Remember when you went to that modelling agency that used to be over the Pizza Pizza, and they said you had potential but you should pay 500 bucks for some head shots, so you did and then they looked at them and said sorry but you're actually kind of ugly? Or was that just us? Anyway, this weekend there's a chance to achieve not only redemption, but fame and fortune. Scouts from famed agency......

When Kealan Sullivan was 22, she never wore the same thing twice. The 69 Vintage owner would throw together an outfit at Value Village, trash it on the town, and toss it in her closet at the end of the night, never to see the flash of a camera again. An undisclosed number of years later, she's cleaning out that closet—and the basement of her beloved Queen West boutique—to indulge the fickle desires of......

When NOW featured Crystal Castles as their cover story two months ago, implicit in the whole article were three little words that get tossed around again and again when people talk about the band: next big thing. The details of the buzz band's rise are astonishing and fascinating—the mic check discovered by a label in 2005; the 7" records released in the following two years selling out fast; the insane live shows filling up......

Photos by Marissa Neave. Fashion in Toronto (or any fast, young city) is ostensibly about being scene—but for [FAT], we went behind it. Last night was the first day of Toronto Alternative Fashion Week (so alternative, it's not even a week, but rather three corset-squeezed nights of runway shows, performance art, live beats and more). While other media types milled about the Distillery District's uber-cool Fermenting Cellar, sipping wine and snapping shots of the......

Snappy Answers runs every Saturday afternoon. Send your questions, be they tough or trivial, to snappyanswers@torontoist.com. Spring is here, and I want to get started on building a garden on my third-storey deck. It's only 8-by-8 feet and faces south, so it has direct sunlight for, like, 20 hours a day. Last summer, everything I tried growing either burnt in the hot summer sun or was dug up by squirrels. Do you have any tips......

The Ontario Provincial Police Association has asked the O.P.P. to phase out the state-trooper-style hats which have been a signature of the official garb since 1997. Apparently, the flat, wide brims fare more like a Frisbee when working by passing highway traffic or during a windy day. Extending well beyond the ears, the unwieldy topper also bumps around the cruisers in annoying ways. Basically, too much untimely slapstick for such a dignified uniform. Though......

Miss Rowe Fall/Winter 2008. Photos courtesy of Miss Rowe. Ashley Rowe had nothing to wear. Then 24, she was a big city girl with the big interview at the big Bloor Street store every clothes-lover dreams of calling home: Holt Renfrew. Well, their clothes were just too expensive, and H&M? She loves it. Who doesn’t? But... it’s H&M. So, Miss Rowe designed her own collection and called it just that. "I wanted to make......

Paul Hardy. Photo by Dave Pike. What we learned at L'Oreal Fashion Week: 1. Right now, orange is the new ____. Sunkist hues were spotted on everyone from Fashion Television’s Jeanne Beker to starlet-intern Shenae Grimes (dressed for the week by Nada Yousif), while Orangina girls costumed in head-to-toe tangelo handed out bottles of the it-coloured fizz. ("We’re totally just taking these to mix with vodka,” said a street-stylish pair of photographers.) 2. And......

Carlie Wong. Photo by Mike Campbell. It only takes three to make a trend, so when we spotted that third pair of Converse (yes, sneakers) in the tents yesterday, we knew exhaustion was en vogue. Hump day at L'Oreal Fashion Week had us practically mainlining caffeine to fend off fashion fatigue. By evening, even the most eagle-eyed weight watchers were too tired to resist sugar-high slices of tiramisu cake in the media lounge. One......

Preloved. Photo by Sagittarius_Canada on Flickr. Music is to fashion what cigarettes are to vodka: one makes you want more of the other. The right song elevates a runway show, heightening moments of desire and brightening the snapshots in memory. Opening the second day of L'Oreal Fashion Week, the Preloved show gave a perfect example of the sound-look synaesthetic. Designer Peter Friesen and founder Julia Grieve lost their shop to the Queen West fire......

Fans of the French electro scene are having the best week ever. First, DJ duo Justice arrived in Toronto to play a sold-out concert at The Sound Academy on Monday, and now their friend/artistic collaborator So Me is opening an exhibition, Portraits, this Friday, March 21 at Studio Gallery (294 College Street, above the Savannah Room). So Me is Bertrand de Langeron, the man behind Justice's outstanding music videos for "D.A.N.C.E." and "DVNO. He......

Joe Mimran and Coco Rocha. Photo by Darryl Natale. Have you spotted Coco yet? If we had a dollar for every time we heard (or, okay, asked) that question yesterday, we could have paid for our media pass a dozen times over. Forget the Misshapes and MTV faces—the only VIP anyone wanted to see on the first day of L’Oreal Fashion Week was 19-year-old model and Meisel muse Coco Rocha. Has there ever been......

Photo by Sarah Nicole Prickett. We're getting tipsy, and it has nothing to do with St. Patrick: it's bubbly, not beer, to celebrate Day One of L'Oréal Fashion Week. In Nathan Phillips Square, the tents are back and 10,000 square feet bigger—all the better to accommodate those outsize egos and handbags to match (it is the fashion industry, after all). If you're going, pack your own big bag with stylish survival gear: digital camera,......

It's a Monday night. It's St. Patrick's Day. Your buds have been bombed off Irish car bombs and green Steamwhistle since noon, but you've shirked the shamrock fever all day, calling it purposeless partying. Well, do-gooders, it's time you pull up your party pants and hike down to the Drake. We promise you won't be pinched if your outfit excludes shades of sage or spinach. It's been almost a month, but the businesses burned......

