At the heart of L'Oreal Fashion Week in Toronto last week was darkness. The palette was sombre, with blacks, greys, browns and muted blues as mainstays.
That sobriety was seen in New York and Europe, too, with the shadow of recession to blame for the dark mood. But to Canadian designers, the look of next fall and winter isn't so much about the looming economic downturn as a contemplative look into the soul of humanity and themselves.
Montreal's Denis Gagnon was, by far, the star of the season. His urban warrior women strutted in leather jackets and flared dresses radically seamed in spirals, and skinny pants wrinkled with horizontal slashes. He then balanced all the aggressiveness with sheer parachute silk chemises and caftans that billowed with lightness.
"I would not be ashamed to present this collection in Paris, alongside top designers like Jean Paul Gaultier," said Denis Desro, fashion editor for Elle Canada and Elle Quebec.
The international contingent of press and industry agreed. "Denis Gagnon was not good -- he was very, very good," said Louis Bompard, fashion editor with L'Officiel in France. "It could show in Paris. [The collection] shows his story, his spirit. The work on the leather was new. It takes risks."
Other Montrealers also caught the eye of the industry: Nadya Toto, with her clean, sophisticated lines and textures, and Andy The-Anh, whose New York and L.A.-based celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch (in to launch a new designer series shoes for Hush Puppies' 50th anniversary) called "beautiful and very chic."
The-Anh played with the duality of yin and yang within each of us, he says: the feminine with his flowing goddess gowns and peplum details; the masculine with shiny, pinstriped wool-viscose suits that hugged the curves. The bold, black glass necklaces the models wore were part of his new jewellery collection.
"He has a strong voice," said Barbara Atkin, vice-president of fashion direction for Holt Renfrew. "These are clothes I can see on Canadians every day."
Among the other crowd pleasers were Stephen Wong and Kirk Pickersgill of Greta Constantine, former contestants from Project Runway Canada, who showed offsite at hotspot Circa. They pulled neoprene from the scuba diving racks and fashioned it into sculptural jackets, then took a rainbow of jerseys and created a sumptuous series of sheaths with oversized braided twists at the shoulder or contrast colours playing peek-a-boo in the deep back cowls.
"I felt like I had escaped to the pages of a Vogue magazine and was turning the pages of an editorial spread," Atkin said. "These boys could redo Halston."
Another Project Runway runner-up, Lucian Matis, grabbed the spotlight with his couture-like cuts and silhouettes, as did Toronto favourites Joeffer Caoc and David Dixon.
"All three designers have something in common -- a lot of cutting work and detail," said Rei Miyata, a fashion journalist from Tokyo-based Fashion Bible. "I wouldn't be surprised if they showed in New York."
Caoc's was one of his strongest collections to date. Well-edited and cohesive, the deceptively simple sheaths, toppers and jackets feature his signature origami-like tucks and folds. The fabrics, in inky, midnight colours, seemed to drape like a fall of liquid around the body. The softness was offset by the hard flash of a bra closure or strap in back. The models, with their smudged eyes and slightly dishevelled updos, were supposed to look quickly put together after a night on the town, Caoc said.
Everyone has a dark side. The whole collection is about how things don't appear as they are," he added.
Dixon's take on internal reflection was more Robert Frost -- albeit, pausing in a Canadian park, not woods. "It was elegant and classic," Bloch said. Entitled the Long Way Home, it was a quietly romantic journey that was trademark Dixon: tunics made of overlapping layers of laser-cut silk petals, slim-fitting sheath dresses in an almost abstract forest pattern and bursts of magenta in silk blouses with full sleeves, tartan suits and his new footwear line for Town Shoes.
TRENDS SPOTTED AT L'OREAL FASHION WEEK.
THE NEW MINIMALISM:
n Black, or any other dark and muted colour.
n Shine and glitter, from fabrics or sequins.
n If you want a hit of brightness, make it magenta.
n Cowls in front -- or in back for dramatic exits.
n Funnel necks and collar details.
n Nipped or cinched waists.
n Hoodies.
n Hemlines: for day, nothing below the knee.
n Messy updos.
n Smoky eyes.
