Tagged: friends

This summer our own Matt Jensen ventured forth in a pack of motorbikes with a division of the Megadestroyer Crew (The Dugout Wrenches) on a The Southern Lord Tour of the Wild American West. Seven-thousand kilometres of freedom, beers, camping, skating, tourist shit, helmet laws, no helmet laws, casinos, weirdos, more beers, break downs, flat tires, hot weather, late nights and early mornings. Along the way the boys repped Megadestroyer hard - trips like this one are why the brand exists. These 100% cotton ringspun teeshirts, branded with the raddest & baddest graphic creations the extended Megadestroyer Crew can dream up wear hard and look better the more trashes you make them - cut the arms off in the summer, sew the front on a jacket as a patch in the winter.

Arriving in time for the launch of Still Life For Him, we've got Megadestroyer Artist Series tees from the creative minds of Henry Barros, Germ, Sharks + Hammers & Matt Jefferies as well as the return of the Werewolves tee and the classic Wingsbone tee.

We've promised it forever, but we promise we'll invite the entire Megadestroyer Crew over to the island this autumn and tear the roof off of Still Life For Him at 551 Johnson Street. See you soon boys.

Things are really coming together for this Saturday's 2nd Annual Johnson Street Fest (August 27th) benefitting the Make-A-Wish Foundation of BC! We'll have the Still Life For Him and Still Life For Her doors wide open all day from 10AM through 6PM with end of summer blowout sale pricing and lots of fundraiser treats and games for the whole family!

This year's Johnson Street Fest charity is the Make-A-Wish Foundation of BC. Since 1983 Make-A-Wish has made over 1,400 wishes come true for kids battling a life-threatening medical condition, and this year all proceeds from the Johnson Street Fest will help make 1 local Vancouver Island child's wish come true! These wishes provide BC children and their family a carefree and joyful experience that is far from the stress and anxiety of having a life-threatening medical condition. Their goal is to refocus attention on the positive by providing a unique, once-in-a-lifetime wish experience that a family might not otherwise have.

The goal of this year's 2nd Annual Johnson Street Fest is to raise $6000 to grant a wish of a local Vancouver Island child through fundraising activities all along the 500 & 600 blocks of Johnson Street including:

• Victoria's largest Yoga class at 10AM
• Silent Auction
• Dunk Tank
• Music by The ZONE 91.3
• Bouncy Castle & Sumo Wrestling
• Fortune Telling
• Tarot Readings
• Fitness Demos
• Dunk Tank & TNT Paintball
• Skate Ramp & Graffiti Paint In
• Jewelry Making
• Local Food Vendors
• And Much Much More!

Additional ways to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation are available at all your favorite Johnson Street Merchants before and during the big day: Wish Stars are an easy way to show your support by donating $2 (or more) to Make-A-Wish, write your name on it and stick it on the Wishing Wall. Remember that Johnson Street will be closed entirely to all vehicle traffic all day on Saturday, so hop on your bikes or walk down to visit and help support a fantastic cause. To find all additional information or contact the Johnson Street Fest organizers directly please visit www.johnsonstreetfest.com

In the short time since their grand opening, Rook & Rose Floral Design Boutique has quickly become Victoria’s premier luxury floral boutique. Located just a few doors up Johnson Street from us, owner/lead designer Erica Smoulders and her talented team provide refreshing designs that reflect an uncompromising sense of refinement and unprecedented quality. We've kept Still Life For Him & For Her looking and smelling fresh over the past year with plants, bouquets, bows and succulents featuring a stunning selection thoughtful arrangements.

We recently viewed a living wall installation Erica worked on at a new, modern art space in Victoria that left us amazed, inspired and excited to dream up some future collaborations with her and her team. We're working on some big, exciting projects for the near future and eagerly await Rook & Rose floral arrangements to fill our space and hearts with colour and beauty.

Find Erica and her team only a few doors up from Still Life For Him, on the same side of the street at 569 Johnson Street in Victoria.

