Canadian fashion designer Paul Hardy has always come up with cool and interesting ways to bring attention to his creations and his unique design aesthetic, while at the same time placing focus on Calgary’s fashion scene. In 2012, the well-known and respected Calgary-based designer brought attention to the city when he celebrated his 10th anniversary and held a legendary weekend-long celebration where fashion insiders from across the country came to Calgary to help celebrate. And this year Hardy is helping to bring a new fashion sense to the Calgary Stampede with CS Mercantile, a range of urban western lifestyle product lines Hardy helped bring together.
The partnership is about bringing a new design sense to the long standing Calgary tradition. This past weekend, Hardy hosted an open house to preview the CS Mercantile concept store, located in his studio, featuring western inspired products and clothing (for both women and men), like super stylish western shirts, cowboy boots, hats, belts and other cowboy-esque accessories curated by the talented designer. You also can still view Paul’s signature collection – which is incredible as always (his technique in bringing various fabrics and materials together is incomparable).
There’s a tongue-in-check approach to CS Mercantile that’s both fancy and fun. And the product lines aren’t limited to just western wear for men and women. The unique collection of goods includes everything from hand-made jewellery lines with a western twist (there was a very cool ‘hand-cuff’ bracelet), children’s clothing and accessories, home decorations, gifts and incredible original artwork by Calgary artist Jane McCloy. Items like bourbon-infused maple syrup and rubber duckies embossed with the CS Mercantile logo demonstrate the partnership is a light-hearted approach to celebrating the Calgary Stampede in a new and more stylish way than ever before.
CS Mercantile officially launches on July 3 at Stampede Park and online but you can preview the collection now at Paul Hardy’s Studio (West Bay #5, 2501 Alyth Road SE) on Tuesdays-Saturdays, from 10 am to 5 pm, until June 28. So, go and check out the very cool CS Mercantile collection and stock up on some new, fancy and stylish urban western merchandise.
Casey Wagar 