50% Off Sales in Downtown Montreal

It’s close to New Year’s and there are major discounts everywhere you look in downtown Montreal. I made a round today, though I came up empty handed, I would still advise anyone who has the day off tomorrow to go and shop til you drop for dirt cheap.

The Tristan flagship store on Ste-Catherine has its entire floor on sale of 40% to 70% off! Sweaters and blazers galore on sale, and I honestly didn’t quite know where to start or what to buy! If you ladies are looking for some business outfits, this is a good place to start.

DKNY in Les Cours Mont-Royal is one store I rarely step into, but for men who are looking for a nice warm wool winter coat, the lovely salesman told us that everything in the store was 50% off. Now that’s a major deal. What was once a “too out of my price range” coat of $660 is now at $330. If you still think of that being too pricey, think of it this way, it’s the equivalent of what I paid for a ski coat at Sport Expert (mine was a cheaper one), and those usually can go over $800! This also means the ladies can enjoy the 50% discount in her end of the DKNY store. If you want even cheaper prices, head on over to DKNY.com where there’s an additional 30% off on already marked down prices.

Next door was Andy The-Anh’s pristine Fall 2007 collection of beautifully cut coats, skirts, blazers and pants. Their sales were going for 40% off, which is muchly needed as one of his white coats was priced at $980. I was eyeing a beautiful silky cream top that was sinched down the center and had a zipper back, priced at $200, but alas I resisted. I vowed to return again and buy something from this store when I have the proper means.

A final stop at the new Guess store on Peel, and they were also having a 40% off sale. I didn’t find anything I liked particularly because gold stitching and glimmering embellished dresses weren’t really of my fancy. I saw a waist length white fur coat going for $298, made of real rabbit fur. I dropped it. I patted my own white fur vest I was wearing, and it was faux fur for $27 and felt equally as soft.

The sales will most likely end tomorrow Dec 31rst, or at the latest until Jan 1rst. So get out there while you can!

The Beat Goes On For Houston Shoppers

I just had the craziest day for 2hrs of my life as a Houston holiday shopper.

A weak economy? Peanuts. That’s not gonna stop them from finding the filler Christmas gift or some snappy sequin dress at a discount price.

I hit one of the many suburbian Houston malls, and we all know that everything is bigger in Texas, and shopping is everywhere you look.

Despite not making a blip on the fashion map, shopping in Houston is inevitable, whether it’s for shoes, or for Southern shutters for your windows, spending money here is like drinking water.

That’s why when I went to one particular Houston mall away from downtown, I was surprised at the turn out by first battling pick up trucks and 4×4’s for parking.  Then it was an ongoing battle to stay together as a group in the mall as the aisles and stores were covered in a sea of shoppers and baby strollers.

I entered the American equivalent of H&M, Forever XXI, the next best thing. I’ve bought many things from this store and didn’t come out empty handed. I picked up a cool faux fur ivory zip up vest for $27US. There was a fine collection of sequin dress, tops and wool coats, but I had to stick in resisting spending too much at one store. Once at the cash register, it was a 20 minute wait.

I didn’t attempt checking out other stores but did notice a couple of them I hadn’t seen before such as “Love Culture” and “Torrid.” The latter is a particular observation as it was one of many plus sized stores in the mall, which says something about its target consumers. I had been curious if Houston, one of the fattest cities in the country, catered to their heavier clientele. And they do. In general, walking into an American store in the South, you’ll rarely find a size XS. Unfortunately, the styles offered to plus size women were plain and pretty tacky.  But despite the size difference, Houston shoppers, big or small, have money. While I waited in line to pay for my furry vest, a woman in front of me was sporting a black Louis Vuitton leather purses (valued over $1000), not too far another was sporting the checkered LV. So these women aren’t poor. However, many of the younger shoppers opted for more Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister than Guess or Ann Taylor.

Department stores like Macy’s, Sears, and Dillard’s were invaded with shoppers all the way to the cosmetic counters.

From the looks of it, I might not get a chance to confront the masses at The Galleria, but if today was of any indication of what holiday shopping is like in Texas, I’d say they’re doing their part in keeping some of that economy alive.

Hugo Boss’ Chromosone Clash

Combining the twangy guitar lickings of “Shakin’ it all over” by The Guess Who, a sizzling hot couple in a boxing ring and you’ll create Hugo Boss’ XY for Men and XX for Women. Why try to smooth things over when “Harmony is Overrated?” Give into the passion of conflict. Or so that’s how we’d like to be led to believe.

This is the first time I’ve seen something from Hugo Boss worthy of the title of “sexy,” as the brand used to have that understated coolness to it, but never sexy. Well this new fragrance for men and women certainly turned all eyes on Jonathan Rhys Meyers (the hot British actor from The Tudors) and gorgeous model Bette Franke, making moon eyes in a boxing ring.

I have to say that their marketing tactic works. The unique website dedicated to the new fragrances is actually pretty funny. There’s an interactive flash menu that lets you read up battle of the sexes quotes as to why men are better than women and vice versa. There’s the hilarious mockumentary style video “Human Nature” where we see the game of courtship between humans. It’s a must-see. Finally you can see a making of the commercial video with both actor and model, also adding quite a humorous punch.

It may not entice you to buy the product or even order yourself a free sample, but it’ll surely shake you all over.

Gloss: The Fashion Magazine

Though I thoroughly enjoy updating Dualité, I also work for an online Canadian fashion magazine called Gloss: The Fashion Magazine. I write for the fashion section about, what else, Montreal fashion. It’s a monthly publication with groups available on Facebook and MySpace, and covers coast to coast on the Canadian-only fashion scene. They cover local designers, beauty products, music and street fashion. Gloss also keeps up their own blog “Glossip” to which I’ve contributed a couple of posts already (my favorite post so far was about the Cashmere toilet paper dresses).

So if you’re tired of reading about the high end lines that nobody can afford like Valentino and company, you might just discover a couple of cool stores in your local Canadian area.

The latest issue covers L’Oréal and Montreal Fashion Week (which I covered), and the next issue will be due out at the end of January.

Have fun checking it out!

Qiss Qiss Bang Bang

Photo credit to Qiss Qiss on Facebook

On Thursday, December 20th, there will be an unveiling of a new swimwear collection by Reyhan Sofraci, designer of the high end swimwear Aqua Di Lara. The new contemporary collection will be called Qiss Qiss and will be shown at Time SupperClub at 10pm. Cover charge is $20. So if you’ve been dreading the last couple of days of thunderclapping winter storms, I’m pretty sure this show will making you look forward to summer a whole lot faster!

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I will be traveling to the Lone Star state of Texas for Christmas and there are just a few more days until the big day. I’ll surely make a round to the gargantuan Houston mall called The Galleria. One floor level is dedicated entirely to designer collections from Jimmy Choo to Yves Saint-Laurent Rive Gauche. Shopping in America is always a treat because there are a lot of brands that are only local or are not distributed internationally. Houston may not be a fashion capital, so I’m curious to see what kind of fashion style is offered to the general public. So stay tuned!

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