She didn’t mean it as an insult, my Toronto friend. She had just observed, from her limited time spent with Haligonians, that there was a certain style, a particular way of pairing dresses with jeans, screenprinted t-shirts with cardigans, that was completely of the city. In her limited Ontario vocabulary, she describes the look as “University of Guelph meets Kensington Market,” which translates loosely to “a laidback, granola-crunchie, vintage-loving bohemian hipster.”
Of course, as designer Akshay Tyagi points out on page 12, there isn’t one Halifax uniform. It varies from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, Saturday night downtown to Tuesday night at Charlie’s. But every city does wear a certain unspoken philosophy on its sleeve and skirt length. If you’re a fan of street style blog The Sartorialist
(thesartorialist.blogspot.com), you can tell when Scott Schuman leaves New York for Milan, just by the cut of the men’s suits. When I travelled to Helsinki, I did not expect to see the psychedelic colours and bizarre combinations captured on their website, Hel Looks (hel-looks.com), outside of the clubs or galleries, but everywhere I turned, women and men of all ages were wearing some of the most adventurous outfits I’ve ever seen.
Halifax street style is not about trends, it’s how we collectively express ourselves. It’s also a matter of history (and the weather). There’s the undeniable creative influence of a downtown art school and a strong music scene. For years, a lack of designer shops meant trips to Toronto or Montreal, and so Haligonians learned how to mix labels with the local cheap stuff. Let’s face it, most of us aren’t exactly making Manolo wages, either. And we don’t have a major financial centre like Bay Street, so we’ve luckily avoided the suit-as-prison-uniform, too. But we’re still pretty conservative, even when our tattoos are showing. For the most part, it’s more casual Sunday brunch than power lunch.
Like the city, though, street style evolves. Slowly we’re giving up our layers of fleece and trackpants (though sadly they’ve been replaced with yoga pants as everyday wear). Haligonians are exploring more local designers and sustainable fabrics. Second-hand isn’t a big deal. Even guys are taking a baby-step of a risk with accessories like vests and hats. Hilary Beaumont’s new street-style blog, Bohemian Town (launching today at bohemiantown.wordpress.com), appropriately named after the lovely Helen Hill short film, really epitomizes what’s happening, capturing the city’s “an aesthetically pleasing approach to anti-style.”
We’re so excited by the momentum, and by what you’re wearing, that Street Style will be a regular feature.
Related Stories
Introducing our Street Style section
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2010.
Looking at those pics on her site, she must’ve chosen the only ones dressing up even remotely. Those people are the exception and a small minority. I’d say Halifax style is bland, casual and mostly sloppy.
I disagree, I don’t think it’s a movement, just something that’s happening. I’ve started carrying a camera around all the time because there are so many great examples of style out there. It’s still somewhat conservative, but more and more people are thinking about what they’re wearing.
How are they hipsters? That’s such an easy punch to throw, clumping people together just because they dress well. Style is a creative outlet, and now more people are making interesting choices when they get up in the morning. Certainly they are still the exception, and not one of them would define style using the words “bland, casual and mostly sloppy.”
Not meaning to start a fight, but since I wrote that post, I went for a walk downtown to either confirm or negate what I wrote. Although there were some people who could be described as having style or at least thinking about what they wore, I still say they were a tiny minority. Mostly, what I saw was this: loose tshirt over baggy shorts, loose tshirt over capris, ill-fitting tank tops ( on different body types) that could’ve stood to be a size larger and the ubiquitous sneakers as the main footwear. All these pieces were either a neutral (hence, my comment of bland) or light colour.
Style is an individual thing, which is good. I really don’t like seeing people who just buy whatever’s in fashion whether it suits their body, or not. That just reeks of blind conformity, but to suggest Haligonians have much style beyond very casual is stretching it a bit.
Bohemian Town doesn’t claim to represent the majority, nor are we trying to start a movement. We don’t dress the people of Halifax, they dress themselves. Fashion is certainly a means of personal expression, and we aim to showcase those whose aesthetic jives with our vision — be they “hipsters”, senior citizens, university students, or anyone else with a sense of style and a positive attitude about Halifax.
Please feel free to send your thoughts directly to us at bohotown@gmail.com — we’ll do our best to respond to every e-mail. Thanks to everyone who has visited the blog thus far — close to 300 of you! Weigh in with your comments on our site, too! Thanks to The Coast as well for making this possible!
