velvet has arrived with our first serious drop of women's fall 2010 fashion from the creative minds of jenny graham & toni spencer of los angeles.
a long-standing favorite at still life with staff & friends both, velvet offers clean, fashionable basics with an attention to fit, colouring and texture. for fall we're thrilled to see a beautiful variety of colours playing with navys, browns & greys as well as a burnout feather print and gorgeous black shaded lace-backed tank. in addition a trio of cashmere wraps completes this first autumn delivery from the los angeles designed & produced brand.
through the rest of july and all of august we will continue with still life summer hours, staying open until 8pm on wednesdays, thursdays & fridays.
against the comforting, neutral slate of the wilderness, she defines herself. in the cool snow, she revisits who she has been. among soft fir branches, she becomes who she will be.
this season is about those times when we abandon what we’re told we should do, and instead we do what we feel. we take the time alone. we retreat. we step boldly into a quiet place. we look at ourselves in a clear mirror or a lake, and we confront our fears and our histories. we emerge more whole. we embrace the present.
sophisticated and gentle, the lily + jae autumn/winter 2010 collection tells a story through colour, texture and shape. from silken dresses to cashmere coats, this collection is suffused with warm 90s palette of burgundy, grey, navy, black and brown. fabrics are natural, yet versatile, and rich in both content and texture – from custom printed silk to cheek-soft cashmere. shapes are self-assured: timeless pieces with a hint of trend. dresses and coats are inspired by vintage silhouettes, subtle nods to the fashions of our parents and our own childhoods. boy-shaped shirting benefits from a touch of wool, for warmth. cropped tops and skirts become cozy when layered with long johns or blazers.
More than any previous collection, autumn/winter 2010 contains touches of regionalism – warm wool-cashmere blends are made for the canadian climate. and then there’s the aptly named hudson coat, and the inclusion of a blanket in the collection.
lily + jae continues to grow stylistically, without compromising their signature feminine feel with masculine elements. their fall/winter offering is a confident collection with earthy appeal and a complete array of looks.
we will be pleased to begin to introduce the autumn/winter 2010 collection from jude feller's vancouver-produced lily + jae with first arrivals expected in early august.
it's sale season at still life boutique! in preperation for the arrival of autumn/winter 2010 collections in coming weeks we've marked down the entirety of our spring 2010 pieces remaining in store from 40-70%!
this sale includes all of our ladies premium denim from joe's jeansand genetic denim! some of our most beloved styles of women's denim are now available for 50% off the original price. with prices set to clear, sizes & styles will go quickly as we get ready for new arrivals.
pop down this weekend and get some great new jeans to go into fall with and stop by our new friends at rook & rosejust a few doors up on johnson street. owner and lead designer erica smolders has opened up victoria's best new floral design shop just this morning and is ready to attend to all your floral needs. congratulations erica, we're excited to have fresh cut flowers return to still life!
urbanears is a collective out of scandinavia, motivated by a common interest in global relationships and shared involvement in the relevance of the living brand. urbanears promotes a deeper connection to color, form and people while providing the freedom to transcend individuality and unify the sound experience.
urbanears was created by a number of individuals with very different traits gathered around a belief in the concept. the crew is made up out of entrepreneurs, industrial and graphic designers, tech nerds, former retailers, salesmen and business men - most of which can be described with more than one of these traits. they come from backgrounds in fashion, electronics and design based in stockholm, sweden.
we've moved our fair share of headphones out of still life boutique over the years, and we're more than thrilled to start offering urbanears to our friends in victoria. matt & jordan have been sampling a couple pairs over the last month and they're killer. we've got a very small starting run of the scandinavian-designed headphones and don't expect them to sit long on the shelf - come in soon to check them out and keep updated on our facebook page to know when more and more show up.
our third drop of fjallraven backpacks showed up at still life bright and early this morning and our beautiful display wall is complete once again! we've got another great colour break from the swedish adventure company: army green, oxblood red, burnt orange, a heap of blues, greys & navys, and the yellow!
