Summer may be over, but that doesn't mean days spent on the beach have to end. Bragging rights, larger-than-life stories, and adventure awaits you in Southeast Asia and Costa Rica thanks to Beach Travellers.

Founded in Montreal three years ago, with its Toronto store opening earlier this year, it was only a matter of time until WANT Apothecary made its way to the streets of Vancouver. Opening last month in South Granville, WANT is carefully curated by store designers Byron and Dexter Peart, as well as co-founders Mark Wiltzer and Jacqueline Gelber.

What a difference effort makes. This is a love story that is left enough of centre that you might actually pay attention. Did I say "love story?" Because I meant a story of lost love in which Vancouver thespian Paul Anthony expertly projects some aching want right into your soul. Anthem Jackson directs with some gorgeously muted tones that compliment this beautifully lonely song by Colin Cowan & the Elastic Stars to a T. Cleanse that soul. Cleanse it with fire.

Fashion and politics—not a duo that you’d usually pair together. But looking back in history, fashion has been used as a powerful medium for expression, and that’s exactly what the Design Exchange’s Politics of Fashion | Fashion of Politics exhibition focuses on. In partnership with Canadian fashion icon Jeanne Beker, the exhibit spans six decades, with 200 pieces that have ignited political awareness, and simultaneously dictated style through the decades.