(Special thanks to E/A Photography for the all the beautiful photography of the interior at Rook & Rose. Visit E/A Photography online at eaphoto.ca)

from the impeccably-focussed creative mind of matty conrad, the man that brought you the lab salons, comes a brand new vision in downtown victoria: victory barber & brand. located in the stunningly modern atrium building on blanshard & yates, victory barber & brand sets the new standard for men's grooming services in victoria. with offerings that include classic straight-blade shaves with hot towels and refreshing eucalyptus steam, the talented and trained barbers are devoted to helping men present their best selves to the world.

we've been lucky enough to have opportunities over the past few months to check in with matty and peak our heads into the space as victory was in the planning & construction stages. opened just a couple of weeks ago, the launch event in the spaces honestly blew us all away. matty conrad's dedication to his craft, his professionalism and his desire to create spaces you truly want to be in is something to be a part of.

with jordan heading down to mexico today and our own matt touring the western united states on motorcycles with the megadestroyer crew, they'll both surely be in need of a fresh cut and a shave upon their return next week - and there's really only one logical choice for where they'll go... victory barber & brand, friend of still life.

fresh of the plane from the autumn/winter 2011 fashion retail tradeshow circuit, jordan put together this first of a few videos we'll share with you from our trip. working alongside a group of friends from victoria & vancouver, jordan has been producing a video a day every day this february under the guise of "video challenge awareness month". check out everyone's videos, including all of jordan's (and more still life videos to come) over at VCAM2.COM

now that two-thousand ten has come and gone all of us at still life would like thanks everyone who made this year so enjoyable and wish you all a safe & happy new year! we had a lot of fun in the store with everyone, and always enjoyed popping out to shows around town and running into all our still life friends & extended family. we saw some incredible acts at rifflandia 3 (dear ariel pink, are you o.k.?) and both the national and the arcade fire shows in vancouver were amazzzing. though we didn't catch the alexisonfire show, miriam made fast friends with dallas green here at the store (helping him into a pair of nudie tube kellys) and enjoyed a variety of post-show drinks over at smiths pub. and we can't forget the simply spectacular local boy aaron bergunder and his dreamboat cd release party at sugar last month for his new album buddies (available at ditch records).

speaking of our dear friends at ditch records - we'll be sad to lose them as a johnson street neighbour, but thrilled to help them ring in the new year with a relocation to a beautiful new (bigger) space on fort street. read the blurb in the times colonist here if you're still somehow unaware of their new space. now while we couldn't possibly keep up with the year in music the way the guys & girls at ditch can, we've compiled a quick list of some of our favorite records of 2010 that you probably heard playing at still life throughout the year:

kanye west - my beautiful dark twisted fantasy, dreamboat - buddies, beach house - teen dream, vampire weekend - contra, ariel pink's haunted graffiti - before today, arcade fire - the suburbs, m.i.a. - maya, hot chip - one life stand, four tet - there is love in you, ray lamontagne & the pariah dogs - god willin' and the creek don't rise, the national - high violet, the tallest man on earth - the wild hunt, best coast - crazy for you, belle & sebastian - write about love

again, thank you so much to all of our close friends & still life family. you're all fantastic, made 2010 incredible, and we'll see you soon in 2011!

just by looking at our beautiful new window display you can see that still life is ready for the 2010 holiday season, and we're ready to help you do the same.

currently available in store and online to download and print yourself (just click here), we've made holiday wishlists for all of our friends & family in victoria hoping to find something from still life under the tree. fill out one of the wishlists after browsing through the still life blog, our still life facebook page, or checking the racks out yourself in the store - and leave it with us at the store so your friends & family can come in and see what it is you've found.

in preparing for the holidays we've put together a collection of easy-to-gift items that we think would be ideal for those on your list still in need of some spoiling. browse through the images on along the right and continue reading for still life's holiday 2010 suggestions.

