brand watch: rachel rachel roy & BCBGeneration
Apologies for my lack of posts, but I have recently found myself in central (western?) Canada, in my hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Now, Winnipeg isn’t a glamorous city, and the shopping options are far from endless. So when I had a packing mishap and forgot to bring any high heeled shoes for a grad dinner that I am attending (with Maddy) on Friday, I went on a search for a new pair. This resulted in multiple trips to two different malls, two visits to Osborne Village, and even a little road trip to the U.S. Yesterday I finally found a pair, but the best things I found while out was the BCBGeneration and Rachel Rachel Roy brands at none other than the Bay.
BCBGeneration is the little sister to BCBG, and is targeted to university-aged ladies. The line has everything from casual everyday wear to interview appropriate apparel, and an abundance of party dresses. While a typical BCBG dress would cost upwards of $300, a BCBGeneration dress would be closer to $100.
Rachel Rachel Roy came as a surprise to me as I had never actually heard of Rachel Roy until now. The pieces in the Rachel Rachel Roy lineup are affordable, ranging from $18 to $299 and include outerwear, tops, bottoms, shoes and accessories.
It’s easy to overlook the Bay as a destination for fashionable brands, but maybe under new leadership it will be able to turn itself around.
red mitten memories live on
well now that it’s all said and done, it’s safe to say that the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games were a Canadian success! not only did we win our first gold on Canadian soil (thanks to Alexandre Bilodeau), we also broke the record for most gold medals won by a country, and placed third in the medals standing! AND yes, how could i forget…we beat the USA hockey team in the most epic finale to any Olympic Games yet! all these combined really brought our country together, and even though i wasn’t in Van i felt the love.
someone else who was feeling the Olympic love was The Bay who was successful in in communicating the HBC brand and Canadian spirit much further than our Great White North. with celebrities picking up Olympic gear left, right and center, it’s safe to say that The Bay’s efforts of designing a winning merchandise collection was gold medal worthy. the popularity of the Red Mittens alone, allowed every fan to become a small part of the Vancouver 2010 success!
HBC merchandise highlights:
- Oprah gives away sought after Red Mittens
- Red Mitten Flash Mob
- Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen shop at HBC Superstore
- @Mark_Salling (Puck from Glee) tweets about how “gangsta” HBC is
Park Life for Aritzia – Vancouver 2010 Merch
As Olympic fanatic as I am, the only merch I owned up until this afternoon was a pair of the famous red mittens. But after receiving the above email in my inbox, I knew I should take one last look at what Aritzia had to offer. Glad I did. There was a lot of selection and the markdowns were decent. In the end, I purchased the above for a little over the same price as one of the hoodies from the Bay.
While there is no denying that the Bay did a wonderful job on the merchandise this year, something has to be said for the versatile and understated looks that Park Life produced. While I would hesitate to wear a hoody with a giant “Canada” applique across the chest after the Olympics, I would have no qualms about wearing any of these three pieces after the Olympics.
I am now officially ready for gold medal curling and hockey. Go Canada, Go!
olympic FEVER!
an inside look at the downtown Vancouver Olympic mayhem – pictures courtesy of my lovely cousin Becca, who resides in Van! thanks!
we’ve caught Olympic Fever…and if you are like us, here at GFB, you keep your tv on CTV all day long to keep up with the events.
it would appear that we aren’t the only ones who are completely obsessed with the Games either, because every night during the Olympics The Bay on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver is open til midnight to accomodate for late-night olympic shopping! the line up stretches the entire city block (about an hour wait), and if you are lucky you will get in before all the goods are sold out! even though the “Olympic Superstore” receives a new shipment every morning, the store sells out every night! if you remember I reminded and warned you all to buy your Olympic merch prior to the Games starting, here’s hoping you listened.
i’m thinking i should start taking special orders for Olympic merchandise, since it’s still available here in Toronto…please inquire within.
olympics olympics everywhere
Can’t get enough of the Olympics.
In the February issue of Fashion magazine, Canadian model Liisa Winkler models the Bay’s 2010 Olympic line. Amazing.
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