Spring Shopping Fling

By Nathalie

Although there’s still snow underfoot, it’s definitely spring down at the CNE Automotive Building during the One of A Kind Spring Show & Sale, which runs through Easter Monday. While there are gourmet, art and furniture categories, fashion is the star at the spring installment. A sneak peek this morning yielded Torontoist’s OOAK pick of the day: indie micro-label Fauna [Booth O36] by Montreal’s Alexis Walker, who features purses, totes and clutches sewn from bright, textural vintage fabrics, and these lovely tailored shrunken (and reversible) Empire bolero jackets with puffed Juliet sleeves ($225).
For those with Sesame Street nostalgia (remember the days before digital games?), there’s Diabolo Puppets [Booth K37], a riot of wildly bright creatures for hours of affordable, creative entertainment (many puppets under $30), or Sleepy Hollow Creations, with handcrafted wooden puzzles in bright colours for kiddies of all ages (and before you ask, yes, the dyes are non-toxic and water-based, so safe to be gummed by toddlers), priced from $10 [Booth L9]. For avid gardeners, there areROC Studio‘s elaborate mosaic birdbaths and walkway stones [M8], or for a true splurge, a $3,000 mirror surrounded by a Cuban landscape made from tiny shards of tempered glass at Mirror Mirror Designs [L 49]. And Torontoist also found the female figures sculpted in swishy silk by Nahidart [N32] haunting.