The Marriage Between Design and Fashion

Geared mainly towards architects, designers and entrepreneurs, Dutch design magazine Frame allows its readers to feast upon its pages on the world’s latest additions to highly attractive, yet functional, commercial spaces.

Through Frame Magazine’s eyes, seeing (and reading) is believing. Showcased in its thick pages are innovative clothing boutiques, pushing the envelope in interior design. From Denmark to Tokyo, beauty parlors turned into flower gardens, brand stores transformed into futuristic landscapes, runway shows into sleek alleyways as man-made wooden waves crashed onto the catwalk.

Design is also part of fashion. The word ebbs through Frame’s pages to the structure of the book, the colorful photographs, even down to the graphic harmony of the words and images. It is the same for a clothing store. Higher end stores understand this marriage between design and fashion. They illuminate each accessory and each garment, attributing them a quality that cannot be defined by mere dollar signs. Thus creating an experience a shopper may not forget.

An example of Frame’s latest issue on design and fashion was Prada’s Spring/Summer 2008 runway show. While elfin dresses and block patterns made up the bulk of the collection, attendees sat in a maze of blocked roads and printed arrows, all that was missing were the traffic lights.

Subscribe to the Dutch magazine in either digital or print versions, or swing by Chapters or Archambault to pick up a copy at $30 a pop. Every penny invested in it would be worth it.

All images belong to Frame Magazine.

Commuting and Shopping to Carrefour Laval

Like most Montrealers, I get around with BMWs (snazzy lingo for Bus Metro Walk) to get to point A to point B. However I noticed how obsessed people are about their commute time. How long are people willing to travel to shop?

I asked myself this question when it came upon trying out Carrefour Laval as my guinea pig location. The Carrefour Laval is famous being the gargantuan mall with over 200 stores on the northern island and most consider Laval to be “pretty damn far” due to inconvenient commuting roads. Since the completion of three new metro stops on the Orange line extending to Montmorency, I decided to give it a whirl to see exactly how long will it take to go there.

Commute time? 1h15 mins.

The starting point was my home, in the far east of Montreal on the Green Line; this commute included bus and walking as well. You might be able to shave off 15 mins if you’re really lucky and get everything on time. Also take note that you will have to spend a minimum of $7.50 (for a roundtrip) since Laval’s transportation system does not belong to the STM and the three new metro stations will charge you extra if you try to come back to Montreal from those stations.

Shopping in Carrefour Laval has its good points and drawbacks though.

The Good

1) During winter time, it’s a blessing to have everything in one single spot. You can shop for home improvement at their indoor Rona to buying daggers, swords and peasant clothing at medieval themed store La Table Ronde.

2) Laval’s Simons (pictured above) is perceptually larger as its store concept is much more open and square, and lacks the chaotic mess as the one downtown. It also boasts a very modern and attractive home and bath section full of colorful towels and rugs.

3) Indoor garden-like atrium, one time I saw macaws inside huge bird cages there.

4) A couple of very trendy home deco boutiques like Le Living (similar to Zone) and some quirky colorful ones like Farfelu.

5) They have an authentic Build-A-Bear workshop store, we have something similar called Univers Toutou (formerly Atelier Toutou) which extends to other animals other than bears, located in the Old Port.

The Not So Good

1) Bring good walking shoes, you’ll be there for a while.

2) Their H&M only has the uber trendy collections, none of that hip office look like the one I can find at the Rockland Center.

3) The Apple store isn’t all that fantastic unless you’re a computer/Apple fan.

4) You can pretty much find all of these stores in the downtown area.

So the novelty of being in the Carrefour Laval is that it’s just so darn huge. But fashion wise, there is little to attract outsiders looking for a good deal or a unique store. After a while it feels like a copycat Houston mall with Canadian labels, and there’s nothing fantastic about that.

If you’re willing to kill a lot of time, feel free to make the trip, but I doubt there would be any reasons for Montrealers to leave the island to go shopping elsewhere. It’s a shame though, it’d be nice if the shopping experience can be expanded to the city surroundings, it would make the commute feel more like traveling to a fun and different place instead of winding up to a place where you can get the same thing on the island.

