Thursday, July 22, 2010

Queen Street West (West Side) / Part One

This will be the first of three posts on Queen Street West, the portion of it that is situated west of Spadina. It'll mostly consist of clothing stores located within this hipstery community. Haha, I mean "creative and artistic" community.
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To begin. Fred Perry, super master of table tennis, and tennis too. Haha. A classic look I always adore. To be honest, I don't really like wearing polo's, but I'm always down for a classic Fred Perry one.
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That little white space in the middle is "Robber." It's just for the ladies. A good place to pick up on some Alternative Apparel tees, A.P.C. madras pieces, vintage Steven Alan or some fascinating little jewellery.
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"Preloved" is a favourite around LG Fashion Week here in Toronto. It mostly makes environmentally conscious womenswear from reclaimed vintage fabrics. It also has an impressive list of celebrity clients for an independent little Canadian label.
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"Spectacle" is an incredible retail space specializing in fashionable eyewear. It has an amazing stocklist carrying a vast collection of frames from brands like Cutler and Gross, Moscot, Dior, Marc Jacobs, Super, Mosley Tribes, Paul Smith, Oliver Peoples, Tom Ford, Persol, and many more.
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Buckler. Andrew Buckler's line. Yes, yes. Classic Americana heritage with a bold and edgy British twist. There's always interesting stuff to be had here.
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And here we have all that remains of Stolen Riches. The recession definitely hit Toronto's streetwear family hard over the past couple of years.
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This was one of the most adored sneaker shops in Toronto, with an impressive streetwear stocklist to match its incredible retail space.
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To be honest, Livestock and Capsule are really the only ones of their kind left to visit. Streetwear moved on though, right? Small independent sneaker boutiques may soon completely be a thing of the past, trends come and go, but all this will never be forgotten.
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We'll look back one day and say, "Hey, remember those times when we discovered the colourful world of streetwear, of brightly coloured fitteds, t-shirts and sneakers." Stolen Riches, may you rest in peace. You will be missed.

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