British Invasion- One Weekend Only!

Because of our close ties with the Motherland, the UK's Topshop is slated to do big business with fashion-conscious Torontonians. The Brits are set to invade Yorkdale's The Bay this fall.

No doubt pieces designed by supermodels like Kate Moss and world-renowned artists such as Stella Vine

will be snatched up by die-hard British and European fashion followers, avid readers of NYLON and those looking for a place to shop with a little more fashion cred than the established Swedish retailer H&M.

This weekend, Topshop teases summer shoppers with a pop-up shop at Queen and Soho streets.

The High Street retailer will compete against lower-range clothing outlets such as the aforementioned H&M and the mid-range priced stores like Urban Outfitters.

Perhaps after carefully researched sales reports and consumer trend forecasting, Topshop will expand to stand-alone stores in Canada and even take the format of their other stores worldwide. Many of the Topshop locations cater to other lifestyle needs of their typical customer. The Oxford Street flagship in London boasts a nail bar, a one-hour tailoring service, couriers on chic Vespa scooters and a hair salon.

A one-stop shop for a complete Topshop look. Sounds like smart branding at the highest level.

Head down to Queen and Soho June 17-19

Friday from 12-8pm

Saturday 10am-8pm

Sunday 10am-5pm

Dress in your best to shop the capsule collection- Tommy Ton- FLARE's resident street style photographer and ADR's favourite sidekick curated the shop. The fashionista with the best Toronto street style will win a $500 shopping spree and a personal shopper at the VIP opening of the store this September.

Kate Crashes Yet Another Site

I sit here trying to refresh the REISS page in vain- most likely with countless other Kate Middleton style-watchers. This has happened before... during the intense speculation that Libelula was to design the dress for the wedding of the century, their website crashed and the name of the brand become one of Google's most searched keywords. Most notably, it occurred after Kate wore a deep navy Issa wrap dress to the official announcement of her engagement to Prince William. Issa's site was down and department stores everywhere were bidding to carry the dress to make up for demand.

The REISS site is currently taking forever to load thanks to the Duchess of Cambridge's appearance today in a dress by the label to meet with the Obamas at Buckingham Palace. REISS' Twitter account sporadically sent out messages pleading with potential buyers for their patience while their web team attempts to cope with "unprecedented demand". What "unprecedented demand" I ask? We have known about Kate's affection and loyalty to a few select brands for a while now. In fact, she has worn REISS before, at the occasion of her formal portrait sitting with Mario Testino at the end of last year. In my opinion, all fashion houses championed by the newly minted Duchess should be better prepared to handle the massive attraction and the web traffic that comes with it. Issa, Reiss, Alice Temperley, Whistles and L.K. Bennett among others should consider themselves warned. This "Shola" dress that Kate opted to wear for this official visit with the American President and the First Lady is a structured bandage dress with a modern silhouette at a length the Duchess has become very comfortable with- just above the knee. It is a modern version of a multi-purpose shift dress with cap sleeves that accentuated her Seychelles-bronzed figure and it will only set you back £175, roughly $340. Kate's fondness of the High Street shops in London reflect her sense of style- classic with an element of trend (here, the beige shift dress is classic and the trendy element would be the bandage aspect) and most of all, we have seen many of her selections at a price point many of us laypeople can relate to.

Photo Credits: www.elle.co.uk and www.thedailymail.co.uk