FASHION Magazine

Go inside the party »

Those with a sunglasses problem might want to steer clear of Toronto’s new optical candy store—Cutler and Gross might just make you an addict. The decades old British brand has landed on Queen Street West, opening its latest instalment of bright popping eyewear to some serious cool kid fanfare at a party last week. Hosted by The Coveteur’s Jake Rosenberg and Stephanie Mark, the fête saw eyewear enthusiasts like blogger Anita Clarke and the Globe and Mail’s Odessa Paloma Parker throwing some (literal) shade, aided and abetted by Cutler and Gross design director Marie Wilkinson, who flew in for the occasion from London.

It’s a good thing the party was limited to a few hours. Each guest could have easily spent all day long trying on each and every one of the store’s 1,200 models, which include the brand’s quirky collaborations with labels like Giles, Alberta Ferretti and Maison Martin Margiela. But hey, don’t take my word for it. Head on over to 758 Queen Street West in Toronto for your own eye popping experience.

When Stephanie Mark moved to a new apartment last fall, she was forced to finally tackle a major project on her to-do list: “Clean out closet.” As co-founder of The Coveteur, Toronto-based Mark makes a living peeking inside the closets of others, but in rummaging through her own, she came face-to-face with more than a few ghosts of shopping sprees past. In fact, her closet cleanse unearthed an entire wardrobe’s worth of designer items no longer in rotation: a pair of Jimmy Choo flats, an Isabel Marant dress, a Ferragamo snakeskin iPad case. “I even discovered a pair of Proenza Schouler suede boots that I never wore—not once,” she admits with equal parts amusement and shame. Faced with a monstrous pile of barely worn designer labels, Mark decided to try her luck at consignment. She made $1,000 in three months.

Most of us have been in Mark’s position before. Who hasn’t spent what feels like a month’s salary on a pair of killer heels only to realize they’re literally killing your feet? Onto the top shelf they go, never to be seen—or worn—again. And then there’s the printed dress you couldn’t resist at the store but pass over every morning when it’s time to get dressed—it just hangs in your closet, tag still on. In her 2012 book, You Are What You Wear, psychologist Jennifer Baumgartner writes that only 20 per cent of the clothing in an average person’s closet is worn on a regular basis. That’s a lot of unworn clothes taking up much-needed space and, as Mark puts it, “making zero dollars.” Which explains why she and other in-the-know fashion professionals are increasingly finding ways to cash in on their closets.

“It’s a great way to purchase new pieces and keep up with the trends each season without having to live in a box on the street,” jokes Mark, who put her recent earnings toward a Christopher Kane dress she’s been wearing non-stop. Her pieces (69 in total) went to LAB Consignment, a high-end showroom in Toronto where owner Lauren Baker sells everything from Louis Vuitton handbags to Marc Jacobs cashmere hats (profits are split 50/50 with consignors).

See The Outnet party pictures »

For those of us who sideline in online sale stalking, The Outnet is a mainstay. Launched in 2009 as the post-sale outlet for designer den Net-a-Porter, the site has morphed into a full fledged Mecca for designer discounts boasting insane slashes on over 200 brands including Valentino, Stella McCartney, Alexander Wang and its own in-house label, Iris & Ink, which serves as a head-to-toe top off collection for the all the rest of the site’s covetable wares.

See The Coveteur’s Texas images »

Big Rich Texas may already be the name of a reality television show, but it speaks to volumes to the gussied up possibilities of the Lone Star state. Once only associated with cowboys and country stars (y’all accuse of living in igloos, so we’re allowed some misconceptions, right?), Texas is quickly rising as one of the most important high-end fashion buying markets in America. To toast the state, discount designer e-tailer The Outnet partnered up with the Toronto-based team behind The Coveteur to profile some of Texas’s leading ladies (Jane and Judy Aldridge were obviously front and centre) as well as to style a few pieces of their own against quintessential backdrops of the state, which premiere in shoppable form on The Outnet tomorrow.

In this exclusive sneak peek, we get a feel for what the trip was like for the Toronto-based trio Stephanie Mark, Erin Kleinberg and photographer Jake Rosenberg. Beautiful. Rural. And ripe for typical Cov styling. As for the juicy road trip stories: “The highlight of the trip was when Jake took the wrong exit on the highway. He ended up spending the next two hours at Texas Jerks, a BBQ joint in a small Texas town kicking it with the two heavily bearded owners,” says Mark. Well, as they say, everything is bigger in Texas.

The fashion industry just got a set of mini mes all thanks to The Coveteur. The re-launch of the site started by Torontonians Erin Kleinberg and Stephanie Mark is kicked off by a video starring child actors as Taylor Tomasi Hill, Kimye, Leandra Medina aka Man Repeller, Rachel Zoe and many, many more.

