Fashion Monday with JJ Lee

Hmmmmmmm.... leather tote : LL Bean signed Alex Carleton of Rogues Gallery to create this mini-collection which promises to freshen up the venerable catalogue retailer. $189 US.

Where fashion, sports and race collide: a Russian skating duo has had a shot fired over their bow. Reported in The Province , BC First Nations don't want the pair of Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin to wear costumes they donned for the European championship. Problem is the routine, and I suppose their "let's dress like Australian aboriginals" outfits, garnered them the gold. Apparently, they intend to wear the body-painted-loin-cloth look for the Vancouver games. Look out for Domnina's and Shabalin's routine in black face for the short program.

Executive board of Pi Phi stoops to fashion fascism for rush week. First reported in IvyGate , a blog about the Ivy League schools, and then picked up by the Huffington Post , the story about Pi Phi's Cornell Chapter and their six-page dress code has brought scorn and derision (aren't they the same thing?) upon the sisterhood of no-one-looks-good-in-satin-dresses-unless-it's-from-Betsey-Johnson-or-Dolce-and-Gabbana-you-weigh-less-than-130-pounds . The edict of appropriate dress for all occasions is impressive, lengthy, bossy and super bitchy. I will no longer have to present a column. Instead refer to Pi Phi.

Fidelity founder and designer Jason Trotzuk at his studio in Burnaby. These past two weeks I have been assembling a Vancouver fashion dream team -- kind of like hockey's Team Canada. All in the run-up for the Olympics (should I put a trademark symbol here?). Last week, I featured Heather Martin of mono . Heather was my pick for a creative, dispy-doodling right winger (not politically speaking - more like a left-handed shot). Today, to fill out the squad, I'm calling up a denim designer who jeans can be found in LA, Miami, Montreal and New York. Introducing! Jason Trotzuk. Centre. Fidelity Denim ! For the last decade he has brought his passion for denim and the perfect fit through Dish and now Fidelity. His goal is to create jeans that make women look great and men feel good.

Sometimes, you have to create links to great posts: Chris Chase of Busted Racquet reviews Open style down under.

There has always been something *meta* about the work of Dean and Dan Caten. They draw style quotes from high and low. But their foray into low-end Canadiana is curious. Right now, with the big lead up to the Olympics, Hoser Chic has already taken hold on The Bay's Vancouver 2010 gear. How much room is there for the Milan-based duo to put their stamp on this trend? We'll find out when Holt Renfrew debuts the twins' take on the hoodie. It seems with Zellers, Aritzia, HBC and now HR allow slapping on the maple leaf we have to expect for the next month that Vancouver will resemble one giant souvenir shop. But who cares, the duo will be in town February 13. It will be great to see them live and up close. "Perfect for a cold winter season, this brushed cotton fleece is available in a variety of sizes for both men and women. A red maple leaf, a hallmark of theDSQUARED²brand, is complimented by a cozy drawstring hood and extra large pockets for spare warmth. The wording of “C...

Ann Hollander, in her book Sex and Suits , writes the the taming of the lapel and collar between 1750 and 1800 is the real beginning of modern suit tailoring: “Its collar was forced by clever cut, steaming and stiffening to curve up and around the neck, to fold over and open out in front, and to form lapels that would obediently lie down and align themselves smoothly with the body of the coat.” I love the way she writes about suits. There is something so BDSM in her language. You can hear the crack of the whip and how it goes loose with obedience, curves and stiffening. In Ann’s sartorial universe, lapels could be the boned corset underneath a Turnbull and Asser dress shirt. Lapels are, can be, should be: kinky, dangerous, sleek . . . when buying a suit, you deserve lapels that are potent and have some or all these qualities.

I found out about Jim's passing from Mark Busse. It's also covered in the News Leader . I used to see him at the mall quite often. I interviewed him once and wanted to again once he finished Tom Sawyer.

