Kensington
Market
You
love to shop. You consider yourself a trend setter and worthy of
a more unique collective of garments than Sears can offer you. You
read trend magazines for breakfast looking for new street fashion
vibes to emulate and create. You love vintage clothes, one-of-kind
locally designed fashions and accessories, and the experience of
digging for fashion gold!
Then
your shopping mecca is Kensington Market in downtown Toronto.
Kensington
Market is quirky, street
savvy and says to the rest of the city ‘I’m doing my
own thing’. Everything in the market area is just sort of
poured into tiny wee shops with bursting seams leaving much of their
merchandise spilling out onto the sidewalk.
First
stop, a market classic, is DE JAVU at 56 Kensington Ave:
a vintage emporium with mountains of garments hanging from racks
and rails, walls and ceiling. There are fashions from the 1920s
onwards with an emphasis on the 60’s. A ‘fancy dress’
hot spot. Reasonable prices.
Further
aflutter down Kensington to #42 is BUTTERFLY, a shop devoted
to accessories by the bucket load! If you love plastic, this is
your shop! Funky, bright, sparkly, spangled, beaded plastic fun
for hours and hours. Highlights are the excellent range of bracelets,
earrings, necklaces and rings. My fave is the groovy array of retro-coloured
& shaped sunglasses. Also worth mentioning is Butterfly’s
distinctive selection of cloth decals [patches] and belt buckles.
New
in the hood is C-PUB at #24. A lot of Asian street-inspired
new clothes for women. C-Pub has its stock tidily displayed - convenient
for the shopper who just wants to go in, see what they want, and
buy it! Good choice for cowboy boots, and an excellent range of
sexy, slouchy purses in trendy metallic finishes. Great prices!
A long-time
favorite shop on Kensington is COURAGE MY LOVE; a family
run store in the business for 30 years. Really more like a museum
than a shop. Prepare to dwell within these doors for a good long
time in fascination at all the exotic jewels, bowl hats, proper
ladies gloves, buttons, purses, gowns, jackets with tails and neckties.
You can travel back in time 100 years. It is pretty much exclusively
vintage clothing, but there are some lovely soft re-made cashmere
and felt jumpers and hats made by Courage My Love family members.
I must
comment on the indonesian button wall. It is fantastically original.
Who thought buttons could be so fascinating?! I was there for ages
just staring at them. You can get replicas of buttons from the 1910’s,
20’s and onwards in fiberglass or natural materials such as
wood & shell. Some of the buttons are even silk-screened and
hand painted. The price range is also fantastic. A card of 4 buttons
between $1 and $5.
If
you are more world beat fashion than vintage, you can also find
some joy here at Courage with an array of tribal jewelry from Afghanistan
and Uzbekistan. Overall rating of this store is 10 out of 10. The
prices are also so reasonable and what an experience it is.
Another
new kid on the avenue is the King Of Kensington at #35. The
King offers a fun, clean array of mens and womens clothes and footwear
from the 1940 to '80s. They have a super vintage dress collection
at very fair prices. The dresses are nicely placed on the racks,
not all jammed in so you can really browse and enjoy the experience.
Lots of cowboy boots, sheepskin and leather jackets if you are a
man with tastes running to rugged, sexy & manly. Another bonus
with the King Of Kensington is that it has on-site t-shirt printing.
Sweet!
It
is all The
Rage to some at
#13, especially for owner Sarah Campbell who is doing well showcasing
one-of-a-kind local designer’s talent in her cute as a teacup-sized
boutique. The Rage has been on the street for almost one year now
and Sarah is adamant about supporting Toronto designers –
all her stock is women's wear, brand new retro. No re-constructed
or vintage in site. The jewelry and handbags on offer here are totally
unique! If you want your accessories to be conversation starters
shop here! Must mention the hot fur wrist cuffs, the pins made from
bottle caps, and the 80’s kitch earrings by Rat Girl.
Kensington
Avenue is the main shopping drag just due to the concentration of
shops here on one street. But don’t neglect walking around
the whole market to find other hidden away shopping havens.
Or
you will miss gems like BUNGALOW at 273 Augusta Ave. Bungalow
offers sophisticated vintage home furnishings and mens & womens
vintage fashions from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. For women, there's
a super collection of vintage heels and handbags in good condition.
I have personally bought some lovely [never worn] vintage ladies
leather gloves here. For gents, I must say they do have a healthy
selection of trousers, t-shirts, shirts, coats and men’s things.
Blink
and you might miss it: check out the fab stock at D’LIGHTFUL
@ 202 Augusta Ave. for one-of-a-kind, locally designed accessories.
Owner Diana has selected super unique and stylish pieces for her
store to stand out in a watershed of vintage shops. Highlights would
be the gorgeous handmade leather belts by BritBoutique and BeamIndustries.
Also in stock, unique patchwork scarves by Poor Boy. As well a small
but darling range of jewelry made with natural materials. D’Lightful
stock tops and bottoms for women brands like, Dekker and Kenzie
Gal, in small numbers to ensure exclusivity.
Don’t
let the name scare you but POISON at 6-160 Baldwin St, kept
me busy for ages poking around wanting to try on everything. Totally
funky and stylish retro-brand new ‘street’ apparel imported
from Hong Kong and Korea is on offer at excellent value. Girls will
go mad in here shopping! Great selection of knitwear, including
a knit mini dress with fur capped mini sleeves - too cool for school!
Super shiny selection of shoes, mainly ballet flats, and an awesome
array of funky boots. Footwear all brand new, and prices very good
ranging from $20 to $60. Poison also has a great selection of stylish
handbags and totes, as well as an unusual selection of funky jackets
and coats. This shop really rocks!
If
you need to shop for a good cause....I always thought it was about
me…then look no further than PLANET AID on Baldwin
St. Planet Aid is a unique retailing concept, which allows a portion
of the profits from the store to be donated to two African charities
and various aid programs. Planet Aid stocks a massive amount of
mens and womens vintage and second-hand clothes, as well as some
custom re-made pieces created by the talented staff. It’s
a fun and thrifty atmosphere. The sort of place you could dig forever,
looking for a brilliant piece of cloth, to flash around town.
Also
good for digging around in is Exile, Dancing Days and Flash Back.
Whether
you want brand new, retro, re-made, local designers or vintage,
Kensington Market offers it all. You just have to have the time
to find it.
It
is hard work but bargains do abound here. I find that the vintage
in the market is just that wee bit more affordable Queen Street
West. But you can’t put a price on love can you…..
Sonja
Andic
|
Sunglasses
at Butterfly
