Fashion Goes to the Dogs
Feast-Cold Corn Soup
M0851, purveyor of men’s and women’s leathers and accessories, exudes a continental cool sans the inevitable attendant hauteur.
Their leather goods are of a minimalist style: clean, uncomplicated and never outdated. In fact, I bought the unstructured and supple “weekend bag” way back when M0851 was Rugby North America on St. Thomas St., across from the Windsor Arms Hotel.
The bag is totally weightless and has held up brilliantly. But I have but one minor quibble: the bag’s black fuzzy lining is the Bermuda Triangle for my black undies. That lacy black bra was not back in the hotel room; it was clinging to the nether regions of the bag.
When the brand launched in 1987 in Montreal, the name Rugby North America suggested footballers’ wives and girlfriends (WAGS). It was rebranded about a decade ago to M0851, representing the first initial of the surname, and birth month and year of founder/owner Frédéric Mamarbachi.
The goods are designed and made from Italian leather in Montreal and exported to more than 30 countries. But walking by the Avenue Rd. store (there is also a location in Bayview Village Mall) I am lured inside not by the hides but by the scarf action in the window.
The scarves are made in Italy from 100-per-cent Modal (a type of rayon, a semi-synthetic cellulose fibre) and range in price from $180 to $260. Two speak loudly to me: a blue-and-brown one in a postal stamp print and a plaid alpaca in the men’s section, where I check out an awesome line of down coats in different colours (love the brick red) and waxed cotton for $725.
A casually put-together young dude is shopping for a leather bomber with his Significant Other.
“I would not buy something with the option to dress it up when you only dress up twice a year,” she advises him.
That’s harsh, but point taken.
I hover in the men’s department, lingering over a zip-collar blazer in a coated cotton fabric that looks very Marni for $460. It is washable but feels like leather.
I spot wool, cashmere, leather and shearling gloves, wonderful beanies made from flecked wool for $75, and cuddly wool-mohair blankets available in purple and grey piled up on the distressed leather chairs in the front of the store.
And I fall hard for the $795 Mao jacket, a.k.a. “the kimono perfecto” — which is perfecto indeed, except that it doesn’t come in adult sizing in taupe. Perhaps, they suggest, one can be custom-made for me in Montreal. If so, make it in that delicious grape colour I see on a saleswoman instead.
Though the classic double weekend bag like mine (now about $500) has been a standard for the last 25 years, they have introduced the more structured lines currently in vogue. A hot seller is the structured bag in Hermès orange and at $350, a mere fraction of the Hermès price.
I’m told that the “Vachetta Sellier” equestrian bag is a celeb magnet. It retails between $250 and $400 and will not break the bank. Not that celebs ever worry about incidentals like “it bag” money.
Intimidation factor: Minimal, even though the staffers look impossibly cool in their leathers.
Number of salespeople on floor: Half a dozen or so.
Response time: Immediate. I am bonjour’d upon arrival.
Vibe: Danier Leather meets Roots.
Price range: From $40 for a tiny change purse to $1,500 for a leather parka with fur trim.
Rating: Three graphic postal-print scarves out of four.
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