjoy the beautiful colours that spring brings: dandelion seed, cherry-blossom pink, sky blue, etc…