Aaron Ward, one of Halifax’s most stylish lads, will soon join Bohemian Town as a regular contributor. He helped with the website and video.
Once again thanks for the support! Please check the blog often for increased content, including more street style photos, profiles of local designers and businesses, contests, and more.
Yours,
Hilary and Aaron
Bohemian Town doesn’t claim to represent the majority, nor are we trying to start a movement. We don’t dress the people of Halifax, they dress themselves. Fashion is certainly a means of personal expression, and we aim to showcase those whose aesthetic jives with our vision — be they “hipsters”, senior citizens, university students, or anyone else with a sense of style and a positive attitude about Halifax.
Please feel free to send your thoughts directly to us at bohotown@gmail.com — we’ll do our best to respond to every e-mail. Thanks to everyone who has visited the blog thus far — close to 300 of you! Weigh in with your comments on our site, too! Thanks to The Coast as well for making this possible!
Aaron Ward, one of Halifax’s most stylish lads, will soon join Bohemian Town as a regular contributor. He helped with the website and video.
One again thanks for the support! Please check the blog often for increased content, including more street style photos, profiles of local designers and businesses, contests, and more.
Yours,
Hilary and Aaron
I like what Bohemian Town is doing. It’s not necessarily my own style, but that doesn’t mean the style is bad. Halifax can be so overwhelmingly casual (and downright unfashionable), that I’m happy to see a blog that is focusing on at least some of the style you see on the streets of this city.
I don’t think the Coast is in any danger of becoming an issue of Seventeen. This is exactly the place to talk about Halifax’s style (or lack of, depending on how you see it).
Interesting analogy: “mix between Guelph and Kensington.”
Could it be because most people who do dress in that way are from Ontario?
PROBABLY.
As a former Torontonian slash former Haligonian, you don’t even know how true the Guelph-meets-Kensington analogy is. Just… spot on. Call it vintage-meets-collegiate, but it’s just… so… true.
If we could get rid of the ridiculously short shorty-shorts (I’m looking at both of you, buys and girls), then I will be much happier about us being crunchie granola hipsters and less actual Kensington Market.
Don’t forget the new-wave Pinup look, too! There are lots of chicks rocking the retro, and lots of guys with smokin’ pompadours and boots…. mmmm.
I think is really great, the coast starting a street style section. Fashion may seen superfluous (or whatever word that is repeated every tenth word in a Henry James novel) BUT people getting a little bit funky and friendly with their fashion translates (usually) in getting a little bit funky and friendly in all other matters. And it rubs off on passer-byers. Lets start having fun Halifax. Lets shock those watching us from the Harbour Hoppers!
And having unfortunately lived in Toronto for to years, and right downtown, and right in the student population – they could never-ever dare critize us for lack of fashion-fun.
PS – However I’ve never had anyone I’ve known in Toronto tell me “Wow, you look really Halifax..”
More like:
“Wow, you look like something the cat dragged in..”
or “Do people from Nova Scotia all dress the way you do because they have no money??”
or “(My name), can you say ‘out and about’ again” …”What?? Did you just say ‘oats in a boat?'”
Or from my Truro-bound mother:
“Are you trying to look like a Russian peasant or something??”
Or from my rural-community:
“Ah! We thought you were a little Mennonite-girl coming up over the hill there!”
Style? If you say so.
Halifax needs a serious hipster cull! Too many hipsters in Halifax these days and they’re destroying the city.
Not gonna lie though, some hipster chicks are hot.
I’m fine with the Hipster look, its the squeegee kid look that grosses me out, possibly more than the sweatpants/ugg look.
The shorty shorts this summer were a nice change from the jean skirt.
I’m off to Montreal in a few weeks to score some fall/winter fashions. Can’t wait. FUD2.
hipster on a budget ; is that the look they are going for? 🙂
Hipsters look like idiots. Plain and simple. Shave your dumbass handlebar mustache. You look like a gay biker from 1975. And bikes with no brakes? This isn’t the prairies and you aren’t Amish. You’re a menace to other people if you don’t have functioning brakes.
Buddy in the pic looks like he got trashed and fell in the dumpster at Value Village.