Y’all Q1 2025 snatched my wig and energy! At least my bald spots have finally grown in lmao. My apologies for the lateness of the quarterly newsletter.
Winter has been wintering this year. If you're in Toronto or many parts of Canada, we got a ton of snow. The blanket of snow was so much fun and infected me with a childish glee.
The winter uniform of Torontonians and to an extent other Canadians is a black parka (with fur around the hood) and good boots of any brand - Columbia, Rudsak, Wuxly, Sorrel, Ugg winter boots, Kamik, etc. It reminds me of several years ago when André Leon Talley had come to Toronto via AGO for the screening of the film “The Gospel According to André Leon Talley” which had a Q&A session. Someone in the audience asked him what he thought of Toronto fashion (lmaooo) - he was diplomatic but said he found the number of parkas fascinating.
This made me reflect on why everyone has a black parka for the most part. After an afternoon of pondering and observing on the streetcar on my way to work, I realized It's pretty simple. We get minus 20 days regularly which means you need a good parka. Good parkas are at the least $300CAD and you need it for a long time. A black parka just makes sense - you can play with the style but not have to worry about it being out of date and it's easy to clean too. However, this doesn’t let everyone off the hook with those dismal dull winter accessories - y’all need to start incorporating some colourful scarves, mittens and hats!
Thinking of Andre Leon Talley leads me to how wonderful Black History Month was this year! I saw so many posts about Black History that went beyond the standard fair, people other than myself posting about Black Canadian History. The Grammy’s actually awarded the correct people - shout out to Béyonce, Doechii and Kendrick. Then Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl, plus reading kids books about Black-History to lil chicken; I get warm fuzzies just thinking about it!
I’m going to take a minute to vent - I want Black-owned brands to succeed and they can’t do that by simply being a Black-owned brand. The product has to be good - whatever the category it's in. For fashion/style I find that the options are on a wide spectrum. Personally, I don’t need another graphic t-shirt and streetwear isn’t my style. On the other end we have brands like Christoper John Rogers which I love (they are my style) but the cost is steep! I wish there was more of an in-between, especially in Canada.
Here are some Toronto/Canada based Black-owned brands that I really like:
*Brand’s I’ve purchased from
As we venture closer to false spring we’ll be in the below zero (Celsius) one day a plus 10 the next day, this is a reminder to not put away your winter stuff just yet. March is historically the month of snow-rain mixes and general slush. This is where layering is your friend. Now one of the downsides to layering can be that bulky feeling - which I despise. This is where I will recommend my favourite layering pieces - Uniqlo Heattech.
From the tank tops to long sleeves they are my favourite for layering. They keep you very warm and make layering a breeze because the pieces are fairly thin. Also they last forever! I’ve had my 2 heat-tech tank tops, long sleeve scoop neck and faux turtleneck for over 6 years and they are in great shape, colour hasn’t faded and they are just as warm as when I first purchased them.
Before I sign off, if you’ve been following me on instagram you’ll know I’ve been obsessed with the song 4 Kampé by Joé Dwèt Filé. Other songs I’ve had on repeat:
Get Down On It by Kool & The Gang
Now since this is supposed to be a quarterly newsletter and I’m super late so, I’m going to do a Spring Newsletter for April/May.
Have a good week!
Chau,
Yateh