Convey
Convey is a boutique that offers different and trendy styles if you're looking to upgrade your wardrobe. They stock a line of unique fashion predominately from Australian and New Zealand designers that are hard to find in the city.
There are also designers from New York, Los Angeles and Israel, but it's the Australian designers that captured the fashion hearts of owners Jennifer Shotbolt and Daniela Figliomeni.
They met in the industry and decided to go into business together after noticing an absence of really great international fashion representation in Toronto. "There's a lot of the same. Same designer. Same products, and we had a passion for Australian designers," says Figliomeni.
Shotbolt and Figliomeni were invited to Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Australia where they found and sourced most of the designers they work with. 26 in total. But the project of finding designers is ongoing and they're always searching for "the next best thing." They find Australian designs exciting because it's directional, passionate and often a year ahead of fashion trends in Canada.
I'm impressed at the sheer size of the store (it's huge!) and the fashion sensibilities and choices of two fashion lovers who are under the age of 25! Racks of clothes are beautifully displayed along a white hallway with the dramatic and colourful presented at the front of the store. Shoes, leather and knits at the back.
I fall instantly in love with the metallic Ecstasy Loafer by Extraordinary Ordinary Day ($398) by designer Ash Lim. They're perfectly pointed at me as I sit and talk to the duo about fashion and the trends they notice amongst shoppers in their prime Queen Street location.
The sheer beauty of the clothes is that they are designed for trans-seasonal weather. So, you can wear a piece throughout the year. But, it's not just fashion that the girls are eager to display.
They have also partnered with local Toronto brands including Daily City Train which makes photo coasters of Toronto, and Chaga "Magic" Mushroom tea team from Anti Vice Juicery . The store also has its own line of candles aptly titled 'Convey.'
The word Convey stuck with Shotbolt and Filiomeni as they were deciding on store names, as it perfectly represents how they think about fashion - everyone has a message to convey, and you can do it through fashion.
Georgia Alice is a favourite for Figliomeni and Shotbolt because of her raw, edgy and feminine fabrics in masculine silhouettes and Lucy McIntosh for her elegant, classic style.
You can find essentially trendy and chic designs at Convey, like bold prints from Australian native Hayley Elsaesser ($220), jumpers, leather crop-tops from Jennifer Kate ($308) and leather bags from Israel label Medusa ($138). As well as a great selection of jackets from Thursday Sunday ($408).
Photos by Hector Vasquez