let's get cooking!

recipe for spring:

take one pair gold shoes, one grey tee shirt, one black belt, and one purple purse. mix together with either black leggings or a black high wasited skirt, and ladies, stir together, let simmer, and ta-da: one hot spring outfit.

hoi bo gold foil tee with hand painted colours, 49
hoi bo belt, 125
nokomis vintage short boots, 35
ashley watson tern bag, 370

designer tote!

everytime i glance over at this bag, i have a little giggle to myself:

hoi bo designer tote, 49 (the closest (and cheapest) most of us will ever to come to the hermes birkin bag)

biko designs

new pieces from biko arrived earlier this week! i finally had some time to snap a few photos (busy week: watching the olympics and eating (newly discovered) gluten free/dairy free/soy free donut's (could life get any better?)). anyway, check out these beauties:


cluster necklace, 79 [confession: corrine from biko comes up with great names for her pieces, this one had 'french' in the title, but, well, i'm posting this from home right now, and i'm blanking on everything. so, we're just going to have to stick to my boring names. sorry.]


horse cameo necklace, 69


keys cluster necklace, 78

black crown necklace, 69


filigree heart necklace, 69


this one is my favourite! the harmonica necklace (yes! it's a harmonica!), 95. and, yes, it reads: little lady, and yes, it is a working harmonica, and yes, a heart clasp. necklaces just don't get better than this.

and while i was at it, i snapped a few photos of the outfit on the model, cause, gosh, it's a good one.

lily & jae sanderson shirt, 84 (available in white, too)
hoi bo belt, 125



the belt can be worn as a hip or a waist belt, it's the most versatile belt we've ever had! just poke the metal nobs thru the notches, and you are good to go. one size fits most.

birds of north america

hayley, the lovely and talented designer of birds of north america, shipped us some spring goodies! kristena had to try them all on immediately, of course, and i think i'm going to take my turn today! check out these beautiful dresses:

caspian tern dress, stripe 154

comorant skirt, black 154
plover dress, black 184 (and it would look lovely with ashley watson's plover bag!)

rock wren dress, green pattern 195

isn't this one pretty! it slays me! willet dress, blue 184

i'm just about to open up our first box from body bag. i'll try to post pictures of the teasures, alogn with our new bag line: Hoi Bo! three cheers for spring! also: heads up, you might want to leave March 11 open, from say 4 to 9 pm. just saying.

waiting game

last week we received new preloved, osei-duro, and some new styles from cinder + smoke. this week, we are PATIENTLY waiting for: dresses and skirts from Birds of North America, beautiful bags from Hoi Bo, tops and pants from Bodybag, and more, all set to arrive this week. eeeeiii. we'll let you know as soon as it arrives!

osei-duro

BIG NEWS! Nokomis has been selling exclusively Canadian designed and produced clothing and accessories for 7.5 years, nothing has made me budge on that stance. My favourite Canadian designer moves to Germany? Nope. A well selling Canadian line moves production to turkey? No way. A Toronto based line has their knits produced in china? As if. We're a Canadian store, and one of the few shops in Canada that has the bragging rights to be exclusively Canadian. Most will carry a lot of Canadian, but will have a few lines that are produced outside of our beautiful country. And that's okay, but we have always clung dearly to our bragging rights. Until now . . .

First, let me say: even though we bent the rules for this one line, I am still going to say we are a exclusively Canadian designed and produced clothing boutique. That might make me a tiny liar, but I think you'll understand soon enough.

Many moons ago we carried a line of clothing called Hastings & Main, designed by Maryanne Mathias. It was a beautiful collection, though I can't say it did super well with the customers. It did do super well with the noko staff. I own four pieces from that first collection, and they all still get regular rotation, four years later. I know Elizabeth, Tara, Genevieve and Miranda all own pieces from that collection too. We ate it up, like cake.

Anyway, Maryanne has teamed with Molly Keogh, and together they have a clothing line called Osei-Duro. While designed by Canadians, this clothing line is produced in Ghana, Africa. The mission of their clothing line is:

to create socially responsible and sustainable clothing that encourages international/intercultural cooperation. The designers integrate West African textiles with a contemporary Western approach to clothing design.