H&M’s Flagship Store Opens Fall 2008

A quick blog before I go sleep, although I can’t always have the finger on the fashion trigger, it’s better late than never to announce this!

H&M’s Montreal Flagship store will be set to make its home on the corner of Peel and St-Catherine in Fall 2008. The SAQ and Rogers store that used to be there have moved out and there’s a huge Tristan ad tarp covering the building. At first I thought it was rather a bold move for Tristan to put such a huge ad on a building, but it’s temporary. The folks at H&M will acquire that part of the building (next to HMV) in March 2008.

You’ll no longer have to trek all the way to the Rockland Center or Pointe-Claire, although which type of collection it will have will remain to be seen. I went to the Carrefour Laval this past weekend and their H&M only held the uber trendy stuff, none of the stylish office look like in the Rockland Center.

I am hoping for the latter.

[via Montreal Gazette]

DO get your panties in a twist

If La Senza brings us daily and Victoria’s Secret is fantasy, then British import Agent Provocateur could be the sauciest of them all. CNW Group reports the opening of the famous lingerie line to their very first Canadian store in Vancouver last week. Plans to establish stores in Toronto and Montreal should be set up later this year.

Maggie Gyllenhaal - sweet knickers.

Known for its controversial sexually laden ads especially the 2001 ad featuring Kylie Minogue riding a mechanical bull (whew!), it has since gathered quite a cult following among celebrities.

If you’re on a hunt for that special little number for Valentine’s Day (ladies, of course) and can’t wait for Agent Provocateur to make an appearance, you can try you luck at Blush and Boutique Josephine.

Yoga Jeans - Beneath The Threads

Jeans have been the staple of North American culture for over five decades, but does anybody really know much about what jeans are made of?

Well I got a crash course on the latest initiative in jean manufacturing at Second Clothing, a Montreal-based company that specializes in denim for the past 7 years. I met up with Dara, a bright and cheerful individual who works with designer Eric Wazana, and was eager to give me the lowdown of a new line that I personally have never heard of: the Yoga Jean.

Butt-crack safe. Guaranteed.

Now most jeans are made of usually stiff texture out of cotton, but the Yoga Jeans are 97% organic cotton and 3% elastic (made of elastane). I gave a pair a stretching test and they did stretch considerably to be noticeable…cool. Then Dara explained to me that the waistband is made up of 6 parts instead of 2. In other words, ladies can rejoice that this a butt-crack safe jean (even the lowrises). Unlike most pairs where you get that annoying little U-shaped hole in the back, the new line will hide your bum and hug your waist when sitting down.

But are Yoga Jeans made for yoga? Yes and no. Mainly because they still are jeans, not made for physical activities, but they are yoga trainer and fitness trainers-approved for their flexible capabilities. These jeans retain a 92% “shape memory” which is a fancier term for minimal shrinkage in the washer. They also give a slimmer, longer look to the legs even giving that space “between the thighs.” From what I gather, I believe this is a good thing, but I’ve always had that space, I just didn’t know it was factor in wearing jeans, lol.

Style wise they’re gearing up towards wider legs and higher waists while still offering the regular boot cuts and skinnies. But some pairs have small details that make them a little more special. Like the Oblique-Frenchy had its cuffs rounded in U-shape in the front instead, so that when you wear heels you don’t have to scrunch your jeans just right or be afraid of having your heel caught in the back.

Second clothing also experiments weaving in elastane with other materials like linen, and will soon release their eco-line that features more organic fabrics like bamboo. They’re so eco-conscious to the point that requesting a media kit or catalog can only be found online. They try to be a paperless company too…and I felt guilty whipping out my notebook and pen! They’re also keen on keeping the lines within the local economy and encouraging support for local designers.

Christina from Second had on the “Jennifer” bustier jean, very cute.

You can find Second in several locations including Rocco (4321 St-Denis), Homogene (1486 Ste-Catherine West), and Charlie Sattva (260 Bernard West). Lucky for us, we don’t have to pay that much for so much quality going into these jeans, $110-$120 a pop. 100% made in Canada.

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