LG Toronto Fashion Week celebrated its expansion this season by moving from its usual location at Nathan Phillip’s Square to Liberty Village, where the best of Canadian fashion converged in a great display of talent for four consecutive days. The extra two acres of space wasn’t the only reason to be excited for Fashion Week this season: an array of new designers made their debut, and for the first time ever, FW welcomed international designers. Another notable achievement was the ethnically mixed selection of gorgeous models, reflecting true Canadian diversity. Here’s a look at the catwalk highlights.
Lovas by Wesley Badanjak
Wesley Badanjak’s collection seemed to have raided the closet of a modern Jackie O preparing for a relaxing, luxurious Mediterranean holiday. The resort wear collection played on a polarity between classic, clean-cut silhouettes and flowing, baggy garments. The beauty of the clothes relied heavily on excellent tailoring, if lacking in originality. Of note, in the first few exits, was a purple-and-yellow plaid mini-dress with metallic strips on the outlines and especially intricate boning in the bodice. This season’s it-piece: a full-length silk gown in a floral print, which made an ethereal appearance.
The only mishap was a dress featuring a denim bodice and floor-length white cotton skirt. In a nutshell, Badanjak’s line was pretty, but banal. (The male models at the end of the runway, who acted as locals “checking out” the models as they left the runway, were however a pleasant sight.)
Evan Biddell
Evan Biddell was the winner of the first season of Project Runway Canada in 2008, and the judges in the front row must have been patting themselves on the back when they saw his collection come down the runway on Thursday. Possibly the most breathtaking collection at FW this season, this will surely mark the proficient Biddell as one of Canada’s most imaginative and groundbreaking talents in fashion. The collection was called “2010: Unnatural Disaster” and claimed to be “seasonless,” a barrier that the young Alberta virtuoso claimed unleashed his creativity. The collection had pieces for both women and men, a first for Biddell.
The collection was in essence otherworldly, with lighting and music making the runway tent feel like it was in the core of a tumultuous thunderstorm. Even before the viewer’s eye turned to the garments, it was drawn to luminescent jewellery. Necklaces played on the plated and chunky trends, while also incorporating LG electronics. The result was techno-tribal and alien when combined with the structured, futuristic feel of the collection. As always with Biddell, the concept was immaculate, with as much depth granted to the clothes as authors give their characters. The structured metallic garments were, for example, futuristic soldiers, and the flowing orange garments seemed to represent galactic aristocracy. This amazing collection was only further enhanced by fantastic showmanship.
NADA by Nada Shepherd
The theme for Nada’s spring/summer collection was “infatuation.” While for some of us that might conjure images of love notes and picnics, for Shepherd, spring love translates into fetishes, leather and aggressive lingerie. The collection derived from a gothic Marie-Antoinette look, with heaps of black lace and ruffles. Somehow, Shepherd still managed to keep it looking modern by using transparent plastic underneath the lace bodices, for example.
The novel combination of the omnipresent black (tulle, lace, leather) with a powder blue was interesting, and kept the collection looking fresh as opposed to depressing. That isn’t to say that the show wasn’t aggressive: for a love-themed collection, the sentiment was almost hostile, especially with the Karen O soundtrack blasting in the background. A final exit with a full tiered skirt and lace corset had the audience in the tent gasping and applauding, as Nada’s star model—a spindly and apparently angry red-head—finished off the show.
Lucian Matis
Lucian Matis was arguably the last great show of the week. Despite the circus theme of his spring collection, there was nothing grotesque about these garments. Matis’s pieces were, as always, soft and feminine, thanks to a colour palette constituting of light greys and pastel pinks. Like many of the designers this week, Matis payed meticulous attention to accessories and jewellery. His personal adaptation of the season’s essential chunky necklace played out in the form of snake-like metal chains with plastic tassels, and a long gold chain draped over the shoulder and adorned with huge gold plates.
The most remarkable accessory, however, was a bondage-inspired headpiece worn
by each model, made out of studded grey silk ribbon that wrapped around the head and draped under the chin. The collection delicately skirted the line of femininity and edginess, and the only potential criticisms are that it was overly bedazzled, and that it failed to demonstrate diversity.
Pink Tartan by Kimberley Newport-Mimran
As far as the interesting-yet-wearable side of fashion went last week, Pink Tartan took the cake. Strutting the line between daring and accessible, the collection played on many of the season’s hottest trends: the little black jumpsuit, the fully sequined outer layer, and Balmain-inspired padded shoulders, to
name a few. The black and white stripes were outdated and the references to the 1950s, emphasized by oversized shades and heart-shaped bodices,
a little too easy. Pink Tartan must be commended for a whole new take on the female fedora trend: the bold Robin Hood cap sported in a few of the looks had the same sexy androgyny of the classic hat with a new, more aerodynamic shape. The rainbow of dresses showed enough skin to be sexy, yet translated into appropriate daywear with careful layering of trenches and cardigans. It was a successful collection, as can be expected of Pink Tartan.
Andy The-Ânh
Andy The-Ânh is a long-standing must-see for Fashion Week goers, but this season the impact of his show suffered in its move from the main tent to the more exclusive and much smaller Show Room. The pieces reflected The-Ânh’s signature refined eveningwear in metallic shades, favouring champagne tones. The-Ânh told The Varsity last week that the garments would serve as a study of the colour blue, yet there was a repetition of the same cerulean shade, which got tedious when combined with only metallics and plain white. Immaculate tailoring and execution managed to save the collection from dullness, but beyond that, it suffered from a lack of diversity and colour. It was a step down from The-Anh’s Fall 2009 collection, which had been praised for its imaginative melding of traditional cocktail wear with obi belts and asymmetrical lines.
With all the shows in the Fashion Week tent last week, the cringe-worthy still appeared. Gargantuan flopping frills at the Jason Meyers show had sculptural value, but little else. Katrina Tuttle’s debut would have been bearable if she hadn’t insisted on a tacky fold-and-snap detail on her otherwise elegant dresses. Travis Taddeo’s asymmetrical fur shrug with metal spikes, draped over beachwear, was equally perplexing. The most embarrassing moment, however, had to be FW veteran Pat Mcdonagh’s gimicky cake-hats and her inconspicuous inspiration from Baskin-Robbins ice cream. Fashion is an artistic sell-out by nature, but this brought it to a new low.
