koLu-licious...

I LOVE a good boutique, me.  

At different points in my life Melrose Ave, King's Road and Spring Street (to name a few) have all held a magnetic attraction for me, for this very reason, and I have spend many delicious hours (not to mention significant chunks of my paycheck) indulging in my passion. Luckily, Kelowna is no slouch in this department. There are loads of great shopping experiences to be had, and my only (small) complaint is that I can't believe I have somehow managed to live here for a whole year without koLu popping up on my radar.  Luckily, this was recently rectified while doing research for the spring issue of ICON's fashion pages.

The boutique is a bit tucked away in Spall Plaza (perhaps why it escaped my attention for so long), but if you look for London Drugs and then jog to the left, you will find a truly big city shopping experience, with good reason; Kolu also has a location in Venice Beach, LA and is soon to open a new store in Calgary. 

KoLu is filled to the brim with great labels, and offers both more casual as well as full on fashion looks, and also has some of the best shoes in Kelowna. The boutique brings in hand picked footwear, clothing and accessories from labels around the globe, with merchandise arriving weekly from NY, Paris, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Toronto, Germany, France, Belgium, LA, Australia, and Korea. Sarah Pacini is one of my new favs, and I am super-stoked that Sigerson Morrison shoes are to be had.

One of the other great things about koLu is that it is manned by great 'stylists' who are totally a) knowledgeable and b) helpful, while being very pleasant indeed. And let's face it, we pretty much always need an educated second opinion when buying clothes, no?

koLu: 118-1950 Harvey Ave; Kelowna, BC; V1Y 8J8
Phone: 250 861 5658
Hours: Mon - Wed10:00 am - 6:00 pm; Thu - Fri10:00 am - 7:00 pm; Sat10:00 am - 6:00 pm; Sun12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Website: http://www.kolu.ca/shop

Spring Forward...

With spring comes sunshine, daffodils and a whole new fashion season. What better way to celebrate the latter than by shooting some of the best that Kelowna has to offer, with some of the best that Kelowna has to offer, for some of the best Kelowna has to offer.

I love a good fashion shoot, and when it is promoting local talent and products, even better. The clothes came from local boutiques koLu, La Bonne Vie, Justin Paul Fashions, Jigsaw, and MacDermott's Men's Wear, topped off with some great eyewear from Wink i Wear; we also sourced a great new wooden handbag line being distributed locally called Nussbags.

Then we got together local talent like photographer Caitlyn Chapman, make up artist Sheleah Jay Bradley from SJB Make-up, hair stylist Alyssa from AMP Hairstyling, and models Emilee and Dayton from local agency Deja Vu Model Management. And all of this in aid of creating the spring fashion pages for the next issue of Kelowna-based lifestyle magazine 'Icon Okanagan'.

How great is it that the Okanagan has this kind of talent pool, and these kind of resources to pull from. The results were fabulous and the photos will be featured in the next issue of Icon, which will be out around town (and towns up and down the Okanagan) in mid-August.

Really... What better way to spend a Friday night?!