Mathias and Keogh work directly with the West African garment workers who produce the clothing. This allows the designers to pay their employees an equitable wage and observe high quality standards.

Osei-Duro’s designs use mainly natural (non-petroleum-based) materials such as hand-spun cotton and the garments are often hand-dyed. The final result is both structured and fluid.

They work with two women's cooperatives in Ghana, which you can read about on their website: www.oseiduro.com. While this clothing line isn't produced in Canada, it does follow the Nokomis tradition of honouring and respecting women. Nokomis, which means Grandmother in Ojibwa, was choose to show our respect and gratitude for all women who came before us. I think the Osei-Duro line empowers both the woman working at the cooperatives in Ghana, along with allowing Maryanne and Molly the opportunity to learn from these woman about Ghana culture and tradition, all while learning about international clothing production, on a small scale. Maryanne is currently pursing her MBA in Vancouver, and Molly spends much of her time in Ghana working closely with the two women's cooperatives.

Anyway, I could go on and on. But perhaps I should show you the spring 2010 collection! It's full of colour and amazing fabrics. I couldn't resist! Check it out:

this is what the package looked like when i arrived. i had my doubts that our full order could fit in that tiny package, but apparently molly has master packing 101.

oversized tank, 85, shown in black under rock

oversized tank, 85, shown in blue and is also available in nebula tie dye

cropped tank, 74, shown in nebula tie dye, also available in black under rock

togo top, 130 shown in lavender/blocks and also available in black funeral. back view:

sachel top, 149, shown in black, also available in nebula tie dye:



Ginger the Cat was in the shop yesterday, so we had to snap a few photos of her.

Anyway, there are only 30 pieces of this new collection, and once they're gone, they're gone. So come in soon to check them out!

millicent jewelry

we recently received new jewels from the apple of my eye, miranda watson. miranda, who used to spend all her days here at nokomis, has started making jewelry under the label Millicent. Check out her blog: www.millicentjewelry.blogspot.com to see what she has been up too. Adeline took photos of a few of Miranda's new pieces:

'Not Your Curtain Tassel" earrings, 54


'Daydreaming" necklace, 79


'Bird on Chain' earrings, 54


'Musing Stevie' necklace, 79


'Merging Mirage' necklace, 79

in total we got in 9 neckalces, and 5 earrings (all tassels!). all earrings are 54 and necklaces range from 59-79. i hope you love them as much as i do!

also, was this anyone elses favourite book?

Come Work for Us!

We're looking for another shop girl (or guy!) to join the noko family! It's a part-time position, about 15 hours a week, with the option of more hours down the road. You'll need to have availability on the weekends, as well as weekday availability (from at least 2pm on, though ideally full availability a day or two a week). The ideal candidate will be a social butterfly, who is hard working, loves styling other people, is self-motivated, energetic and can work independently. This is for a sales position, so past sales experience is an asset, though not required.

Please submit your cover letter and resume to the shop, or else via email: mail@nokomisclothing, the sooner the better! Thank you!

VALENTINES CONTEST WINNER!

First, a big thank you to everyone who submitted romantic video clips. This was one of my favorite weeks ever, watching all of your submissions. We will for sure be holding more contests on the blog, so keep checking back! I love contests! Fun! Maybe we'll have a guess the jelly beans one or something.

Okay, so, now: the winner. Kristena, Adeline and myself (Jessica), poured over the videos and basically evaluated which clips tugged at our heart strings the most. And, in an 2-1 vote, the winner is (drum roll, please!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeLgjGEBWcY

There is a $50 gift certificate waiting for you at the shop! Congratulations and thanks for making us bawl like babies. Waaa!

And just a reminder that the Valentine's Sale is on till Monday (12-5pm), which means 15% off everything! Also, this week we should be getting in new stock, Preloved is shipping more dresses and god only knows what else will arrive at our door. Everytime the canada post lady walks thru the doors it's like Christmas!

Thanks again for all of your videos! We love you! Happy Valentines Day! xox.

valentine's decor!

we did a little decorating the other day, along with new window displays! a big thank you to elizabeth for lending us her adorable cloth hearts. they make the store oh so adorable and lovely. xox.