This photo by Steve Bosch links to the Vancouver Sun story. Read the Vancouver Sun article by Gerry Bellett , newspapers matter! With apologies to Rory Duffy (27) of Henry Poole and Co. and David Wilkes (29), bespoke tailor, young tailors are hard to come by. And when an old tailor retires a light goes out in the sartorial firmament. A star disappears. Renzo Montagliani (75) is calling it quits this month. Trained as a tailor in Italy at the tender age of 11, Renzo has become a fixture on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. (His retirement was covered in the Vancouver Sun, here .) With nothing more than a jerry-rigged straight stitcher and one order to alter ten double breasteds into singles for $10 a pop, Renzo started the business that lasted 50 plus years. I visited him today:

The footwear has been offered in the states for years and now they're coming to Canada. BR will be stocking shoes in three flagship stores in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver. The beautiful Lauren Wolff at Gap Inc. in Toronto writes: Banana Republic is thrilled to announce the arrival of shoes and boots in select locations across Canada. While having been available in the US for several years, we heard your requests and our consumers’ demands for stylish and comfortable footwear at reasonable pricing, and we have responded. This week, we received our first shipment and will continue to deliver a broad selection for Spring 2010 over the coming months. The prices you see in the above handout images may be American and not Canadian...otherwise, is it cheap like borscht or what? I'll post an update when I find out.

Visited former CBC host, Tetsuro Shigematsu, on January 2. I scored him a pair of comp jeans in October from Banana Republic as we were part of a UBC Almuni event. He loves them - Heritage Straight with an Antique Wash, I believe. Thing is he's wearing them to death. So he had me patch a hole while I was there. To find material we had to sacrifice another pair of well-worns, GAP 1969s. Now, all you premium-selvedge-Italian-Japanese-spun-by-organic-mutated-orphan types might scoff. But there's no doubt these pants took on some personality. So much so I had to photodocument it and share it with you.

A pair of jean leggings (jeggings)-- Joe's Zip Ankle Legging in Dark Blue A visit to one of the city's best, the world's best?, emporium of jeans, Dutil Denim on Cordova Street in Vancouver with Kayleigh Orman, buyer. Note it Kay-LEE not Kie-LEE. Here's Kayleigh giving pointers on how to buy denim. A perfect way to renew the wardrobe in 2010. Basic info but a good coaching session for a beat-the-January-blues-with-denim-blues shopping spree. Try on those JEGGINGS! Interesting note: Dutil will be coming out with it's own denim line this MONTH! Look here for an update on those jeans soon!

Looking for little things that are luxurious but won't bankrupt the average shopper. Pocket luxury is about buying the best of ordinary things to create pockets of luxury in your life. Be it the best hand-made toothbrush in the world or a silver pen to write the shopping list. I visited Louis Vuitton (very nice people there, no joke) on Burrard in Vancouver, Tiffany & Co (they were hopping, what recession?), also on Burrard, and Holt Renfrew (with the nicest guide to the luxury department store) on Granville.

The secret to a perfect holiday trip home means focusing on what really matters. Family, friends, peace, love and happiness are certainly important, but when it comes to menswear, knowing what to pack and what to wear can also make a man joyful and triumphant. For Club Monaco’s menswear designer Timothy Farah in New York, the go-to travel item is “the perfect blazer.” He adds, “It can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion” Club Monaco offers the Wright blazer and the Channing Tuxedo blazer, both for $349 (top, with Fair Isle sweater and bowtie). The jackets are “tailored and modern.” For the finishing touch, Farah says, has to be “a handkerchief in the breast pocket.” Jeffery Spivock, the public relations senior manager for the Gap in Toronto, would wear a Banana Republic velvet blazer on the plane to avoid crushing it, $310 (bottom). He says it “looks as good with a pair of destructed jeans ($160) as it does dressed up for holiday drinks.” If the itineary is elaborate and ta...

JJ in the Vancouver Sun : VANCOUVER — To rent or to buy is not the question. What really matters when it comes to wearing black tie is looking like you belong in a tuxedo. Admittedly, all men can't be James Bond or Barack Obama, but it is possible to achieve some true panache, thereby avoiding any associations with Batman's flightless adversary, the Penguin (who technically wore a tailcoat and therefore was dressed in white tie), or high school graduation. Guy Voglino, New York-based divisional merchandise manager for Brooks Brothers, offered the following advice.... (read the rest in the Vancouver Sun)