CLUB (MONACO) SANDWICHES

Dropped by the grand opening of the CM (as in Club Monaco) Market at the flagship shop at 157 Bloor St. at Avenue Road, which will be open seven days a week through September 3. It’s a farmer’s market so you can load up on local coffee, flowers, artisanal baked goods, ice cream and salads -- preferably after you have fondled the clothing and accessories inside so you don’t drip gooey stuff over the white linens.

A selection of the yummy sandwiches courtesy of Delica Kitchen.

Theatre producer/p.r. Grant Ramsay, my plus one, who is as handsome as any model/mannequin and still has a good head on his shoulders.

 As my dermatologist keeps reiterating, the cheapest no-brainer items for great, youthful skin are sunblock and a hat. Here is a wall of chapeau at Club Monaco.

Me and stylist Wendy Natale, who has just returned from a gig in the Yukon. I am decked out in a baseball jacket I bought at Topshop last year that easily passes for vintage. It is all about thrifting for me now. Gone are the halcyon days when I blew hundreds of bucks on a blouse; funny how perceptions and pocketbooks change. In fact, I balked at paying $59 for a new Diane Von Furstenberg T-shirt dress at my local Kind Exchange recently. Call me when it’s $10. Hey, I scored a pair of brand new black leather Gap jeans for $10 – and they were even lined. Gazinga!

Aside from Grant, the person with the best head of hair at the event had to be this lovely young creature with über dreds.

It was a white-out. There were innumerable installations of white apparel including a linen mini dress/tunic priced over $400. Say what? It makes me hyperventilate. In the first place, I cannot drop that kind of money on a white garment. Any red wine in the general vicinity would find its way all down the front of it immediately if not sooner. Imagine what it would look like after laundering – just another wrinkly schmatta. 

The back of a fabulous baseball jacket spotted on the stairs of Club Monaco. I was informed that it was from Zara. The stairs were previously lined with buckets of flowers free for the taking. Alas, I cannot have cut flowers at home. Our intrepid cat Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. snacks on them.

One of the casual onlookers outside the opening-party festivities displaying his own inimitable street style.

SOCKS & THE CITY

Since my hands and feet are perpetually cold, I wear finger-less gloves (all the better to type with, my dear) and socks all year round. For me there is nothing like the joy of socks: snagging ones that don’t rip easily at the toes or pool around the ankles like the ones Ruth Buzzi wore as the decrepit old hag on Laugh-In.
 

Naturally I was pumped to hear about the pop-up Richer Poorer socks shop at 356 Queen St. West, a collaboration with Shoes.com, whose space they were taking over. The brands formed a partnership in late 2015.

Richer Poorer is a California fashion sock and innerwear brand known for “honest hustle and kick ass goods.” Its founders are Tim Morse and Iva Pawling. Morse, 41, was on site. He is a native Californian, a surfer/skate boarder with a tech background; she is into fashion with an emphasis on jewelry.

He is co-founder and president; she is co-founder and CEO. They started the brand in 2010. “Excessive bedazzled jeans were out, it was about rolled-up jeans with cool socks and Converse (sneakers),” he explains. Indeed, it is all about the kicks culture now.

They distribute to 15 countries and have 600 accounts in the U.S. including Saks, Nordstrom and Bloomindales, going toe to toe with J. Crew and Gap. This was their first retail pop-up.

Sean Clark, 35, a Canadian, is co-founder of Shoes.com/ Shoeme.ca, launched in January 2012 when Zappos folded in Canada – Zappos only ships to the U.S. now.

The online presence of Shoes.com is arguably one of the biggest in the country. They offer free shipping and returns, and even have a two-hour delivery feature in GTA. General delivery is three to five days.

They carry 500 brands and 30,000 products.  Price points range from $40 for Converse to high-end Charlotte Olympia and Louboutin.

Shoes.com is renovating their pop-up into a permanent showroom with selected stock -- guaranteed to get major foot traffic.

These two impossibly cute entrepreneurs are guaranteed to blow your socks off. Tim Morse, left, and Sean Clark bond at the Richer Poorer pop-up in the Shoes.com space.

Tote bag and matching socks, what a concept. It really works in animal print but silver lamé probably not so much. A little too Tin Man methinks.

Richer Poorer concentrates on inner-wear as opposed to outerwear or “top drawer” merchandise, as in undies drawer. Price points range from $10 to $24 for socks. Boxers are $24.

Sock it to me. They have women’s socks including Pointe Studio, an athletic line for ballet, barre, Pilates and yoga. Some socks feature gummy grips on the bottom ideal for general wear around the house avoiding those nasty falls on wooden floors and stairs. I am test-driving a pair for spinning.

A cool street musician at Queen and Spadina making the most of a sunny winter day.

My go-to vegetable market at Bloor and Palmerston, with fresh produce and line-ups from a.m. to p.m. and/or can’t see to can’t see.

 

SEVENTY-FIVE PER CENT OFF OR BED

My claim that I won’t get out of bed for less than 75 per cent off original price was put to the test this week and I totally aced it. I know there is nothing we NEED out there but there are bargoons to be bagged too delicious to pass up. Here are a few of my favourite scores:

I was killing time after my 3,000-mile eye check-up and dropped by my local Kind Exchange just for the exercise. I bagged a pair of brand new black leather Gap jeans for $10. And they fit perfectly!!!!!

Yeaaa me.

Flash forward two days later when I was poking around Yorkville and a saw a huge SALE sign in the window of Kumari’s shop on Bellair, which has exotically flamboyant clothing and accessories.

I scored two caftans for 75 per cent off: A long one for $48.75 and a shorter one for $31.25.

Hurry up summer.

And then I get an email advertising an extra 50 per-cent off already reduced merch at The Room at Hudson's Bay, with the sale moving to the Arcadian Court upstairs. The deals went up to 85 per cent off.

