Fashion in Motion

Today I had the pleasure of getting an insider look into the exciting spring trends that we will be embracing very soon.

I headed off to Sears where I met with Cynthia Florek, Brand and Trend Director at Sears Canada. Cynthia took me on a guided spring tour showing me the key pieces and trends that we will be seeing on the retail racks and the hippest street scenes this coming spring.

Danier's spring collection includes casual takes on the men's essential vest and other wardrobe must-haves

Danier’s spring collection is full of happy surprises: you’ve never seen a leather collection that is this versatile, edgy, and forward-thinking.

With careful artistic details such as fringes, ruffles, and mixed fibers, Danier’s collection for spring is thoughtful, easy to rework to dress up or down, and offers us a spring break vacation. Something about the freshness of spring has transformed the label as an accessories and jacket destination whether you’re looking for spring’s classic faves with a Parisian-inspired twist or unexpected garments such as suede or leather shorts- not your Mom’s idea of leather goods. And just when you thought you’d seen it all in leather- well, Danier pulls out of the hat a leather cardi (yes! really- they made one!). Think of it as designer Danier.

With careful colour palette choices in yellows, purples, and blues, and playing with sheer printed scarves to accompany the classic biker jacket or your prim cut-out blazer, we have every reason to wish for a speedy winter so that we can welcome this fun and art-inspired collection. The pieces are all priced under $499, which is extremely reasonable for quality tailored leather garments. You’ll be impressed with the attention to shaping and body-accent or slimming details in the coats and jackets, as well as the careful mixing of knits with leather for a sleeker silhouette. Watch out for the studded accessories: we love the men’s belt with barely-poking studs and it’s just the kind of thing we can see ourselves ‘borrowing’.

Also on our wanted list: the leather hoodie (pictured below), the brown leather ruffled cropped blazer (shown at bottom), and the simple fold-over messenger bag (his and hers.)

Watch out, Danier, we’re coming!

The display of Canadian-designed coats using the Hudson's Bay point blanket as well as other themed items s open to the public at The Bay's downtown Toronto store. It will be moved across the country for the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

We were all feeling very Canadian yesterday evening as we gathered at The Bay’s downtown Toronto store for an event unlike any other. The Hudson’s Bay  famed point blanket was the star of the show and all things Canadiana set the mood for this unique collection by Canadian designers who reinterpreted the blanket into modern coats. The point blanket first appeared on the Canadian marketplace during the fur trade in 1780 and were later adapted into coats and robes worn by settlers and First Nations people.

Point blanket coats in The Bay window, circa 1987. Image courtesy of HBC.com

With the arrival of the Olympic torch in Vancouver this winter and HBC’s special role as the official clothier for the Canadian Olympic team, the point blanket coat collection and assorted accessories for purchase represents an important part of our Canadian identity- now and then.

Included in the list of designers: Pink Tartan, Smythe, Jeremy Laing, Comrags, Lida Baday, Krane, Klaxon Howl, Harricana par Mariouche, Erdem. Each designer had a choice of which blanket colour they would attempt to transform into a modern coat. The collection is worth checking out: if you didn’t have a soft spot for the point blanket before, we’re sure that you’ll have a hard time resisting the colour-themed accessories such as the over-sized accent pillows.

Our absolute favourite: handsome canoes finished with the iconic stripes on their hulls. Now that’s camping.

Fashion in Motion will be reporting from Fashion Week, including the Holt Renfrew Media event kicking off LGFW

In Toronto it’s the countdown to LG Fashion Week as related events kick off this week across the city in anticipation of the sensory-explosion runway fete in the week to follow. Toronto-based Philip Sparks will be showing his spring 2010 collection this Wednesday and we’ll be there to film it and speak to him about the collection. Later this week, the FIM team will be attending the MAC makeup event unveiling the holiday looks for the upcoming party season.

Yes- it is that time of the year already!

“Adding fashion in unexpected places,” Bustle Clothing’s Shawn Hewson stands next to his CasaLife creations; his concept sketches are shown at left.

The It place to be on a late June summer night was the much-anticipated reveal of Mi Casa Su Casa Design Expo in Liberty Village’s CasaLife store. More than 1,000 people came to this casa to get a glimpse into the creative process of designing furniture and home accessories from conceptual napkin sketch to condo utility.

The big draw was a unique collaboration between non-furniture designers (such as graphic, interior, and fashion designers including StudioLit, Bustle Clothing’s Shawn Hewson, Evan Biddell, and Sealy Design Inc.) and other well-known creative Canadians such as Chef Roger Mooking and eTalk TV Host personality Tania Kim.

The Expo’s exploration of the creative process showcased the evolution of designs as social and aesthetic concepts coming to life in prototypical pieces. These pieces often reflected the designers’ philosophical perspective about design; Studiolit’s billboard coffee table obviously emerged out of designer Peter Lytwyniuk’s declaration, “Design is not a choice; it’s a lifestyle.”

Studiolit designer Peter Lytwyniuk’s Billboard coffee table prototype- from napkin sketch to floor display

Studiolit’s coffee table (pictured above) proved to be a crowd favourite. With its changeable poster-sized display at the easy turn of a knob, you can switch up the mood and message of the sleek accessory. Even better, it could easily double as a bench in a modern condo space. Two-in-one furniture that lets us decide how it looks? Now that’s clever design for the active user and space-conscious types. We hope furniture manufacturers are taking note.