The self-proclaimed party of the year was DJed by Leigh Lezark and had the Courtin-Clarins girls looking disinterested on their cellphones and wearing designers from Altuzarra to Osh Kosh. As per real life, mini Anna Dello Russo stole the show yelling, “everything is fashion, darling” to a regular sized Jeanne Beker who just so happened to be working the carpet.

See the photos »

Our favourite fashion voyeurs are at it again. Last night Toronto’s most discernibly trendy gathered at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street location for private viewing of The Coveteur’s photo exhibition (which we exclusively previewed) in collaboration with J Brand jeans. The show, which runs until September 17 at Holt Renfrew features intimate snapshots that take us inside the drool-worthy closets of DJ Daisy O’Dell, costume designer Erin Benach (recently in Toronto in conjunction with her work on the new Ryan Gosling flick A Place Beyond The Pines), actress Mickey Sumner (she may just be the daughter of Sting and Trudie Styler) and celebrity stylist Karla Welch. The exhibit also celebrates J Brand’s latest ready-to-wear collection.

See the celebs that stopped by NKPR’s IT Lounge during TIFF »

The NKPR IT Lounge is undoubtedly one of Toronto’s swankiest TIFF gifting suites. Stars like Catherine Deneuve, Olivia Wilde, Ryan Gosling and AnnaLynne McCord have all stopped by in years past and with NKPR amping up their megawattage with the addition of legendary fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier shooting celebs for a day during TIFF, it’s not hard to see why boldface names like Daniel Radcliffe, Nina Dobrev, Adrien Grenier and Agyness Deyn stopped by.

Check out the photos from The Coveteur!»

As part of Holt Renfrew’s ongoing 175th birthday celebrations the historic Canadian retailer has teamed up with J Brand and the online style-hub The Coveteur to showcase J Brand’s fall collection. We have received an exclusive peek at the gallery created for this event before it goes on display starting Thursday September 13 at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street location in Toronto. The photo series will also be on The Coveteur’s website on the same day. In case you’ve been living under a not-super-stylish rock, The Coveteur, founded by designer Erin Kleinberg and stylist Stephanie Mark, is a website that has been going behind the scenes and into the closets of some of the world’s most influential style icons, captured by photographer Jake Rosenberg. Some of their recent projects include looking into Vogue Japan’s editor-at-large Anna Dello Russo’s enviable closet full of shoes and sunglasses (fashion shower not included). For this event, they have sneaked a peek into the closets and wardrobes of four fashionable stars (three of whom who are conveniently in town for TIFF).

Last night, the trio behind The Coveteur (along with the industry fans who love them) descended upon the private abode of a one miss Natasha Koifman to celebrate RW&CO’s new e-commerce website (coming soon) as well as to unofficially kick off the two-week countdown to TIFF. With the site’s founders, Erin Kleinberg, Stephanie Mark and Jake Rosenberg all head-to-toed in RW&CO’s fall collection, the soiree served as a stylish farewell to summer. However, the team at NKPR was surely not ready to give it up just yet, with an ice cream truck parked outside, Tiny Tom Donuts, Food Dudes nachos and Kernel’s popcorn served inside. To boot, TIFF-ified Skyy Vodka cocktails inspired by several of this year’s A-listers (ahem, Knightley, Gosling and Paltrow) with old-fashioned paper straws. Not to mention, the entire event took place in and around Koifman’s pool and waterfall hot tub. No big deal.

See the photos »

Last night, Holt Renfrew fêted Erin Kleinberg, Stephanie Mark, and Jake Rosenberg, the home-grown trio behind voyeuristic style site The Coveteur. Held in the the shoe department of the Bloor Street flagship store, the soiree debuted a new photo exhibit previewing the store’s fall footwear collections, as well as the closets of Canadian taste-makers Dee Dee Taylor Eustace, Gabor Jurina (whose closet was guest-edited by our very own Susie Sheffman), Sylvia Mantella, and Lynda Latner. The three Coveteurs (get it?) looked as chic as the venue, with Kleinberg in a flowing DVF and Céline choker, Mark in Alaïa, and Rosenberg in Hugo Boss. Natch.

View the photo gallery »

In their latest profile, the globetrotting, style-snapping trio behind the website The Coveteur turned their voyeuristic lens on the wardrobe of our editor-in-chief, Bernadette Morra. We go behind the scenes with the team⎯designer Erin Kleinberg, stylist Stephanie Mark and photographer Jake Rosenberg⎯in this exclusive gallery of photos from their various shoots in Toronto, New York and Los Angeles.