Toronto Life creates some fashion buzz about high-end battle between The Bay and Holt Renfrew

There's some buzz among fashionistas about an article by Leah McLaren in the upcoming Toronto Life (on newsstands October 14). It's about the battle for high-end fashion supremacy between the traditional top dog, Holt Renfrew, and The Bay, resurgent under new ownership and leadership.

McLaren says of Bonnie Brooks, The Bay's president and CEO:

"Brooks' strategy -- boosted by a well-received Olympic collection -- did not involve selling more stuff to more people but less stuff to the right people in the right markets. She was going after an urbane, fashion-savvy shopper -- the kind of woman who doesn't shop at The Bay unless she's sending her personal assistant to buy a new toaster. The kind of woman, in other words, who shops at Holts."

Curiously, while the story gives as Brooks' background that she started in women's fashion at Fairweather and worked at Holts before moving to Hong Kong to run the Lane Crawford Joyce Group,  it doesn't mention that she started out as editor of Flare magazine from 1994-96.