Where to find the perfect fashion basics and well as the latest fashion trends.
BUY RIGHT | The perfect little black dress is to women what a well-tailored suit is to men: a garment that works in a range of situations. And the most perfect little black dress of all may be the Roma wrap dress from Icebreaker. Read more
WHAT THE PROS KNOW | If you, like me, have been tying all your scarves with the same two or three knots for years, and you want to add new and different twists and loops to your repertoire (I know I do), then this Frugalbits post is for you. Read more
SHOPPING AROUND | “Tangerine Tango” may be the Pantone colour of 2012, as Sarah Richardson reported in The Globe and Mail last weekend, but I’m not sure how many fashion retailers got the memo. Local shops are showing red right now, particularly in the pants department. Red jeans can be spotted on everyone who is anyone—Ines de la Fressange, Reece Witherspoon, you name her—and I just don’t see these women trading in their ruby trousers for orange ones anytime soon because red is the more flattering colour all around. Read more
CHEAP & CHIC | We aren’t sure who showed them first (we’re not that consumed by fashion), but it may have been Belgian fashion superstar Dries Van Noten in his 2007 men’s collection. Whoever it was that spun the traditional Scottish brogue into gold inspired plenty of other shoemakers to follow suit. Just last week, The New York Times showed metallic brogues (pictured above; read story here) from a collaboration between mega shoe star Patrick Cox and the Italian Luxe brand Geox. They were made for Elton John for his for new Vegas show “The Million Dollar Piano.” Elton’s been photo’d wearing the supershiny gold brogues, and images of this shoe have been showing up everywhere on the internet because, over the past year and a half, shiny gold oxfords and brogues have been blowing up. Read more
SHOPPING AROUND | Maybe it has something to do with the ongoing popularity of UGGS, but for whatever reason, classic suede moccasins have been enjoying a moment for some time now—they’re so fashionable, in fact, I’m surprised there isn’t a pair in the current Joe Fresh collection. Read more
CHEAP & CHIC | If you leafed through the shiny part of the Globe and Mail last Saturday (a.k.a. the style section), you would have noticed an arresting full-page ad for The Room at The Bay. It featured a long-limbed model wearing spray-on metallic leather trousers by the Parisian luxury fashion house Balmain. What stopped me dead—besides the exquisiteness of the pants—was the thought that just last month I’d purchased a pair of metallic skinny jeans that I love and wear a lot, only mine (pictured here) are from the house of Joe Fresh. Read more
DARE TO REPAIR | Borrowing stuff from the guys— boyfriend shirts, boyfriend jeans and boyfriend blazers—is a fashion trend that’s been popular for some time now. It’s a girlish affection for all things androgynous and oversized that also extends to accessories. Made for a woman, the boyfriend watch is a masculine looking timepiece that has a big, bold face and the kind of chunky ruggedness that makes a woman’s wrist look particularly delicate. But our question is this: why would you ever send a boy do man’s job? Wouldn’t an actual man’s watch be the more authentic choice? Read more
STYLE GUIDE | Back in 1991 when Hermès introduced the first double-turn strap on a watchband with it’s now iconic Cape Cod watch, little did the fashion world know the revolution it would cause. Now everyone from Marc Jacobs to Fossil has a multi-turn strap for the timepieces in their line. And what Hermès has done for watch straps it has also done for bracelets. Read more
STYLE GUIDE | Who’s the chicest woman in France? Not Bruni, Gainsbourg or Deneuve. It’s Inès de la Fressange by a landslide, if French newspaper polls are the gauge. Fressange, a French blueblood and former model, returned to the runway this past spring at age 53 to walk the Chanel 2011 show in Paris. Now she’s fashion muse to the masses in North America with the recent English translation of her popular style guide Parisian Chic, a handbook filled with her own whimsical illustrations, lovely how-to-dress-French photos of her daughter, Nine, and amusing single-paragraph fashion pronouncements.
Nonchalant Fressange, a high-low shopper if ever there was one, has great advice on how to think and dress like a style-savvy Parisian without selling the farm (plus insider tips about where to shop in Paree, should you go). Here are five of her myriad useful ideas on how to get “The Look.” Read more
SHOPPING AROUND | I’ve been wearing the same pair of classic TOMS shoes for three years now, and I love them. I don’t know whether the alpargata, the Argentinean farmer/polo player’s shoe (a variation on the Spanish espadrille) that is the basis for the TOMS design has any arch support, but TOMS shoes have some, which makes them particularly comfortable—and a foot-healthy alternative to that other ubiquitous casual shoe, the flip flop. Read more