Shop The Look: Asian Heritage Month with CTV Your Morning
CTV Your Morning style segment set up by Dapper Style Mint at Sewt studios in Toronto
As we wrap up May, we took the conversation of celebrating Asian-Canadian brands to CTV Your Morning and because we know you want to support these talented creatives here is another edition of shop the look.
Kaya Dorey’s goal is to inspire other brands to start taking more responsibility for the products they are making so that we can shift the fashion industry to a more circular and less wasteful industry. Novel Supply Co only uses the most sustainable and natural fabrics Kaya can find like unbleached hemp and organic cotton because she doesn't want her products to be contributing to micro-plastic waste. Novel Supply Co does small-batch natural dyeing and all their apparel is made ethically and locally in Vancouver. Their take-back program is an additional avenue in taking responsibility for the products they make to ensure they don't end up in the landfill. They also reduce waste by using all their fabric scraps from production for smaller upcycled items or stuffing for pillows.
Kaya is also passionate about collaborating with local artists through limited edition prints.
LEZÉ are creators of recycled work leisure that feels like pajamas on a mission to motivate women to discover freedom while navigating their career journeys. They've recycled things like coffee, fishing nets, and beech trees.
It started from a phone call from Tanya Lee made to Karen Lee (not related) of how inspired Tanya was of Karen who shamelessly wears her Superman PJ's in public. They joined talents and set out to create a line of workwear that was comfortable, presentable, and sustainable.
Fun fact — LEZÉ is pronounced lah-zay, like saying 'lazy' but all fancy.
J.Y Gao earrings from the Sichuan collection
J.Y. GAO is a jewelry brand based in Toronto by Chinese Canadian Emily Gao. Known for their statement jewelry that is light to wear and hard to forget, Emily started designing comfortable statement earrings because she loved wearing statement earrings for work but hated how much they weighed down on her ears. A unique feature of her creations is the movement of the jewelry as the wearer moves which has to lend to a term Emily has coined Kinetic Jewelry -independent moving jewelry that swings, dangle, and oscillates with the movement of the wearer.
The beauty in J.Y. Gao is how Emily takes inspiration from both Canadian and Chinese culture. You can see this in the maple leaf earrings, her love letter to Canada. The earrings move as you move to mimic the way in which a maple leaf falls in the wind. The Chinese influence is evident in the double-sided embroidery earrings hand-sewn by top Chinese embroidery artists using ancient Sichuan embroidery techniques with more than 2000 years of history and practice. Historically, this embroidery was reserved exclusively for the emperor and his court to wear.
Hand-made in Toronto by Jay Cheng, every hat is created with traditional millinery techniques. Jaycow’s Block Common Collection is made for everyone, a Ready-to-wear collection made to elevate the everyday. Jaycow celebrates simple shapes that are accessible to everyone and are both genderless and timeless. The hat shapes are hand-formed using vintage hat blocks from their extensive hat block collection and available in hand dyed custom colours. These exquisite hats can be purchased exclusively on their website or by appointment at their brand new Etobicoke studio.
Jay Cheng has spent 15 years making custom hats and headpieces for special occasions, costume, performance, theatre, film, and television. During the pandemic $25 from every hat sold is donated to Daily Bread Food Bank Toronto.