Dualité

While there was much fanfare of another high end store establishing itself in Montreal, Toronto-based TNT was sort of lackluster in presentation when I finally made my way to their store last weekend.

I was anticipating a stylized interior with blue lit frosted walls, gray slated tables, and open spacing like the pictures I saw of Toronto’s stores. Unfortunately, even at 5000 sq.ft, the presentation was little more than bland and cozy. Montreal’s TNT had low ceilings and dark wooden walls with a white floor tiling. Clothes were hung up on one single rack that lined the walls in no particular order, finding brands mixed together. There were a few tables containing accessories, and on the main floor there were shelves displaying the shoe collection.

Looks cool right? Montreal’s TNT isn’t as snazzy.

Brand-wise there’s a lot to choose from, and for those who enjoy the hunt of finding something particular and special will perhaps enjoy the non-orderly mix. All of them are of pretty high quality and you can find some gems in here, so I have no complaints of the choices offered.

I myself settled on a Mackage woven wool coat with some leather details. I had to have the sleeves taken in even as an XS, but fortunately TNT offers free tailoring service (and the seamstress did a good job btw).

The problem with TNT is the shopping experience, had it not been for the good choice of clothing, I wouldn’t really return to this store. A store of this size should maximize the spacing and probably would’ve benefitted from multiple frontal (vertical?) racks rather than horizontal since the clothes aren’t properly presented. I like stores who make you want to fend for those looks on a mannequin, or arranges coats so that I can clearly see them when I pass by. These high end clothes deserve to be given some emphasis, they are too beautiful to be buried amongst others. Lackluster presentation can drive shoppers away especially in these difficult economic times, retail stores will really have to step it up if they want to survive here.

Image credit: TNTBlu

Since a good friend of mine has been physically and mentally preparing herself for the big opening of the H&M flagship store downtown, I thought I’d pass by to give her a moral boost. Obviously, I wasn’t in for the hot cheap deals, mainly because the store was packed like a hot club on a Saturday night.

A DJ booth was set up near the escalators on the entrance floor. A sea of shoppers bubbled left and right, not an inch was spared of retail space. Surprisingly, the clothes are still holding togethers as H&M sales associates continually return clothes other shoppers didn’t want and refolding any misplaced tshirt. It was a cacophony of endless chatter and music.

I scanned the first floor for my friend. This collection is the most fashion forward and most suitable for office wear. I made my way onto the second floor where you can tell the more trendy (and disposable) fashions were grouped together. 20-30 girls lined up to try on their goods, some trying to return some items to sales clerks as they passed by with armloads of clothes to restock.

I see my friend pass by and poke her. She appeared more calm than I had anticipated (H&M has a knack of picking very special people to work their sales floor), and had a brief chat with her.

“It’s been insane since early this morning. I think there were like 500 people waiting outside to get in,” she said. When asked about how the staff was handling the onslaught of customers she replied that they were “on edge” as it appears many customers are ill-mannered, leaving food, drinks, trash all over the store (who does that?? Ill-mannered indeed!), trying everyone’s patience. Usually H&M staffers are bold with their opinions and don’t put up with client shinanigans. Still, from my observations, staffers had it together. We’re momentarily interrupted when a female customer holds up a blue long sleeved tee asking if there are any more in size 6. “If you don’t see anything back there where you got it, we’re sold out,” my friend answered politely. Sold out? On opening day? H&M must love that.

Respecting The Swedes

You would think a retail clerk doesn’t know much about that specific style of sweater and color, or the section it came from and would probably want to shoo away pesky customers on a busy day like this…but you’re wrong. After hearing about the kind of training H&M staffers receive, these little helpers are bonafide fashion gurus. I can safely say that my friend knows more about fashion style and trends than I do. Of course, I can’t say much on exactly how H&M functions within their business, but after hearing hours of what my friend has done over her training, I can safely say that working at H&M is nothing like working in regular fashion retail. And it is because of this fantastic business method that they’ve convinced me that they have set the bar in retail organization and service (among other things).

Other retailers should quake in their booties

St-Catherine looked more crowded than usual, and the beautiful day encouraged loads of shoppers to take to the street to shop. H&M bags are everywhere. I took a glance at Guess, located across the street from H&M and I could see in one of the sales associates’ eyes that she was longing to be on the other side, wanting a piece of that Swedish dream. The store was comparatively empty next to their neighbors. I mean, nobody would line up to shop at Guess.

In essence, H&M is magic. They cooked up the perfect storm, and it has Montreal fans raging. Recession? H&M. Plenty of money? H&M. It’s a win-win situation.

Image credit: The Gazette

H&M can now be dubbed as Hu-Mongous, according to The Gazette, it will be 15,000 sq.ft of space. The Grand Opening starts at noon and the first 250 shoppers will get a gift card worth $10 to $200, and each customer who purchases on opening day will get a special gift.

