School’s in: leather-clad teacher leads this year’s Toronto Star Best Dressed list

School’s in: leather-clad teacher leads this year’s Toronto Star Best Dressed list

Now that we’re all hot for teacher, the Toronto Star has broken from tradition somewhat in making this year’s Best Dressed cover girl not a couture-clad socialite but a smokin’-hot leather-clad schoolteacher. Sure, Maria Barsali and others chosen for the spread have been seen around the scene, but the real-life jobs of the sartorially splendid this year are downright refreshing.

We have a crop of doctors (though two are fashion doctors, i.e. dermatologists, and one is a semi-pretend doctor, i.e. a naturopath), a pair of jewellery designers (although Maryam Keyhani doesn’t appear to be wearing any of her own stuff, sadly), a lawyer (even if she is dressed like Avril Lavigne), a realtor, an engineer and a “communications trainer.”

Also appreciated were the “Grand Dames,” a crop of older ladies working well into their 60s and 70s. We love the adventurousness of Anna Dan’s Mary Katrantzou photo-print dress, and 74-year-old Carol Pettle’s devil-may-care Haider Ackermann chic (that pose, though: ouch!). Debbie Carver and Gail Harcourt also won us over with their ear-to-ear grins. This group actually seemed like a tribe, while the “Wonder Girls” seemed pretty arbitrary.

More cohesive was the crop of dandy dudes, which included our very own Goods editor Kevin Naulls, whose beard has never looked so luscious, in spite of the Top Model–esque pose. For those who didn’t make it this time around: 2012’s Best Dressed list is a mere 12 months away—better take note and get styling.

These 31 people are Toronto’s Best Dressed [Toronto Star]