• bags: whether it's a tano leather handbag, adidas by stella mccartney sports bag, penfield hiking backpack, dunderdon weekender or fjallraven kanken, we've got a variety of modern, styled bags to tote around all of your hoilday loot. good for guys & girls alike, you're going to get more leftovers to bring home from mum's house if you've got a big bag to store them all in.
• headphones: a full variety of styles & colours are available from both wesc with their bongo, oboe & maraca headphones and all three styles of urbanears: the plattan, tanto & medis models are all fully stocked in fantastic colours for both the boys & girls on your holiday list.
• mens leather accesories: rugged & masculine, the variety of wallets, cardholders, keyfobs & belts has grown steadily with a strong offering from brands like brixton, ken diamond & fred perry.
• womens necklaces & earrings: all jewlery currently available at still life are canadian-produced pieces from biko jewelry by corrine anestopoulos in toronto and tiny little chairs from montreal. simple, elegant & femenine gifts from either collection can be wrapped up in small jewelry boxes ready-to-gift as soon as she's ready for the holidays.
• warm knit accessories: we're happy to still have a wide variety of these classic holiday gift items available on both the mens & womens sides of the store. as the temperature continues to drop cotton/silk blend leggings & hosiery from la's hansel from basel are flying fast. warm & cozy 100% lambswool scarves, mittens & toques from gothenburg's dunderdon are still available, as well as wool blend scarves & toques from american brands brixton & penfield.
• cold & wet weather footwear. still life is located in on the west coast of canada on vancouver island. it gets wet here. we've already had our first snowfall of the season and if the reports are to be believed there should be more. footwear to help you handle the west coast winter will help you stay dry & warm throughout january & february. we have full sizing in some of our favorite styles & colours from vancover's native shoes with the fitzsimmons street hiker, and the lined skerry vinter rubber boots from sweden's tretorn.
• gift certificates. let your special someone find exactly what they want at still life this holiday season, with holiday gift cards of any denomination. and for a limited time, any gift card of $100 or more will get you a free $20 gift card from our friends at lab salons (while supplies last).

from all of us at still life we wish you the very best, safest and happiest holidays & new year and we'll see you soon at 551 johnson street.

back in august still life friend nic vandergugten showed & sold some of his limited edition johnson street bridge linocuts at the store and this holiday season we were lucky to have nic paint our holiday window display for the second year in a row. matt & kim's vision of a rustic log cabin holiday combined with nic's painting to result in our favorite still life holiday window display yet.

come by the shop to check it all out for yourself - from the pair of 1950s vintage norwegian skis, to the canadian blankets, chairs & antlers, the window is a warm invitation into still life's holiday 2010 collection. be sure to add still life on facebook for continual updates on what's new at the store, and visit more of nic vandergugten's other works on his blog, here.

we hope to see all of our still life friends & family at the store tonight at 6:00pm for the 2010 johnson street holiday food drive.

hot on the heels of the ultra-successful inaugural johnson street festival comes another reason to love the end of summer: RIFFLANDIA 3!!!

the best $65 you can spend in september (back to school textbooks puhleeease) will get you an all access wristband to the 157 artists performing at the third annual rifflandia festival in victoria. still life boutique is proud to once again sponsor one of the only victoria music festivals with any staying power, and this year looks to be the best yet. the rifflandia crew covers all their bases by offering a stunning rifflandia festival guide (available for free at still life!), a once-a-year rifflandabrau from phillips brewery, their wristband connect program (that gets you killer discounts at all participating stores, including still life!) and most of all, the music!

we're happy to help make this event happen for the third year in a row, we can already feel the excitement building as artists start to pop into victoria to check out their venues and plan their concert circuit. last year we had hot hot heat, jets overhead, k-os, tegan & sara and heaps of other local musicians stop through the shop to say hi, so don't be a stranger come the third week of september when downtown transforms itself into rifflandia, bc.

we've got a huge event for victoria coming up this saturday! for the first time ever, the 500 & 600 blocks of johnson street will be closed off to vehicles creating a giant community block party: the first ever johnson st fest!

join us all day as we move our sale to the street and our community offers tons of fun events ranging from dunk tanks and skate ramps to b-boy contests, fitness bootcamps and heaps of food vendors! the zone 91.3 will be here as well as lucky bar and our favorite dj touchbass. this is going to be lots of fun, bring the whole family, we'll be set to have a wicked day at johnson st fest!

follow the event & read more info at the johnson st fest facebook page.