Exciting. Not a word often applied to the state of Canadian menswear. It’s not that we lack the talent, but is a question of economics. Staying in business usually means designing for women, and even then it still isn’t easy. When you list some of the best known names in menswear—Philip Sparks, Ezra Constantine, Krane, [...]

1912: Take a decent head shot of the store owner/employee/mascot and place it on a nattily-dressed cartoon body. Frame ad with promises of “free trousers.” Appeal to the customer’s sense of being a smart consumer who knows to spend money when he senses clothing that will make him the fashionable envy of his friends. Use [...]

Ossington Avenue between Queen and Dundas Streets, with its upscale restaurants, its hip bars, and its proximity to other Queen West hotspots, makes it a popular—and notorious—area during the weekends. Ossington days, meanwhile, have an entirely different feel. The auto-repair garages and Portuguese bakery provide a charming and inviting juxtaposition to the art galleries and [...]

Ghouls definitely aren’t fools when it comes to style or a bargain. Never mind if the garments from a purveyor of affordable clothing for teenagers might not be top of the line—if you’re dressing as a zombie, tears to clothing resulting from their first visit to a laundry machine only add to the illusion. As [...]

When Serah-Marie McMahon started Worn Fashion Journal, she put out an open call for photo spreads. The magazine was reaching out to anyone and could feature anything, but priority would be given to any shoot that didn’t star a young skinny white girl. It was two years before McMahon was pitched anything but. Twelve issues [...]

Somewhere in between Katy Perry’s block-of-cheese hat and your threadbare Lululemons lies the perfect red carpet attire. Striking the right balance may seem daunting. You may find yourself asking questions like: what kind of kitsch is the good kind (pace Lady Gaga)? Are red soles still ‘in’ post–YSL vs. Louboutin trial? Will wearing sunglasses get you [...]

Seated mannequins in the window of the IZ Adaptive boutique. Jackets zip apart in the front and back to make dressing easier. Getting dressed to go out can be one of the most arduous tasks in your day. Whether it’s picking an outfit for work in the morning or getting ready for a night out, [...]

Worn Fashion Journal‘s monthly mending night at Freedom Clothing Collective is not what you’d expect from a pairing of fashion magazine and design boutique. For one, there’s no champagne. And when one mender recounts her day’s diet, there’s no mention of grams or guilt—rather, she proudly details how delicious the Gandhi rotis she had for [...]

(Left to right) Trendsetters: Designs from Jessica Clayton, Jool, The Make Den, CMichelon, and Epoque by Thea Barber. Illustration by Chloe Cushman/Torontoist. The last seam has been stitched and the last heel has stomped, and even though some models are surely still trying to power-sand off layers of lipstick and eye shimmer, and dissolve the [...]

Dianna DiNoble makes gothic gorgeous. It was the final evening of Toronto’s Alternative Fashion Week, and after three nights of surprisingly on-trend talents, cringe-worthy clichés, and some breathtakingly impressive innovators, we weren’t sure what to expect next. And though we would never attempt to pull off some of the heels we saw on the runway, [...]

A model shows off Aimee Tobolka’s work. What was presented as the battle between commercial fashion and rebellious design on FAT’s third day was nothing short of a collision of utopian eye candy. If there was anything that could have brought faith back to the week—after the previous day’s cataclysm—it was this lineup of presentations [...]