Post by Kim Bosch Squinting to see spring, but still too creeped out to have your cornea lasered? Ottawa has a few great independent eyeglass stores to frame up your peepers in style. For the practical-minded, there’s Pflug Optical (1580 Merivale), an Ottawa staple for over 30 years. They offer classic shapes with small quirks (e.g. standard rectangle frame in vibrant green). Pflug is a great place for those having trouble picking out frames on their own. Excellent customer service and honest opinions are abundant at this shop. If Elton... | Continue reading article

Just as the Urban Outfitters makes itself comfortable on Rideau, another fashionista Mecca is opening its doors. A tip from The O’Valley blogger Chantsy has revealed that Forever21, an H&M-esque purveyor of fine cheap clothing, will be setting up shop in the Rideau Center. Apparently the store, which will open this September, will take over part of the space of the food court and have its own exit onto Rideau Street. More details are available here from our friends at OpenFile Ottawa, who broke the story a while ago. The Good: More... | Continue reading article

Jes Lacasse is a wardrobe consultant who knows style. She grew up absorbing Vogue, studied costume design and fashion history, and thinks about clothes all the time. Jes does personal styling and shopping for private clients and is taking on the challenge of magazine editorial work. If you have questions about fashion, she wants to answer them — please e-mail her at jes.lacasse@gmail.com. Your Sweet Bippy is where she blogs about clothing, shopping, fashion and cosmetics. She is also known to obsess over clothes on Twitter. One of the cool... | Continue reading article

Head to the end of the post to discover how you and your sweetheart (or your best person) can win two free tickets to the Wed By Hand show! While the weather outside may crush any dreams of summer sunshine and fragrant bouquets, there’s a chance for a sneak preview of the summer wedding season to come on Feb. 6 down at the Glebe Community Centre. Wed By Hand, the DIY wedding show, has returned due to popular demand – and this year, they’re going bigger and better. Similar to... | Continue reading article

Jes Lacasse is a wardrobe consultant who knows style. She grew up absorbing Vogue, studied costume design and fashion history, and thinks about clothes all the time. Jes does personal styling and shopping for private clients and is taking on the challenge of magazine editorial work. If you have questions about fashion, she wants to answer them — please e-mail her at jes.lacasse@gmail.com. Your Sweet Bippy is where she blogs about clothing, shopping, fashion and cosmetics. She is also known to obsess over clothes on Twitter. Hi Jes, I really... | Continue reading article

The people behind Trustfund opened a new store on Feb. 27 with cheaper goods and smaller price tags. (We like). Roadtrip is located right next to the expanded Planet Coffee behind Librairie Le Soleil at 24b York St. The store is bigger, brighter and carries products similar in style to its up scale sibling featuring brands such as Kenzie and Ya rather than Velvet. Most of the goods are under a $100 though the staff said the jeans are more pricey than those at the Sussex Dr. location. We like... | Continue reading article

There are many reasons to buy used or vintage clothing. You can find pieces made with high quality fabrics and exquisite craftsmanship. There’s much less of a chance that you will deal with  a fashion doppelganger. Recycling and being environmentally conscious is fashionable in itself. All the cool kids are doing it. But the best reason of all – how else is a clothes horse like me going to get her fix without risking financial insolvency? Here are the best vendors of previously-owned fashion that we’ve come across so far.... | Continue reading article

“Clothes make the man,” Mark Twain once quipped, “naked people have little or no influence on society.” Shirts, shoes and other accoutrements play an important role in our culture by passing along visual cues on a person’s status, conformity to social norms, activities and even their taste in music. To quote another dead white man (Sir Francis Bacon), “fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living form and social intercourse.” Whether you subscribe to Vogue or deride the latest styles as a capitalists plot, you are in fact... | Continue reading article

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. Jane’s Walk Ottawa is a weekend of free walking tours that celebrate the life and philosophy of urban scholar and activist Jane Jacobs. In the spirit of Ms Jacobs, Apartment613 hosted a walk to help people get to know the personalities behind Ottawa’s newest enclave of cool – Dalhousie Street. It was a beautiful, sunny and cool day – some would say it’s the perfect weather to walk around the city. A crowd of about 50 folks from old to young joined us for our “not... | Continue reading article

Editor’s Note: The (Great) Apartment613 Blog Walk is now scheduled for May 2 at 3:00pm. Come out and visit some of our favourite places on Dalhousie St. We’ll be blogging the walk for those of you who can’t attend (but we really think you should!) Jane’s Walk Ottawa is a free series of community walks organized to honor the memory and philosophy of urban scholar and thinker Jane Jacobs. Ottawa has the largest event outside of Toronto, with over 30 walks planned. Walks happen all over the city on May... | Continue reading article