Oct 02
I never turn down an opportunity to travel to the suburbs. While quite a few of my urban cohorts view the regions outside Toronto with disdain, I see them as exotic foreign climes. Perhaps because, unlike a lot of people in Toronto, I’ve never been native to one. I grew up in a village and moved to …
Jul 10
Catalytic Clothing is a fashion innovation that’s meant to clean the air using nanotechnology. Professor and designer Helen Storey and scientist Tony Ryan have collaborated to add a photocatalytic process to fabric. This process requires Titanium Oxide and UV Light. When these two interact, the combination aggressively breaks down volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde and ammonia, turning them into carbon dioxide …
Jun 19
I saw this photo essay by Simon Wheatley (before clicking – be aware of your volume – autoplaying music!) years ago, when grime was both late and current and what I was listening to. Looked for it a while back but couldn’t find it then just bumped into it today. London’s public housing projects are …
Jun 12
Beyond the cloth and fit, I love bespoke for the participation it allows and relationships it creates. Not only with people but with objects. I have about three roles with most objects: Consumer, user and garbage creator. I buy a microwave, hit buttons until it breaks, then toss it out. I don’t understand how it …
May 18
I don’t usually cut and paste from press releases but this is nifty and I’m lazy. Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 9 p.m. EST (6 p.m. PST; 10:30 p.m. in NFLD) on natandmarie.com Highlights: Fashion designer Breeyn McCarney and creative technologist Christopher Lewis will make an appearance on the Nat&Marie live webcast to present an extension …
May 06
It feels like I’ve been attending and complaining about FAT (Toronto’s Alternative Fashion Week) for years. Double checking that feeling against my blog archives, I’m surprised to learn that my memory is correct. My first mention of it is back in 2006 and now it’s, um, a different year. Also: Holy shit, I’ve kept this blog for …
Nov 29
I wanted a simple grey suit. Something dark and conservative. A counterbalance to my more outlandish choices. It is a classic choice and a male style staple. This potato of suits looks good. I have not given up on the idea. But I have slightly delayed it. Because, when I entered my tailor’s shop and had a …
Nov 17
A documentary about Saville Row tailor Ozwald Boateng. Known for his “cutting eye-popping, super-sharp 1960s-inspired suits with raised waistlines and slimmed-down trousers that elongated and refined the line” Boateng came to the row in May 2002 and was the first tailor to stage a catwalk show in Paris. This documentary is interesting, not just to hear …
Nov 09
Alan Cummings wore this suit at some sort of award show in August. It met with a great deal of acclaim and derision. It’s a real love it or hate it number. Yet the people who love or hate it tend to love or hate the suit. They miss the point. The suit is fine. …
Nov 01
You slept in that day. When you finally awoke you noticed that your RCA clock radio had gone off but there was nothing on the air except static. You switched it off, rolled out of bed and put on your housecoat. You were halfway through your first cup of coffee when you got the news from the internet. Late last night, the dead rose from the earth and were now roaming the earth as zombies. That certainly explains why your favorite blogs were not updated and why everyone was just tweeting “BRAAIIIINS!”
Although Ryan Oakley began his career as a simple rake (drunk) he has since become Toronto’s most renowned flaneur (no car) and notorious dandy (overdresses). A misanthropic composer of psycho-geographical fictions (sci-fi), he is also a server of food, a tender of bar and a washer of dishes. While performing all these functions with efficiency and elegance (disdain and malice), he somehow finds the time to publicly criticize friends, strangers and cultural crap.