Source: canada.com
That sobriety was seen in New York and Europe, too, with the shadow of recession to blame for the dark mood. But to Canadian designers, the look of next fall and winter isn't so much about the looming economic downturn as a contemplative look into the soul of humanity and themselves.
Montreal's Denis Gagnon was, by far, the star of the season. His urban warrior women strutted in leather jackets and flared dresses radically seamed in spirals, and skinny pants wrinkled with horizontal slashes. He then balanced all the aggressiveness with sheer parachute silk chemises and caftans that billowed with lightness.
"I would not be ashamed to present this collection in Paris, alongside top designers like Jean Paul Gaultier," said Denis Desro, fashion editor for Elle Canada and Elle Quebec.
The international contingent of press and industry agreed. "Denis Gagnon was not good -- he was very, very good," said Louis Bompard, fashion editor with L'Officiel in France. "It could show in Paris. [The collection] shows his story, his spirit. The work on the leather was new. It takes risks."
Other Montrealers also caught the eye of the industry: Nadya Toto, with her clean, sophisticated lines and textures, and Andy The-Anh, whose New York and L.A.-based celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch (in to launch a new designer series shoes for Hush Puppies' 50th anniversary) called "beautiful and very chic."
The-Anh played with the duality of yin and yang within each of us, he says: the feminine with his flowing goddess gowns and peplum details; the masculine with shiny, pinstriped wool-viscose suits that hugged the curves. The bold, black glass necklaces the models wore were part of his new jewellery collection.
"He has a strong voice," said Barbara Atkin, vice-president of fashion direction for Holt Renfrew. "These are clothes I can see on Canadians every day."
Among the other crowd pleasers were Stephen Wong and Kirk Pickersgill of Greta Constantine, former contestants from Project Runway Canada, who showed offsite at hotspot Circa. They pulled neoprene from the scuba diving racks and fashioned it into sculptural jackets, then took a rainbow of jerseys and created a sumptuous series of sheaths with oversized braided twists at the shoulder or contrast colours playing peek-a-boo in the deep back cowls.
"I felt like I had escaped to the pages of a Vogue magazine and was turning the pages of an editorial spread," Atkin said. "These boys could redo Halston."
Another Project Runway runner-up, Lucian Matis, grabbed the spotlight with his couture-like cuts and silhouettes, as did Toronto favourites Joeffer Caoc and David Dixon.
"All three designers have something in common -- a lot of cutting work and detail," said Rei Miyata, a fashion journalist from Tokyo-based Fashion Bible. "I wouldn't be surprised if they showed in New York."
Caoc's was one of his strongest collections to date. Well-edited and cohesive, the deceptively simple sheaths, toppers and jackets feature his signature origami-like tucks and folds. The fabrics, in inky, midnight colours, seemed to drape like a fall of liquid around the body. The softness was offset by the hard flash of a bra closure or strap in back. The models, with their smudged eyes and slightly dishevelled updos, were supposed to look quickly put together after a night on the town, Caoc said.
Everyone has a dark side. The whole collection is about how things don't appear as they are," he added.
Dixon's take on internal reflection was more Robert Frost -- albeit, pausing in a Canadian park, not woods. "It was elegant and classic," Bloch said. Entitled the Long Way Home, it was a quietly romantic journey that was trademark Dixon: tunics made of overlapping layers of laser-cut silk petals, slim-fitting sheath dresses in an almost abstract forest pattern and bursts of magenta in silk blouses with full sleeves, tartan suits and his new footwear line for Town Shoes.
TRENDS SPOTTED AT L'OREAL FASHION WEEK.
THE NEW MINIMALISM:
n Black, or any other dark and muted colour.
n Shine and glitter, from fabrics or sequins.
n If you want a hit of brightness, make it magenta.
n Cowls in front -- or in back for dramatic exits.
n Funnel necks and collar details.
n Nipped or cinched waists.
n Hoodies.
n Hemlines: for day, nothing below the knee.
n Messy updos.
n Smoky eyes.
Source: canada.com
1 comment:
What would we be without the top Australian men’s apparel companies and Australian fashion designers? It seems like just yesterday that our region was recognized for importing global fashion trends and barely managing to create its own unique looks. But, owing to the advent of several fantastic home-grown brands over the last two decades, that has all changed.
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