The Style Notebook

LETTER FROM LAURA: Hello, friends!

Photo by Regina Relang.

I’ve missed you! You’ve probably noticed that The Style Notebook has been on hiatus for awhile. As excitement mounts for LG Fashion Week Fall 2011, I wanted to let you know that I’m shifting my focus to Hardly Magazine, an online teen magazine, and Learn to Speak Fashion, a book that will be published by OwlKids next fall.

I want to thank all of our wonderful readers for being such great supporters of the site, and all of the equally wonderful contributors who made working on this project so much fun.

A big thank you to Marq Frerichs, Anne Pringle, Emily Blake, Brendan Adam Zwelling, Caitlin Agnew, Paul Aguirre-Livingston, Justine Iaboni, Mishal Cazmi, Natalie Castellino, Ayalah Hutchins, Kyra Kendall, Leanne Delap, Sara Graham, Grace Carroll, Charlotte Herrold, and Jonathan Loek.

Come visit me over at Hardly! Thanks again for all of your support!

love,
Laura

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THE IT: J+O tops up its Topshop connection

Photography by Brendan Adam Zwelling

Jonathan + Olivia expanded its specially-selected Topshop line last week, adding another layer of accessible high street chic to the Ossington Avenue store-within-a-store by launching the label’s final Kate Moss collection, along with additional items from Topman menswear and the new Topshop Make-Up range.

Check out some scenes from the media preview below, including the panther dress made famous by Ms. Kate herself!

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SOME LOOKS WE LIKED: At a very stylish sample sale

Photography by Brendan Adam Zwelling.

With a flurry of audacious patterns, primary colours, and ’80s explosions, the Beckerman sisters—Caillianne, Samantha and Chloé—held one of their occasional sample sales this past weekend, bringing a stash of their own designs as well as a curated selection of vintage finds to a pop-up shop at the north end of Toronto’s Fashion District.

Also on board was handbag creator Andrea Brueckner, who supplied a selection from her line—New York-made and sweatshop-free—which typically hangs from the shoulders and arms of L.A. starlets. Check out our favourite looks and pieces from the event!

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CONTEST! And the winner is…

The Jacopo necklace by Anne-Marie Chagnon.

Congratulations to Rayna Morrison of Weston, Ontario, on winning a $1,000 customized jewellery wardrobe from the incredible Anne-Marie Chagnon. Here’s to a holiday full of sparkle and shine!

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THE IT: Celebrating Jie Matar

Story by Leanne Delap. Photography by Brendan Adam Zwelling.

The other night at the Canfar Bloor Street Entertains fundraiser, I had the pleasure of being seated beside some bright young things. It was great fun—I enjoyed them and wondered at the verve and nerve.

But I was struck by the lack of history in the fashion industry of this city.

More particularly, mention of some of our classic eccentrics, I was struck by how fleeting fame and infamy is in this city. The currently current generation does not have a clear sense of what came before. Good heavens, someone must retain the grand memory of the years Bentley-driving Babs hairdresser Robert Gage wore nothing but white. Oh, except for the half-decade he wore only red.

Which brings me to Jie Matar. I first wrote about the self-professed “God of Hair” in Toronto Life when he opened his eponymous Parthenon on Avenue Road.

The new, reincarnated Jie is not on the bright young thing’s radar; then again, neither is the tale of his scandal and resurrection. Therein lies the tale: Fashion is a fleeting business. Good news is that we forget bad stuff. But bad news is we don’t celebrate the knotty stories that make larger-than-life legends like our embolden-empower American cousins.

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FLASHBACK: Nuit Blanche 2010 at 69 Vintage Collective

Allie Hughes and band at 69 Vintage Collective. Story and photography by Brendan Adam Zwelling.

The subway is packed but the crowds aren’t filtering out to this edge of the Junction Triangle, well beyond the festival zones. Still, at the Bloor West home of the 69 Vintage Collective (1207 Bloor St. W.) the banner of public art is being unfurled under the auspices of their Soiree des Hiboux event, a Nuit Blanche celebration with art, food and music.

In this case, the art is provided by the Lolita & Consuela installation, a slide projection on the joys of an inebriated kitchen party, which plays casually in an upstairs window.

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STYLE MAP: Shopgirls

Story by Justine Iaboni. Photography by Brendan Adam Zwelling.

Shopgirls (1342 Queen St. W., 416-534-7467)

Lately, the fashion industry has been abuzz about supporting Canadian designers and local brands. So it’s quite fitting that this edition of Style Map should feature the brilliant boutique, Shopgirls and its owner, Michelle Germain.

Located in the heart of Parkdale, Shopgirls is more than just a store where you buy things, go home content, and possibly visit again. Shopgirls is a bustling community centre for designers, artists, and fashion lovers alike. With over 80 Canadian designers on hand, a newly added Home section and a gallery hallway space showcasing original pieces by local artists, Shopgirls is quickly becoming a leading lady of Toronto’s fashion scene.

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