Germany’s Gerry Weber opens up shop in Yorkdale
The flagship Gerry Weber womenswear store officially opens in Yorkdale Shopping Centre on Wednesday and is so new it isn’t even listed on the shopping centre’s directory, so I have to ask the information guru for directions.
Founded in 1973 in Germany, it is a moderately priced brand targeting women 30 and up with clothing, accessories, leather goods and footwear. There is already a shop in Toronto at Yonge St. and Summerhill Ave., but it is a franchise. This is their first corporate store in Canada, with eight more locations slated to open in the GTA.
Sizing runs 4 to 16 and, since it is a German brand, the cuts are more generous. Shoes run under the $200 price point and boots hover just above it. I gravitate to a pair of tan caged sandals.
Staffer Veronica, who becomes my personal shopper, pulls out a blinged T-shirt emblazoned with “Beautiful Girl,” which is not as trying-too-hard icky as it sounds. It has an image of a woman on it who’s a ringer for Liv Tyler, is totally rock ’n’ roll and only sets you back $89. It is paired with a nylon anorak and works. I cover the place clockwise. There’s everything from jeans to little black dresses with a heavy concentration of tops. It is like comfort food, but nothing here will put you into calorie shock.
A zebra-striped and beige cotton-print oversized top with pleats at the back is $99. A tank is a tank is a tank, except when it is edged in lace. The attention to detail and finishing on the pieces is impressive. This is not disposable clothing.
There are the basics, such as a versatile navy swing coat, and then there are the go-for-it funksters, including a grey metallic biker jacket. For the cat ladies: leopard pants and leopard pencil skirts.
A coral blazer with no lining goes anywhere; crisp cotton shirts available in three different polka-dot colours are spot-on for business or on the beach with jean shorts. Silk drawstring pants are super comfy and accommodate a multitude of body types. A colour-block tunic with a drawstring bottom camouflages problematic hips.
The Yorkdale store carries two of the five Gerry Weber lines: the signature Gerry Weber and Taifun, which caters to the younger demographic. A fun Taifun piece is a brown biker jacket in vegan leather with cotton inserts marked at $379.
Got a summer wedding to go to? There is a beautiful floral silk sheath dress for $299 that has your name all over it and won’t make you look like the mother of the bride. I have a “come-to-mama” moment myself with a blush metallic short-sleeved T-shirt.
But for a complete no-brainer: a black cape cut shorter at the front and dipping deeply into a V-neck at the back, priced at an affordable $129. I am such a cape crusader, I might have to go back for one. ritazekas@rogers.com