Superstar, demanding for respect, bringing classics, and hip urban shoes, Adidas has carved itself a comfortable space in our top-of-mind go-to brands for casual shoes. Their new colourful skate shoe has been introduced with the hopes of youth everywhere rocking this colourful mosiac of striped shoes. My opinion is that they’ve just reworked the old into a portrayal of the new. But who am I kidding, if I had size 5 feet and a matching kid-like stature I’d be out rocking these.
> image courtesy of nylonmag.com

Poised on the cover of New York Times Magazine, Tyra Banks has commanded waves of attention as the next biggest iconic woman of this generation.
I have to admit that I’ve admired her entrepreneurial capabilities for quite some time. Most fashionistas are convinced that despite her fame and fortune, she lacks style and substance. I refuse to believe it.
Sure she repeatedly abuses the waistbelt trend (something her and I share), but the woman still knows how to work the industry, her ideas, and most importantly herself.
Go you Bankable woman.

You’d think the bolder the better with our beloved primary colour red, but it seems that the faded has made a comeback. Rather than wearing your own aged and preloved shirts, you can now purchase high quality shirts lacking colour from fine retailers this season.
I’m personally not a fan of this frugal use of dye - who’s with me?
> image courtesy of clubmonaco.com

Once in awhile I come across a style that’s seemingly outlandish in cheer, but just peppy enough to catch my eye. ESPE is a brand that I consider my find for The Spring Clothing Show - their striking bags and colourful accessories are unique and crafty, perfect for brightening up your day.
Based out of Richmond Hill, Ontario, ESPE aims to be an animal friendly, high quality, and versatile line. In a way, it brings me a great deal of nostalgia to see colourful pvc flowers stitched onto more pvc. …

As an emerging force in the Toronto fashion industry, Adrienne Butikofer has proven herself a designer to watch for. With ‘TFI New Label’s Competition Finalist’ and ‘NOW Magazine Designer Grand Prize Winner’ titles under her belt, her sense of fashion design is tremendously original and fine in styling. With focus on vintage-gone-modern and blending menswear into her feminine clothing line, Butikofer is a highly wearable and lively brand to embrace. Check out the Q&A after the jump.

The Relaxed
R by 45RPM Sorahiko – Inspired by the vintage American workwear, R by 45RPM creates jeans for the hardcore denim-head. The Sorahiko is 45RPM’s mid range jean and although they are relaxed through the leg they still retain a sharp classy silhouette. If you care about quality craftsmanship and details these are the jeans to buy. With hidden rivets, chain stitching, and selvedge denim, what more can you ask for? $330 - http://www.rby45rpm.com/
The Straight
Kicking Mule Workshop 2010 – Want a manly jean for a manly …

Things have been pretty busy lately, I’ve been trying to get as much stuff planned for UB as possible and so slowly but surely you’ll see UrbaneBloc go through a transitional phase.
I’m not going to share what’s up and coming, but you’ll be sure to notice that things will grow for the better.
Ps - Interested in being a writer? Tell me about it.

I’ve been thinking heavily about investing in a blackberry sometime soon (frugal fashion fiend aside), in order to keep up with my never ending to do lists and my neglected email inbox.
The new Blackberry Bold is now on prominent display - the most notable difference being the glamorized hardware (satin chrome bezel and leather-like backing). The Bold boasts extremely functionality in a portable frame.
What’s so great about this Crackberry anyway?

624 MHz processor
A half-VGA (480 x 320 resolution) color LCD
1GB of on-board storage
Bluetooth 2.0
2-megapixel camera with video recording capability, built-in …

I’ve always regarded this brand as a fabulously innovative one - I adore the play with colour, the wonderfully playful clothing (without being tacky), and how the designer can truly showcase her versatility in not only creating pieces for heavy casual wear, but also a range which includes transitional clothing from day to night.
While I’ve never been a fan of the fabricated label names (meaning alice & olivia is really neither alice or olivia, but rather just Stacey Bendet, a trained business woman), I really love the personality and …

Why must so many designers adopt fashion label names that have nothing to do with their actual names? Elizabeth & James has been created to mask the twin designers, the Olsen Twins. You’d think that with their iconic fashion stylings and heavy weight fame, they would come up with something trendier than a whole thwart of garish pieces for their Fall ‘08 line. I feel somewhat moved by their ‘high end’ line, The Row. The Row projects an embarrassingly bland style…contrastingly, Elizabeth & James is just so outlandish that …