Cougar Pillow Boots & Joe Fresh Suede Boots

One of my favorite parts of fall is to shop for boots.  While cute strappy shoes are pretty in thesummer, the grungy NYC commute and wet rainy streets make open toes adisgusting part of summer.

Two new acquisitions for the season are a shout-out to twoof my favorite accessible Canadian brands. I grew up in Toronto, and while I love Manhattan, I gladly take theopportunity to reconnect with my peeps up North by a good dose ofshopping. 

Cougar Pillow Boots are an iconic fashion item in thehistory of Canadian outerwear.  The branditself came roaring back in recent years mixing their signature craftsmanship andcomfort with newfound fashion relevance. If you saw my tweets during last winter’s blizzard, you can see exactlyhow much I appreciated their black Ringo Star boots during the slushy frigid month. 

The Pillow Boot is one of the most comfortable, cushy bootsI have ever tried on.  I am so used toheels and impractical footwear, that I never realized boots could feel thisway.  While the Pillow Boot is adeviation from my usual girly style, I found it worked perfectly with Joe FreshLeggings, a cozy scarf and edgy All Saints cardigan.  The boots are made in Italy and based onfriends who still hang on to the originals, last a long, long time.  

Joe Fresh is a supermarket clothing chain in my favorite grocerystore, Loblaws.  That alone should haveany fashionista running for the hills. Surprisingly, it has cute, trendy pieces with a very affordable pricepoint.  The brand is putting in a bigeffort to market itself as a serious fashion collection.  It was one of the most sought after invitesat Toronto Fashion Week last fall.  Itopened a pop-up shop on the Main Street of East Hampton, and now opening twoboutiques on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

My little suede boots here have antiqued gold grommets and ahard-core rubber sole for serious walking. Despite the 3-inch heel, they almost feel like flats.  My Mom liked these because they could besporty, or paired with a very feminine printed silk chiffon CatherineMalandrino skirt and denim jacket.  Theleather rose headband is from another Canadian brand, Le Chateau.

How does a New York Fashion industry vet merge her CanuckEx-Pat roots for autumn? She shows love my marrying labels above and below theborder.

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Toronto Fashion Week: Joe Fresh Spring 2011

Next time you cross our Northern border, you can pick out a cocktail dress along with those famous President's Choice cookies at the local grocery store.  It's absolutely true as we penciled down our grocery list to include Joe Fresh collection pieces which were presented at the Exhibition Hall in Toronto for LG Fashion Week.

The Garden of the Finzi Continis movie clip played for the audience before the show.  We were perplexed at first to see early 20th century tennis whites floating on the silver screen when gift bags clearly announced a collaboration with Scouts Canada. However, it came into focus through the show.



Joe Fresh presented a the first group inspired by classic tennis looks.  Next came the collection created with the Scouts as inspiration.  It had a fun and light touch.  More luxe than expected, more Troop Beverly Hills than Utility.  The designer, Joe Mimran, paired up with Canada Scouts adding blue scout kerchiefs to gift bags.   The runway presented options much trendier than you would find at your local Target or Wal-Mart. 
Of course, anything would have looked fantastic on top models like Tiiu Kuik and Arlenis Sosa.   Upscale styling, make up and lighting don’t hurt either. However, the majority of the collection  was really everyday clothing glammed up for the runway. 
There were pretty sleeveless dresses with laser cutouts, detailed blouses with little designer touches, and even jade sequin hot pants. A lime green skinny cardigan was tucked into a flirty skirt, knee grazing military green skirts with scattered ribbon details, along with classic men's summer attire.  Unique details like bright dip dyed accents on shirt sleeves made the ordinary closer to extraordinary.
Men were attired in classic tennis whites with little modern quirky twists. An unexpected shot of color to V-necked sweaters or pants added a bit of modernity to classic men's looks. A Slim fit V-neck in sandy beige got a modern twist with coral red piping details. It was styled with short gym shorts with asymmetrical matching coral red inserts.
The women's blouses were delicious and looked more expensive than its price point.  Nautical blue and white boat neck tops paired over slim cut navy sequin shorts, sheer georgette blouses with epaulet details and prim bows at the neck and shantung satin sandy pants topped with blouses with asymmetrical ruffles on a busy camouflage print. Joe Fresh even had a thigh grazing tank navy sequin dress with tiny Peter Pan collar in white.  
I was quite surprised to find out that a super cute and camp-y fashion collection is sold at an affordable price points at Loblaw’s grocery stores.  My next trip to Canada will involve a trip to Loblaw’s, of course, and a peek at the Joe Fresh spring line.
O Canada, I love thee for making shopping affordable and cool.

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