Toronto Pride 2012

Two weekends past was nothing short of fantastic. Riley and I have been attending Toronto Pride for three years in a row now, and every year it just keeps getting better! This year we stayed for three days celebrating and experiencing the excitement and fun of Church Street and everything it had to offer, including vendors, music, people, food and, of course, PRIDE!

Attending the Pride festivities has become an important tradition for us. We both love to show our support for the LGBT rights movement as much as we can and really, showing support is never as much fun as this!

Although we were able to stay in Toronto for the weekend, we were kept very busy by the activities happening around the village so we didn't get many pictures of our outfits specifically. But on Saturday, surprisingly during our busiest day of all, we were able to snap a few pictures of each other's outfits. Saturday was just like the rest of the weekend: stinking hot out. Both of us knew the best clothing to wear for a day like that was as little clothing as possible. I walked around in my black romper, while Riley showed off a more LGBT appropriate 'Fashion Against AIDs' tee.

Of course, the streets were full of people dressed in ridiculous, fabulous, barely-there outfits, but there were a few pictures we were able to snap up. Including the gentlemen below who just wore their wash-board abs (yummy), a lady repping a rainbow corset, our good friend Alli showing off her amazing Adidas, and a man strutting in the most awe-inspiring fascinator we have ever seen -- we won't be attempting to make that any time soon!

I'd also like to take the conversation away from fashion for just a moment to mention that Riley, an avid runner, ran in the Toronto Pride 5k race and did absolutely fantastic! She was able to beat her previous time by more than 30 seconds; what's even more, she got under the 30 minute mark, which is not only astounding but also a personal goal for her! She was able to raise $253 to help aid in LGBT efforts and run her best race yet! Congratulations, Riley, and thank you for your hard work in helping the LGBT community!

After this year, I'm already looking forward to next year (someone start a countdown!) Although this one will be hard to beat, I'm sure every year will only get better and better!

Another update: On Monday I actually left for Spain so the updates on the blog may be a little slow for the next few days, but I assure you I'll update with pictures of outfits and other fun things as much as I can while I'm here! Next week, we assure you we'll return to our regular programming! Bangarang!

- Rebekah Eden

The Velvet Team