Photo by Arline Malakian. Courtesy of Lucian Matis. Lucian Matis's Fall 2008 line premieres at L'Oréal Fashion Week on March 18, but the designer is oddly calm: "I’m not nervous at all," he says in his Bloorcourt Village studio. "It's almost like I don't know the show's coming." It’s a surprising response from a designer who will be watched closely after having broken through into Canadian consciousness: his work has been showcased on Canada's......

If you thrill to the authenticity of a one-of-a-kind vintage find, but could do without the authentic experience of digging through a factory-sized, moldy basement-scented Value Village for hours on end, you’ve probably already discovered Upside Dive Inc. And if not, you’re about to have a moment. Bicycles and biker jackets, desk chairs and secretary dresses, sunburst clocks and butterfly shades... Upside Dive is a purveyor of all things preloved, a one-stop wonder emporium founded......

For some men, a suit feels like an unnatural and constricting male uniform; a way of burying individuality in the conventional business attire of dark suit, white shirt, and tie. There are certainly a fair share of businessmen, bankers and lawyers wandering through the PATH corridors beneath the Financial District who carry themselves in exactly this fashion. For those attuned to the subtle details of masculine appearance, however, the suit offers a perfect canvas for......

The Spice Girls are done––Geri Halliwell stuck the final nail in their room-for-five coffin last week when she told reporters that a tour like the one they're on now "probably won't happen ever again." Which means that the concert on February 26 in Toronto will be the band's last ever, maybe! While Baby and Sporty and Scary and Ginger will probably all continue on with their half-successful solo careers, Victoria Beckham––Posh––will continue doing what......

While February 14th is reserved for lovers, and February 18th is all about families, February 13th has 'em all beat...tomorrow, Wednesday, is none other than Dead Bra Day! This is a chance for all bearers of boobs to come on out to Secrets From Your Sister (560 Bloor Street West) and: A) Save 20% on all of the boutique's fabulous, well-fitting and long-lasting bras by trading in a "dead" bra for a wicked discount, and;......

Who knew the CBC was so popular in western Africa? Granted, Test the Nation was an unmitigated success (well, for the bloggers anyhow), but the fact that fashion from half-way around the world could be inspired by our venerable national broadcaster still seems quite remarkable. First spotted by the Inside The CBC blog, you're looking at what may very well represent the height of African fashion. This smart and sassy number (a traditional west......

Snappy Answers runs every Saturday afternoon. Send your questions, be they tough or trivial, to snappyanswers@torontoist.com. Hello, I am new to the city and am looking for advice on where to find great vintage clothing shopping. Can you please recommend both general areas of town where I might have some luck and, most importantly, specific stores I should check out? As someone on a budget, I'm looking for good deals. Also, I heard something about......

Winterlicious is back with 130 restaurants participating. For $15 or $20 for lunch and $25 or $35 for dinner, foodies get a three-course meal including appetizer, main, and dessert. Too bad most restaurants play it safe by offering the standard soup or salad, chicken or beef, and cake or ice cream. Although the food is rarely bad, boring food at nearly $50 a head (after taxes and gratuity) is pretty hard to swallow. Luckily,......

Attention Wintourites, Olsen fan club members, and other fabulously fur-clad denizens of our fair city: It's January. It's freaking cold. Yes, the Weather Network says it's going to be unseasonably warm any day now, but we'll believe that when we stop seeing our breath—indoors. So, when you arise to minus-whatever temperatures tomorrow, bundle up in those pelts. Put on your fuzzy bunny muffs, your silver fox stoles, your Muscovite mink hats. Chinchilla-cape your cold......

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......

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. A big-time hero for 2007 is the expansion of Queen West's Made You Look jewelry studio and gallery. in......

Last week, Toronto-based advertising agency TAXI announced 15 Below, a new project to coincide with TAXI's fifteenth anniversary that would see the company create, manufacture, and distribute 3,000 coats for homeless people across North America. Designed by TAXI's executive creative director Steve Mykolyn and designer Lida Baday (pictured), the waterproof, windproof, and plentily-pocketed coat serves as a lightweight jacket during not-too-cold weather, can fold into a backpack during decent weather, and—when you fill the......

Toronto native Lucian Matis, 28, landed in second place behind Evan Biddell, a 24-year-old designer from Saskatoon, on the finale of Project Runway Canada last night. Matis, Biddell, and third-placer Marie Genevieve Cyr showed ten-piece collections at Toronto's L'Oréal Fashion Week in October as the final challenge of the reality show. The runway shows were performed in front of an audience and evaluated by the Runway judges: supermodel Iman, Elle Canada Editor Rita Silvan, and......

Craig Silverman, author of "Regret the Error," has published his annual compendium of errors and corrections in global print and online media, and it's a doozy. Culprits are fairly evenly dispersed, with errors from America (Obama? Osama?), the UK, Australia and Russia all figuring prominently. But don't fear! Southern Ontario media did us proud by contributing their fair share. The Toronto Star makes the list—twice. And both about the happy subject of death!A Nov.......

December is party season, but what if you don't feel like dancing? There's more to holiday dressing than disco-ball metallics and electro-shock hues. Indeed, in today's ever-flashier scene, you're most likely to stand out in a standby—the little black dress. Luckily for you nineties types, local label Common Cloth is a step ahead on the road back to minimalism. For their current fall/winter collection, scissor sisters Melanie Talbot and Kristina Bozzo cut refined, modern......

The holiday shopping season has descended upon the city, along with an early blast of winter. This combination may lead shoppers to unconsciously purchase items to cure their winter blues, even if the calendar shows that fall has a few more weeks to go. Today's ad offers a prescription from Simpsons and Esprit to keep free-spirited souls in an ecstatic mood come February. A trip down to the historic Queen Street department store promised......