East Room

Photography by Maya Fuhr
Styling by Romany Williams
Shot at East Room
Featuring clothes by Shallowww and SOOP SOOP

Toronto pride. ❤

Images via The Editorial Magazine

Street Scene

I love you, Internet, for sharing with us all of your riches. Some of these riches can be seen here, taken from a few of my favourite places to visit to find inspiration in my daily life. One thing I love about street style is that it gives us the opportunity to see how people clothe themselves beyond our immediate environment. The differences are cultural, class-based, and also related to climate. (I don’t need to explain how the moderately-incomed folks find inspiration/aspiration from expensively-dressed industry people, shot outside of shows during fashion week.) Seeing how Kaitlyn Ham from Modern Legacy is dressing herself these days in Australia is especially a welcome change. I am legit so sick and tired of layers and hats and scarves already and it’s not even January.

Images via modern legacy, eckhaus latta, tommy ton, emma elwin, soop soop, anOther mag, dazed digital, oyster mag, the haute pursuit, maria van nguyen, cos, and tumblr

U make me wanna soop

Images via soopsoop.ca

Much of the east coast in Canada and the U.S. got hit with a major snowstorm today. Sigh. To cope with what will soon be non-stop bitter days and damp walks, I visited one of my favourite Toronto boutiques / e-commerce sites, SOOP SOOP. I won’t gush too much about the shop’s well-curated collection of new and vintage pieces, as I’ve done so and worn their wares plenty of times before. Instead, I picked a few of my favourite items currently available online and in stores, and plopped them right here for your interest. Inspired by thoughts of spring days at the park and summer parties at the beach, I chose pastel crop tops, slouchy rainbow joggers, and plush accessories for maximum cuteness. I especially love the lilac neoprene top by Shallowww and the kitty backpack by Lazy Oaf. Check out their brick and mortar store on Dundas West if you’re in Toronto, or their wicked Tumblr if you’re on the world wide web.

Fun in the 6

We first hyped the work of Toronto styling and photography project MILA back in July when the duo (Maddalena Petrosino and Eleonora Gaspari) released part 1 of their Yonge St. editorial series for nssmag.com. Showcasing Toronto apparel and retailers, each part of the series features clothing pulled from some of the most forward-thinking local shops and vintage boutiques. While Yonge St. no. 1 used vintage and new garments sold exclusively at Dundas West retailer, SOOP SOOP, Yonge St. no. 3 was styled with pieces from one of my personal favourite Toronto shops, Parloque.

Located about three blocks from my house, Parloque has been doin’ its thang and doin’ it really well during the seven short months since it opened its doors in the spring. Self-professed to serve the “bold & boundless, the visionaries & vanguards”, the menswear and womenswear retailer carries a range of indie and streetwear brands like South Korea’s S=YZ, New York’s Kathleen Kye, Copenhagen’s Soulland, London’s Malmo, and local heroes Willis Chan and Daily News Project. Much like that other hugely influential retailer reppin’ emerging designers and cult labels, Opening Ceremony, Parloque fills that gaping hole in the Toronto retail scene for stylistically innovative, fashion forward clothing that won’t necessarily require a month’s rent in order for you to afford it.

Yonge St. no. 3 was shot in the Little Italy neighbourhood of Toronto and features the babelicious babe Daphne. You can see the editorial and complete list of brands in Cake magazine and online at nssmag.com.

All images via MILA.

Yonge and Nude

Artful nudes and high fashion photography go together like bacon and eggs, or bucket hats and #sadboys. But for what has felt like an eternity, it seemed like high fashion editorials have barely made a blip on the Canadian publishing radar, leaving us fashion-starved hosers to settle for out-of-date shopping guides and meatless editorial spreads.

But as Gandalf and Buddha would say, nothing is permanent, and the fashion publishing landscape in Canada is changing for the better. With beautifully-made and artfully designed publications like Bad Day and Frische rising out of our soulless, mass media rubble, and with shops like SOOP SOOP doing their part in spreading the good word, it’s sort of nice to be Canadian and into fashion these days.

The Toronto-based, Milan-founded styling and photography group MILA is another such entity making it a little more interesting ’round these parts. Handling everything from photography to styling to photo editing, the two women of MILA, Maddalena Petrosino & Eleonora Gaspari are pretty much behind every element of their editorials short of modelling the clothes themselves. The photoset seen here appeared in the Italian online mag nss and features clothing and accessories from SOOP SOOP, Kaelen, and Armed.

Local Inspiration

There’s absolutely no question that sporty casual is a personal style choice fully endorsed by The Pack. I was pretty much hooked from my first pair of Air Force 1s. Recently shhrug spilled the beans on a newly-discovered tumblr, curated by the owner of Toronto boutique SOOP SOOP. Aside from running a pretty au courant vintage + new retail store (stocked with a plethora of 90s track jackets and Calvin Klein jeans), owner Christina Pretti also maintains the boutique’s companion tumblr, filled with carefully selected street style images that align with the SOOP SOOP brand. I wasted a good couple of hours gaping at the images last weekend and selected some of my favourites / future outfits. If you think this is as tight as we do and you live in the city, you should definitely drop by the store.