Heading to Toronto for a week with the familia. Any shopping recommendations?
Unfortunately, other than a tipsy New Year's Eve back in 2001 when I spent the majority of my time dancing atop a speaker blaring Cher's "Believe" in a non-natural fibered backless top, bootleg jeans and ankle-strapped evening sandals (collective cringe), I have not had the opportunity to invest any quality time in what I hear is the love-love-loveliest shopping city in all of Canada.
But even though I may not have firsthand boutique-hopping experience, I do have Internet skills that pay the bills, and to prove it, here below is a tidy list of Toronto-based stores to which I recommend you pay credit card homage during your weeklong trip.
Readers, help me out -- if you have a favorite shopping destination in Ontario's capital city, or you'd simply like to devalue one of my recommendations due to an unpleasant experience, please speak up and help my reader L out!
Without further ado, here is the list, complete with addresses thereto and short descriptions thereof:
Marc Laurent (151 Bloor Street West) - high-end boutique that carries Jil Sander, Bottega Veneta, Etro, Calvin Klein, among others
Noir (151 Bloor Street West) - high-end boutique that carries Vivienne Westwood, Peter Som, Anna Molinari and Dolce & Gabbana
Club Monaco (157 Bloor Street West) - a great mid-priced place to find gauzy black tops with unique cuts and detailing, Parisian-inspired winter coats, high-waisted pencil skirts and on occasion, a great handbag
Lavish & Squalor (253 Queen Street West) - "urban" boutique with an avant garde bent that only carries local designers; jewelery and shoes as well as clothes
Boutique LeTrou (940 Queen Street West) - high-end boutique that only carries Canadian Ready-to-Wear designers
Grreat Stuff (870 Queen Street West) - one-of-a-kind new and gently-used clothes at bargain prices
Finn (1 Yorkville Avenue) - high-end boutique that carries Missoni and Tocca, among others
Over the Rainbow (101 Yorkville Avenue) - Denim! Denim! Denim!
L'Elegante Limited (132 Cumberland Street) - couture vintage at couture prices
George C (21 Hazelton Avenue) - high-end boutique that carries Costume National, Derek Lam, Project Alabama, among others
Little Black Dress Shop (135 Tecumseth Street) - like its name implies, this store sells nothing but casual-to-cocktail LBDs -- visit their website to see some of their in-stock dresses
Tevrow + Chase (325 Adelaide Street West) - sleek and feminine with inclinations toward mod and military silhouettes -- visit their website to see the Fall 2007 collection
TNT Blu (388 Eglinton Avenue West ) - the Bop of Toronto, this boutique carries Juicy Couture, Catherine Malandrino, LaROK, Rachel Roy, Rebecca Taylor, among others
9 comments:
When I visited Toronto, I went to the Bata Shoe Museum, which was pretty neat.
I can't remember the names of the stores, but there is some fantastic vintage in Toronto. Further googling might help
I like to hit up the Eaton Centre. I haven't been in ages, but I feel like there are a bunch of cute shops around it too.
A reader question: Any chance of a round up of backless tops and dresses? The weather is going to get colder eventually, making it just a little harder to wear tops/dresses that have the ability to command attention from across the room or street the minute you turn around. A range of items from day tops to something I could wear of an evening to make my boyfriend proud
Oops, cut off. Just wanted to add that I'm a massive fan of the site and I've become a committed heel wearer predominantly thanks to you!
holiday/a-
Thank you for your input. And to the reader who wrote in asking for Toronto recs...have a great trip!
anonymous-
Get thee to Club Monaco as soon as you can! They have some devastatingly hot and sophisticated backless sweaters and blouses right now in great fabrics like silk, single-ply merino wool, linen and others. I got an AMAZING cowl-back (like, down to my waistline) sleeveless turtleneck from there last weekend, and it is beyond hot!
And since most of the CM tops are between $59 and $109, you won't necessarily break your budget indulging in one...or two.
As for lightweight dresses, Anthropologie and Zara are always my first stops, with the former being the more investment-piece store and the latter being the trendier, wear-one-or-two-seasons kind of store.
I love that you're wearing heels now! That honestly just made my day. Thank you for teling me :)
best,
Johanna
Club Monaco, Anthropologie and Zara. Got it! Thanks so much. I have to admit that Anthropologie is a bit too flowery for me sometimes, but I'll definitely check it out. I'll have to do a Georgetown backless top/dress hunt.
sara (anonymous 3:41pm)
Update from L in Toronto!
SHOPPING SO FAR
Eaton Place: many shops there they don't have yet in the provinces where I live. Got my 9 year old all kitted out for 4th grade at H&M.
Vintage shops on Kensington Avenue:
Do not miss Exile or Courage my Love. Both have HUGE selections. Found DIVINE 70's high waisted, wide legged dark jeans at Exile. I'm 5'11" and they have a 40 inch inseam for me to play with. I know you've opined against these, but with a little tailoring, and hemming (a VERY rare occasion for me), they'll be ahead othe curve in North Florida!
Just wasting some time from my serious job reading the blog. Just wondering, but last time I checked, wasn't Ottawa Ontario's capital city (and in fact the capital of Canada)?
That being said, you and I have nothing in common and I'm one of the people you probably snicker at when you see. For example, right now I'm at work on casual Friday in a pair of khakis, a tank top and flipflops - with my hair in a ponytail. Yeah for casual Fridays and no face-to-face meetings today.
Actually, Ottawa is the capital of Canada and Toronto is the capital of Ontario.
I'm glad I'm appealing to readers from all sectors and all styles...though flip-flops in the office? Really? Come now.
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