I can still remember watching an episode of Opening Soon that featured Melissa Austria and her new store Gotstyle. This was 2005, it was this new men’s concept store launching in Toronto that featured a selection of men’s contemporary brands and suiting (some known and many unknown in Canada); it also had a tailor and classic barber shop on site (a concept ripped off by many a Toronto retailer these days). What was interesting was that Melissa chose to launch in one of the least fashionable/fashion retail neighborhoods – King West. And it was on a second floor with no direct street access or windows.
At the time, I was working in fashion retail, for a Canadian fashion icon, and I remember my VP and I discussing this new player entering the marketplace. His only comments: How would people find it? How would this place even survive? He thought Melissa was crazy. I thought she was brilliant – she was picking a neighborhood where men needed the most help getting dressed for their high paying careers. She had the right amount of guts and insight to make this thing work.
Well, people did find it and it thrived. In fact, this year it celebrates 10 years: two locations (62 Bathurst St. – not far from the original location and 21 Trinity St. in the Distillery), an online shop and now an in-house magazine. Many people credit the success of the store for tapping into the metrosexual wave that was slowly entering the mainstream but I would counter that Melissa was much further ahead of her time than that. She was tapping into a wave that was yet to come still – the gentleman (or the dandy). While the metrosexual was often distilled in the media down to a short checklist of vanities, like skin care products, scented candles and costly, colorful dress shirts and pricey designer jeans, Gotstyle pushed a slightly more gentleman aesthetic with fine tailored suits and straight razor shaves. Melissa was bringing Pitti Uomo to Toronto before most men had even heard of Pitti. Pity for them but lucky for Toronto, they had Melissa. They Got style’d.