HARLOW BLACK 594 Markham, 647-346-7899
I wouldn’t normally suggest that you have to dress up to shop, but I’m making an exception for Harlow Black. The vintage clothing salon, in a restored Mirvish Village Victorian, is the new home of Ashlene Roberts’s fabulous frock collection, and you’ll feel horribly sloppy flipping through her racks in anything less than your Sunday best.
[rssbreak]
Not that you actually get to flip. Though you can browse through dozens of everyday vintage dresses from the 50s and 60s in the store’s back room, Harlow Black’s specialty items, barely worn custom frocks and high-end designer pieces with a distinctly old Hollywood feel, are brought to you as you sit sipping Perrier on an antique settee in the dressing room.
As are the beaded bags, fancy heels and sparkling costume jewellery you’ll need to complete that special-occasion look or, you know, a smart ensemble to wear the next time you go shopping.
Michael Watier
Harlow Black picks: Roberts’s dream red-carpet wardrobe starts with a sheer black ruffled dress, $1,500 load on layers of pearl and Swarovski crystal necklaces, $350 for the collection you could use a little more sparkle, so slip into some sequin pumps, $150.
Look for: A day dress collection still marked at the unbeatable $40-and-up price point carried over from Roberts’s old Spa_ce Vintage boutique.
Hours: Monday to Sunday noon to 7 pm.