I gotta hand it to them, corporately, they know how to make business. Attracting fashionable clothes at cheap prices, smack in the middle of downtown (will Simons feel the heat of competition?), and enticing shoppers by giving them armloads of freebies. It’s a lethal combo, how can any mass consumer resist?

H&M workers f33r the crowd.

Come November my lovelies, nobody will be safe.

For some reason I get the feeling the 2nd H&M store on St-Catherine West is gonna suffer. But then again, I could be wrong.

P.S. I’ll probably hang out on the street to take pictures, but I stand by my choice, I refuse to buy.

So I’ve made a round at the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts the other day. The (un)timely death of the designer must have sparked a huge flock of fashion followers around the world to come to this exhibit, which will be in Montreal until September and then move on to San Francisco.

As I arrived with my friend on a Wednesday, tickets were half priced at $7.50, and the museum was crowded with women (with a few men). The huge staircase leading up to the exhibition already had a dozen mannequins with several YSL-esque outfits – an hommage to Yves from local designers Renata Morales to Helmer.

With a red carpet entrance to the second floor we’re greeted with a mirror-like wall with screens playing different biographical videos of the french designer. There’s a thick guestbook you could flip through to see who has signed, but being not much of a handwriting expert, Anna Wintour could have signed and I wouldn’t have known.

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Montreal is a real hubbub of indie culture. Fans of the underground and obscure have developed such a huge network of websites and blogs that it has become mainstream to be indie. Sort of an oxymoron. Indie artists are so numerous that it’s hard to keep up with the ongoings of their world appropriately on this blog.

But I have gathered for you some of my picks of those whom I find have done a great job in spreading appreciation and respect to fellow DIY (do-it-yourself) artists. They will thoroughly quench a part of your needs of anything that is out of the mainstream and out of the glossy fashion magazines, however their partying antics can be just as crazy.

Worn Fashion Journal
I’m not sure if there are any other magazine of its kind in Montreal, but it certainly is very polished. All of the cover art are made by local artists, whether they’re photographers or illustrators, they interview people with great sense of style, a love for vintage clothing, and tips and tricks to mend your threads.

Headquarter Galerie & Boutique
This pretty little shop in the Gay Village simply has a great collection of very unique pieces of clothes, accessories, trinkets, and artwork by local Montrealers. I love reading through their blog posts with their Look of The Week, and obsession with Etsy (Worn is obsessed with that store too btw).

Indyish
Perhaps one of the best known indie networks that gathers bloggers, writers, photographers, artists, fashion designers and musical artists under one roof.

Mesa Moda
A relatively new fashion blog, which in their own words, “is a Montréal-based monthly web-mag dedicated to the cause of original, artistic and ethically minded fashion.” Their written works are in forms of magazine-like layouts with tons of photos.

The Pregnant Goldfish – Shut Up You Twit!
A whirlwind of street style photos and zany comments.

I admit that writing about Men’s Fashion isn’t one of my strong points since I know nothing about it. I sort of wished we had our own Sartorialist photographing fashionable men around the city!

However, I’m glad to know that there is a boutique for the high end man and that’s Pellegrino Castronovo. I’ve actually passed by this shop many times by car as it’s hard to miss from its beautifully spacious interior and large windows. Montreal.tv did a nice little reporting clip about the store and showcased what the shop could do for you. It looks like a very nice store, but only if you have the funds to show for it.

Pellegrino Castronovo Couture is located at 5025 Avenue Papineau, corner St-Joseph.

Image credit: Pellegrino Castronovo

A quick blog before I go sleep, although I can’t always have the finger on the fashion trigger, it’s better late than never to announce this!

H&M’s Montreal Flagship store will be set to make its home on the corner of Peel and St-Catherine in Fall 2008. The SAQ and Rogers store that used to be there have moved out and there’s a huge Tristan ad tarp covering the building. At first I thought it was rather a bold move for Tristan to put such a huge ad on a building, but it’s temporary. The folks at H&M will acquire that part of the building (next to HMV) in March 2008.

You’ll no longer have to trek all the way to the Rockland Center or Pointe-Claire, although which type of collection it will have will remain to be seen. I went to the Carrefour Laval this past weekend and their H&M only held the uber trendy stuff, none of the stylish office look like in the Rockland Center.

I am hoping for the latter.

[via Montreal Gazette]

Jeans have been the staple of North American culture for over five decades, but does anybody really know much about what jeans are made of?

Well I got a crash course on the latest initiative in jean manufacturing at Second Clothing, a Montreal-based company that specializes in denim for the past 7 years. I met up with Dara, a bright and cheerful individual who works with designer Eric Wazana, and was eager to give me the lowdown of a new line that I personally have never heard of: the Yoga Jean.

Butt-crack safe. Guaranteed.