these ideal summer lake/pool/camp packs are made of vinylon f, the functional fabric that has made the kånken daypacks seemingly immortal for the last 25 years. though a synthetic fiber, vinylon f has many of of the positive properties of natural fibers - swelling like a natural fiber when wet, the weave becomes more dense when raining, causing the pack to absorb moisture better than any other synthetic fiber. this gives the fabric waterproof qualities by construction eliminating the need for a coating.
these bags have been flying out of still life over the past few months: they're functional, individual, cute and super wearable. pop by the shop this weekend, grab yourself a new bag, and hit the beach/lake/pool.
here's a preview of the fantastic range of items being offered by our dear friends at nudie jeans co for fall/winter 2010. by the looks of it we'll be seeing some rich, dark, heavy-dyed denim, garments & accessories from the swedish jeans company to take us into the cooler months.
typically at still life we stick to the classic, raw/untreated denim that nudie does so well - but after seeing some of these options back in january in nyc and checking them out again here styled and layed out in a proper collection, the washed out/treated offerings are looking mighty tempting! matt & jordan have been rocking their treated/washed out nudies a heap this summer and the look is dead on.
back in april we received the first of our bensimon collection for spring - and today we're happy to offer our second batch of our favorite women's canvas shoe to keep your feet right through the rest of the summer.
at the end of world war II, serge and yves bensimon's grandfather started a business importing american second hand clothes in france. some 25 years later, in 1980, serge & yves continued the family business travelling the world bringing uniforms and work clothes home to france to customize and sell at the shop. colourful, casual and elegant, glamorous and functional, the first bensimon collection of jackets, jodhpurs and pullovers launched in 1984 with their bensimon tennis shoe immediately becoming a must-have women's shoe within the french fashion community.
four new limited edition styles for summer are now available, including a beautiful allover floral print laceup, a vintage indigo tennis shoe and an adorable white with orange detail bensimon boat shoe! these shoes are fantastic with denim (cropped for summer or full length year round) and nice and low (and femenine) to pair with your summer dresses.
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almost every night in the summer cruise ships unleash thousands of tourists onto victoria streets for a late afternoon checkpoint ontheir way to/from alaska/san francisco. with sleepy garden city shops closing at 6pm most nights, these visiting fashion hounds end up only able to peek through closed store windows before heading back to their boats and sailing home.
thankfully we've all come together as one and we'll be keeping the lower johnson, yates & pandora shops open until 8pm on both thursday and friday nights through the rest of the summer - and the best way to let all our local friends & family know about this is to have another fashion's night out block party!
kick-starting our summer evening hours will be a block party june 17th to welcome you and yours to our shops for beverages, snacks, special promotions and a great cause. each of the 25+ stores involved will be offering special promotions all evening with your dontation to the mustard seed food bank.
visit the fashion's night out blogfor a full list of participating shops and be sure to mark your calendars for fashion's night out!
rain, wind or snow, a day at still life rarely begins without a quick jaunt through market square to habit coffee & culture(552 pandora ave).
habit was founded on the idea that coffee can be better – not just in terms of a drinkable product, but in terms of every step that coffee takes – from seed to cup. before building a location, or making a menu, habit founder shane devreaux worked to find partners that shared his vision of ethical, responsible, and community-based business practices with a focus on quality in every detail. the habit crew works closely with their roasters at hines public market coffee to source the best beans from all over the world. shane devreaux has regularly made trips “to the source”, to visit the communities and regions that produce their beans and even welcomed a half dozen african baristas to the shop last summer for a special weekend meet & greet.
habit coffee & culture believes that coffee isn’t simply about getting a buzz, or enjoying a flavor, they believe it’s about a culture of optimism, exploration, and communication, and we at still life very much enjoy the fruit of their collective effort. with a second habit coffee set to open this summer at the corner of pandora & blanshard we're excited to watch the family grow and see what habit does next in developing the local coffee culture.
Still Life is a small boutique located on Lower Johnson in downtown Victoria,
British Columbia. They sell beautiful clothes, and are all around
stand-up folk. This is their blog.
