January 2, 2008
Hero: Marlene Schiff
Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.
Slip into Boutique LeTrou (940 Queen Street West) on any given afternoon and odds are, you'll be hello darling'ed by a slender, lively dame, all in black, looking at the world through violet-hued glasses. Her age is as indeterminate as her hair colour (Grey? Blue? Grey-blue?), but her smile's easy like seventeen. She greets everyone like an old friend.
This is Marlene Shiff, and she's more than just the proprietor of this must-stop shop—she's practically the patron saint of the Canadian designers it stocks. Since taking over LeTrou from its founder, and her friend, Luigi Carrabba, Shiff has dedicated this latest, greatest phase of her lifelong fashion career to nurturing Toronto's bright young talents. Her racks and display cases are filled with eclectic creations by a host of homegrown designers, from Anne McKay to Zoran Dobric, and she's helped a plethora of local labels find their way onto the backs of the city's forward-thinking fashion lovers (including, of course, her own). Her tireless enthusiasm for, and faith in, Canadian fashion is evident whether she's cheering from the front row at Fashion Week or meeting with a new designer in the back of her boutique.
As volunteer co-head (along with Holt Renfrew's Natalie Lecomte) of the fashion committee for Fashion Cares, Shiff helped put on a spectacular 21st edition of the annual fundraising gala this past May, with all profits going to the AIDS Committee of Toronto.
All that, and she believes in real-sized models.
Stylish anti-snob, one-woman talent incubator, and fashionista who cares—what's not to applaud? Our hats are off to Marlene Shiff… or would be, if they weren't an essential part of this season's ensemble. We think she'd understand.
Photo by Anita Clarke.
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that's all very nice...but this is the second hero on queen west....don't you guys walk other parts of town, too....what about queen east...leslieville.....
no.
A couple of things east of Yonge were named as villains. Does that count?
Rapi, nothing east of Spadina exists to these lame wannabe blogging hipsters.
Personally, I'd rather keep it that way. Hell, they'll have time enough to discover the east-to-the-motherfucking-sizide when they finish school and finally tire of living with six other scraggly-bearded indie unemployables in one-eighth of a converted Victorian, run by an absentee landlord who's sending their parentally funded rent checks to support international terrorism.
ohdeargod. what's with the personal attack? like, can we leave my scraggly beard out of this, please?
It wasn't a personal attack, I just think you could use a shave, that's all.
I'll try that again: It wasn't a personal attack, it was aimed at the Torontoist in general, or as one might call it, "the editorial y'alls."
In which case, Skippy, you are totally wrong. As Val mentioned, plenty of Heroes and Villains were "east of Spadina." Like Taste of the Danforth. Or Stephen Harper. (I'm pretty sure Ottawa is east-ish.) Or in the just-barely category, One Bloor and the ROM, which were both my picks. That's just a few off the top of my head, but there's plenty more.
So, are some of us biased towards the downtown area? Yes; that's where many of us live. But to lump us all into the same category––of west-end hipster students––is completely ignorant, and completely wrong. Your magic's wearing off, dude.
Val said it was a couple of Villains, which as far as I can tell, is fairly accurate.
Since when is east of Spadina not "the downtown area"?!
I've always thought of Yonge to Spadina south of Bloor as the downtown.
Perhaps you'd like to give some examples of Heroes from north of Eglinton, west of Dufferin, or east of Victoria Park, Skippy.
Nah, that stuff is practically suburbs. But you can't tell me King and Church (for example) isn't "downtown." Calling Yonge the border is arbitrary and frankly weird.
Did you know that back in the day, Sherbourne used to be considered the western border of downtown? Strewth. The more you know!
You, Skippy, suggested that we didn't write about anything "east of Spadina," which is just as arbitrary a boundary as Yonge is. And I proved that you were wrong in saying that. Why so confused?
Well, when I said it, I was exaggerating. I consider Yonge Street more or less central, with Spadina being a sort of psychological barrier for contemporary youth counterculture. My feeling is there's a Torontoist bias in favour of this general area, but others may disagree.
In any case, I've left that argument behind. Now I'm attempting to prove to rek that King and Church is still indeed "downtown."
If I cannot do so, I will continue on in my normal fashion: Writing and recording hip-hop songs declaring my hatred for that which is situated west of Yonge, and randomly murdering other hip-hop artists who reside in said area.
I didn't say King and Church aren't downtown, just that what I think of what someone says downtown is Bloor-Yonge-Spadina. It's a psychogeographical thing -- I'd been living in Toronto for years before I'd ventured east of Yonge (south of Finch).
What used to be 'downtown' is irrelevant. Downtown used to be a dirt road somewhere in the Bathurst and Lakeshore area too.
Fair enough. Geographically and demographically, I think you could make a strong case against that way of thinking.
Which is why some of who have been east of Yonge bristle at such points of view as expressed in the original poster's flippant one-word response ("no") to a fairly innocuous question about why one gets the impression that Queen West is the be-all and end-all of certain Torontoists' reality.
I took that as a joke.