I am so there.

I concentrated on the coat racks because I have an obsession with outerwear. I staked out a dressing area at the back with my finds and attracted an entourage. We tried on each other’s rejects like a high-end swap meet. All we needed were cocktails.

Three of my fellow bargain-hunters at the Bay, rocking the same Carven coat, reduced from over $2,000 to $400. I am interviewing a fake fur Big Bird-yellow Moschino coat going for the same price. They sold out of the Carvens -- sorry.

Who wore the Moschino better, Dale Harrison, a staffer at The Room, or me?

HOLIDAZE

Happy New Year. The holidays are finito. It’s all over but the caloric aftershock. I am still suffering from fromage overdose. I consumed so much cheese I swear I have become lactose intolerant.

The upside is there are heavy-duty sales going on. On New Year’s Eve, I dropped by the Kind Exchange location in The Beach just for the exercise, lured inside by the 50 per cent off signage in the window. They were doing brisk business, primarily women seeking the perfect LBD for that night. They'd left it dangerously late, but everyone seemed to find something, thereby alleviating the eventuality of showing up at the party in underwear. 

I scored a Mickey Mouse tank for $3 (because a girl can’t have too much Disney product on her body), a Calvin Klein moto jacket for $17 and a Stella McCartney dress for $30, which I had interviewed at Winners for 10 times the price. I had a brief flirtation with a Danier black leather blazer but was discouraged from purchasing it by fellow shoppers who pronounced it too big and boring.  Such is the camaraderie among thrifters. 

Big bargoons are to be had at Anthropologie, my go-to for yummy dinnerware, specifically the hand-painted plates from Paris when they are on sale. I glommed onto an impossibly cute bunny bread-and- butter plate that was originally $14, marked down to $6.99 and reduced another 40 per cent. It was a no-brainer:  my Starbucks green tea latte costs more than that. 

But the granddaddy of savings is the $1.98 floor at Ends in The Beach. Everything is new and everything is $1.98 -- including trousers and jackets. Lots of samples but you have to be prepared to hunt. I cashed out with a bag of goodies totaling $18 and including a fake fur collar, three tank tops for Rob originally marked at $45 each, a wool beret with cool grommets and an army jacket. 

Merry markdowns everyone.

Our version of a Christmas tree this year -- because our kitten Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. is a one-cat wrecking crew. This arrangement somehow remained unscathed for a remarkable two weeks.

Me and Christine Henry, my bestie from grade 10, doing a selfie at the subway after our traditional holiday dinner in Greektown. The venues vary but the wine count is inevitably in the two-bottle range.

We had a minor holi-blaze this year involving the old-crow-regarding-skull installation on the kitchen window. The skull is a candle which I left unattended. No casualties, except the old crow got a hot foot.

I encountered this foxy TTC fare inspector at my local Starbucks. She manages to look like Pam Grier à la Foxy Brown even decked out in bulky Kevlar vest. But not all fare inspectors are so affable. I got yelled at by one for taking a photo of an ad in the subway. Apparently photography is forbidden on TTC property. Seriously?

Cute couple alert at our fave local eatery, Xola. They are fashionistas with complimentary head wear and are both texting after dinner, for which she picked up the tab.

MERRY MERCHANDIZING

On Christmas Eve, I did the last-dash shopping/errand thing uptown in Yorkville. It wasn’t as crazy busy as expected but it was uncharacteristically warm which accounted for isolated sightings of shorts wearers amid the Santa hats, making for a strange juxtaposition. The shorts were universally worn by men, not unusual because winter is black tights time. I mean really, who has time to shave legs during the holiday season and besides, furry legs constitute another layer of warmth.

Marcus O’Hara has been playing Santa at Roots' flagship Bloor location for years. Event planner “Party” Barbara Hershenhorn, who hopped on his lap for a photo op, jokes that she’s auditioning for the role of elf. Note how the pooch perfectly blends into Santa’s beard.

Shoes.com opened a bricks-and-mortar store on Queen West this month. I checked it out and thought it was meh. Nothing jumped out and begged to follow me home. But I give them credit for amping up the advertising by having a chip wagon offering coffee in front of the shop. Too bad I don’t drink coffee.

The streetcar was taking its own sweet time to come so I nipped into the Kind Exchange thrift shop at Queen and Soho, lured in because of the “50 per cent off sign” in the window. It is a big store, but I concentrated at the front and took a handful of items into the dressing room. I bagged a cool Anne Klein burgundy jacket with fur collar which set me back a measly $12. It wasn’t as cheap as the $1 brand-new Chinoiserie jacket I scored at Missions for Bibles in Owen Sound but what is?  

The H&M ad at the bus shelter in front of Kind Exchange has been bastardized by a flyer pasted over the model’s head. It actually works better that way.

Two yupscale bikers were parked on Bellair St. in front of Rolo, arguably the best funky card and outrageous gift shop in town.

This happening doorman in front of Holt Renfrew rocks a definite Lenny Kravitz vibe. Note the schleppy shopper in shorts beside him.

 The flower shops at Ave. and Dav were doing a blooming business on Christmas Eve. Cut flowers at our house are a crap shoot. Our kitten Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., aka “The Cat That Ruined Christmas,” insists on flower de-arranging.

Amid the sea of black in the subway, this commuter stands out in her Christmassy red and green coat. You go girl.

This little cutie was dolled up in her shimmery holiday finery at Starbucks on Christmas afternoon. Her red earrings were made of flashing lights. How is she going to top herself when she hits adolescence?

Our cat Richard Parker, stoned on catnip on Christmas morning from the green bag in the background. Parker was all over the nip when I brought it home in my gym bag. He’d sniffed it out among my sweaty gym gear.