Inside the Cribs of Canada's Cool Girls

A millennial multi-hyphenate—model, blogger and finance VP!—creates a gleefully cluttered Toronto pad: Finance whizzes aren’t generally known for being models, let alone stylesetters, but 31-year-old Amy Patel isn’t like most math-geek types. The Coveteur was so inspired by her hobby fashion blog, Les Best, it asked if Patel would model for the site, which in turn led to a mannequin gig with Hudson’s Bay. “I wouldn’t say I’m a model. I’m a muse, though the whole thing doesn’t makes sense to me yet,” she laughs. While her day job uses her left-brain logic, Patel’s blog and home spark her right-brain creative side: “My entire life is encompassed by art,” she explains. Her space, a 2,000-square-foot four-level townhouse in Toronto’s boho Kensington Market, is filled with quirky and thoughtful pieces. “A lot of people in finance work in a concrete jungle; I wanted a fun, diverse neighbourhood with charm, so I could feel like I was getting away from all that.” While the home’s layout is clean-lined and contemporary, its jumbled contents are the opposite: random stacks of books and bright canvases (all painted by Patel) make for a tangled nest of vintage, new and DIY items. She says, “My house is so eclectic and chaotic, but I feel my brain is like this, too.”