By Jamie Bradburn

Source: Toronto Life, December 1985.

Christmas marketing tip from the mid-1980s: if you’re an Italian denim label who wants to push the newsboy/urchin look to tony Toronto shoppers, recruit the most sullen batch of models you can find that look good in loose shirts and suspenders.
This group of ragamuffins showed up in a special “Noel” pullout section that Toronto Life readers were urged to “pull out and save for influential shopping advice and gift-giving tips.” Suggestions included eighty-five dollar bead mazes for children, gift bags of Kernels popcorn and gold-glazed pots for women, and a nineteenth century suit of armour (only eight hundred and fifty bucks!) for men. In a survey of what Torontonians wanted from Santa, author Morley Callaghan wished for a booze-filled seven-course meal (“I think I’d like to start off with an aperitif, then a couple of bottles of good wine, maybe a burgundy, and finish off with some fine cognac”), skater Toller Cranston pined for an elephant’s foot stool with toenails, and artist/musician Mendelson Joe wanted peace on earth—if that failed, he indicated he’d settle for a trillion dollars to promote imagination and creativity instead of humanity’s destructive habits.
Thanks to Google Street View, you can check out recent tenants at the spots you would have found these fine clothes on St. Clair Avenue and Yonge Street.