Stroked Ego

Ottawa’s fashion darling Julia Vorob’eva attended an exclusive fashion presentation at Stroked Ego filled with all of the latest fashions for men.  Julia Vorob’eva is a fashion blogger from The Fashion Keeper and is involved with Blackbook Lifestyle. She interviews local stylists, designers and bloggers, and talks about the latest trends in the world of style and beauty. Here are Julia’s photos from the event and her words with Kevin Martin, owner of Stroked Ego.


If you still think that Ottawa is a boring town, you haven’t seen all the sexy vibe it offered to people recently at Stroked Ego. Urban male boutique hosted an exclusive presentation of Jason Duval’s summer collection of PUMP! underwear.

While men were busy shopping for themselves, ladies could enjoy attractive Angie’s male-models striking statuesque poses in the colour-boosting summer underwear collection.

That night the store was filled with photographers, stylists, bloggers and local celebrities such as: TL Rader, Daytime Ottawa host on Rogers TV, Margaret H. Dickenson, multi-international award winning cookbooks’ author, Gerry LePage, BIA Executive Director, Lee-Ann Lacroix, Ottawa’s best interior decorator and a regular contributor to CTV News and, of course, Jason Duval, the man behind this creative, funky and fresh PUMP! underwear collection.

After the fashionable presentation people indulged in strawberry and lime mini-cupcakes with icing sugar underwear on top provided by Little Cakes and open wine bar that boosted everyone’s energy once again.

Stroked Ego has been around for a year and it already got renowned around the city for its exceptional-quality fun and funky underwear.

But what really makes this store unique is the fact that it is a one-stop shop. It offers a great selection of accessories: from leather wallets and bags by Kenneth Cole to a great collection of suspenders and bow ties, which come in different colours, patterns and prints. Those two are absolute must-haves for men this season.

While some people choose bow ties to emphasize on their style, others prefer socks or some of the funky watches that the store offers. But cufflinks have ultimately been a hit at Stroked Ego.

“I can’t believe the amounts of cufflinks we sell,” said Kevin Martin, the owner of Stroked Ego. “It’s been more of a trend lately that people want to have fun with accessories.”

Since the invasion of iPads, smaller bags, which Stroked Ego offers in variety of styles, became another popular trend among men.

Stroked Ego always stays on-trend, which is why men in Ottawa really appreciate the fact that Stroked Ego is trying to increase an accessibility of finding fashionable brands for men in town at a reasonable price.

“It all started when we tried to find things that we liked and there wasn’t a place to get them,” said Martin.

The main purpose of the store is to stroke men’s ego and build their confidence.

“If you have something you really like that maybe no one else has, it is a way of boosting a man’s ego,” says Martin. “We want to make sure that people wouldn’t find a lot of products that we carry at another retailer.”

While the main focus of the store is on men working in the area’s large business district, Stroked Ego appeals to everyone.

The store features not only international brands, like Kenneth Cole or Calvin Klein, but also focuses on local Canadian lines, like PUMP!.

“We always make sure we look for high-quality products with a little more personality to them,” said Martin, “In the end it is all about making a customer happy and satisfied with the purchase.”