Now most jeans are made of usually stiff texture out of cotton, but the Yoga Jeans are 97% organic cotton and 3% elastic (made of elastane). I gave a pair a stretching test and they did stretch considerably to be noticeable…cool. Then Dara explained to me that the waistband is made up of 6 parts instead of 2. In other words, ladies can rejoice that this a butt-crack safe jean (even the lowrises). Unlike most pairs where you get that annoying little U-shaped hole in the back, the new line will hide your bum and hug your waist when sitting down.

But are Yoga Jeans made for yoga? Yes and no. Mainly because they still are jeans, not made for physical activities, but they are yoga trainer and fitness trainers-approved for their flexible capabilities. These jeans retain a 92% “shape memory” which is a fancier term for minimal shrinkage in the washer. They also give a slimmer, longer look to the legs even giving that space “between the thighs.” From what I gather, I believe this is a good thing, but I’ve always had that space, I just didn’t know it was factor in wearing jeans, lol.

Style wise they’re gearing up towards wider legs and higher waists while still offering the regular boot cuts and skinnies. But some pairs have small details that make them a little more special. Like the Oblique-Frenchy had its cuffs rounded in U-shape in the front instead, so that when you wear heels you don’t have to scrunch your jeans just right or be afraid of having your heel caught in the back.

Second clothing also experiments weaving in elastane with other materials like linen, and will soon release their eco-line that features more organic fabrics like bamboo. They’re so eco-conscious to the point that requesting a media kit or catalog can only be found online. They try to be a paperless company too…and I felt guilty whipping out my notebook and pen! They’re also keen on keeping the lines within the local economy and encouraging support for local designers.

Christina from Second had on the “Jennifer” bustier jean, very cute.

You can find Second in several locations including Rocco (4321 St-Denis), Homogene (1486 Ste-Catherine West), and Charlie Sattva (260 Bernard West). Lucky for us, we don’t have to pay that much for so much quality going into these jeans, $110-$120 a pop. 100% made in Canada.

As China continues to grow in economic boom, expect things to look a little different in Chinatown. In last month’s Montreal Gazette article, the owner of Swatow import/exports said he will invest $20 million in creating a shopping center on St-Laurent. Yes, our 2 block Chinatown is finally going to have another shopping center!

I’ve always wondered and wished for Chinatown to grow in some fashion. Progress surely has grown, albeit slowly, with a newly renovated jewelry store, sorry, posh bakery store, that just popped open across Beijing Restaurant on De La Gauchetiere recently.

With the news of a new shopping center is in the works, this could invigorate other businesses to grow in or around Chinatown and we can only hope that it will attract designers to set up their shops there.

It’s interesting to note that out of all the places in the downtown area, Chinatown has stayed the least affected, no shiny new buildings, or sidewalks or innovative restaurant or store designs. To me, very little has changed since the 1980s. If I were in business, Chinatown would be the new untapped resource in the city. As their motherland continues to steam ahead by expanding into the luxury market, I have a feeling that other Chinatowns around the world are beating to the same drum beat. This is only the beginning.

What’s peculiar about Montreal is that all the fashion finds in the city are not located in one area, it’s spread all across the island. So my friend and I trekked from downtown all the way to De La Savanne metro, and walked a good 10 mins to the muchly touted Abe & Mary’s. Hailed a great find by The Constant Shopper and one blog on Loulou Magazine, I was hoping the exercise was worth it.

Indeed it’s an upbeat and great looking store, not as much as posh as it is more of a weird meld between a novelty store and a fashion shop. Their small coffee shop looks like it has exploded into a Bonbonniere decor with cupcakes and candies galore to sell. The first floor mainly contains the kitschy novelties of books, original postcards, funktastic converse shoes, and a large collection of candy/ice cream debauchery of beauty products. Throw in a few designer accessories, like Tom Ford sunglasses in plain view and couture jeans running up at $200 a pop, and you’ll get Abe & Mary’s.

Further back there’s a collection of casual wear of hoodies, knit jackets and sweaters, jeans, and tshirts, but the astonishing expensive price will make you think twice about purchasing them.

Upstairs is the more expensive couture collections of Matthew Williamson (also check out Prince’s music video featuring Williamson’s latest collection), Juicy Couture, St. John’s and so on for clothes. Marc Jacobs for shoes, vintage Chanel bags, and some golden treasures from Michael Kors. Sequins are hot this season, so you’ll be finding all kinds of dresses and tops of the shiniest shades. “Oh I love tacky gold jewelry!” my friend blurted as she made her way over to the accessory shelf full of gold bracelets ($45), necklaces and hair clips.

Currently there’s a sale going on at 70% off on a lot of items, so you might find a bargain or two. Its location surrounded by car dealerships makes Abe & Mary’s an unlikely place for such a high end store. Still, it was bustling with clients so the location may be unusual, but it hasn’t stopped them from getting a steady flow of clients.

“I have to call my friend. I wonder if she knows about this store,” one woman pondered at the cash.

If you’re willing to spend a pretty penny on over elsewhere than Holt Renfrew and Ogilvy’s, Abe & Mary’s would be right up your alley, otherwise for the casual onlooker it’s a far walk out.