Similarly, Bustle Clothing’s Shawn Hewson described his plaid- and tweed-clad mirrors as keepsakes in the consumer’s home or office, reasoning that “Good design results in the user’s desire to care for the product long term.” It’s little stretch imagining these masculine accessories in the dandy’s walk-in closet or grouped on the cottage wall for a warm and rustic feel. While it was a surprise to see this aesthetic restraint in this design- after all, Bustle Clothing is much loved for an upbeat take on fashion- it was interesting to see the designer turn to a more sombre and countryside palette.

Other intriguing designs included fashion designer Evan Biddell’s throne chair (pictured below) which experienced some alterations during the design process. Initially a very literal throne-inspired piece, the chair morphed into a compelling geometric structure. Its sleek style and associated “power” are here rendered useful, tasteful and stylish.

Evan Biddell designs “something with some meat on it,” playing with the idea of “a person’s home being their castle.”

More pictures from the Mi Casa Su Casa Design Expo:

Designs by Christopher Bates for Ultra Menswear:

Tables by Christopher Bates for Ultra Menswear

Napkin sketch of tables by Christopher Bates’ for Ultra Menswear

Christopher Bates with Robert Whitfield

The Mi Casa Su Casa Design Expo was a hit because it explored the design process by bringing in some uninitiated types and asked them to dream big. Can’t wait to see what the next collaboration serves up.

Images courtesy of Studiolit.

Thursday was one of the busiest days at LG Fashion Week with many big-name designers and TV personalities seated in the front rows, including judges and designers from seasons 1 and 2 of Project Runway Canada. We were all there to see collections by Aime Luxury, Nada, Carlton Brown and Ed Hardy Swim and Snow and of course, the big finale shows of PRC. The energy and enthusiasm for Thursday’s collections was palpable. The crowd cheered for many of the designs as the models rocked the runway and presented us an incredible spectacle of fun and flirty fashion especially from men’s wear designer Carlton Brown.

LG Fashion Week Day 4 Video

The Runway Report

Aime Luxury

This young designer presented a feminine collection featuring nicely tailored pencil skirts paired with cute tops. The look is clean and very wearable for the working business crowd. Colours were mostly black, white silk, and grey.

Project Runway Canada Finale

I sat front row for the collections by the three top finalists at Project Runway Canada’s LG Fashion Week finale. The show started with an introduction by PRC host Iman who was wearing a fitted emerald-green knee-length dress with silver platform heels. She asked the audience to help maintain the excitement of the TV show by not disclosing any information about the designers who were there. That said, there were six designers who went on stage and introduced themselves and described their collection but only three collections were shown, without the designer coming out after his/her work to salute the crowd. As a fan and a viewer of Project Runway Canada, it wasn’t hard for me to tell whose work was on the runway. It was a great show by all three designers- not at all what I expected to see and from up close in the front row, even I could tell that there were some garment construction issues. Some seams were crooked or awckward-looking, sequins weren’t well finished at the zipper of a dress, shapes were a little odd. All in all, the most fun all season of PRC and I can’t wait to share more with you about the three designers I met backstage and my interview with one of them yesterday. We’ll have to wait until the final airing of the show to get into more details!

Carlton Brown

One of the most exciting shows at LG Fashion Week was Carlton Brown’s men’s wear line for Fall/winter 09. This collection featured modern suits in deep colours subtly printed and perfectly tailored. Sweaters and scarves accessorized the shirts to add a sporty feel and the shoes were kept fun in silver, brown leather, and black suede. Casual looks were equally interesting with prints and highlight colours such as blue, burgundy, and pink. A fun show and a great collection. Hurray for Canadian men’s wear!

Ed Hardy Swim and Snow

This label showed a collection of swimwear and short winter coats for men and women designed by Christian Audigier. The look is very sexy and minimalist suiting with the emphasis on tattoo-like prints bringing the fabrics to life. A fun collection of two-piece and one-piece swimsuits for women and board shorts for men. The looks were paired with tuques, ski goggles, and waist-length winter jackets with signature tattoo printing. Lots of shiny bling on the pieces.

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE:

5pm: Ryerson University School of Fashion show

6pm: Carlie Wong

7pm: Evan Biddell

8pm: Lucian Matis

9pm: Exclusive Screening: Valentino: The Last Emperor

Thumbnail image for video ”LG Fashion Week Day 4″ courtesy of BlogTO.com.

Mark your calendars! Fashion events for 2009 are in full swing. Coming up this fall are fashion week events across Canada as well as other places to show your collection.

Contact us to a to add your event to the list or to let us know where you’ll be showing.

September 2009

Designers and Agents (D&A) Fashion Trade Show – Spring 2010 women’s sportswear, shoes, accessories (New York) Sep. 20-22

Italian Fashion Week (Toronto) Sep. 21 – 27

Milan Fashion Week (Milan, Italy) Sep. 23 – 30

The Clothing Show (Toronto) Sep. 25 – 27

BC Fashion Week (Vancouver) Sep. 27 – Oct. 4

Italian Fashion Week (Montreal) Sep. 28 – Oct. 4

SonyStyle Fashion Show and Market (Toronto) Sep. 29

Paris RTW- Women’s (Paris, France) Sep. 30 – Oct. 8

October 2009

Mode Accessories Trade Show – Retail buyer event (Toronto) Oct. 3 – 5

Alberta Fashion Week – (Calgary) Oct. 4 – 10

Montreal Fashion Week (Montreal) Oct. 13 – 15

Designers and Agents (D&A) Fashion Trade Show- Spring 2010 women’s sportswear, shoes, accessories (Los Angeles) Oct. 16-18

LG Fashion Week (Toronto) Oct. 19 – 24

November 2009

ARTwear The Art of Fashion – The Art Gallery of Calgary special event (Calgary) Nov. 6

FHNB Fashion and Accessory Expose (Calgary) Nov. 18 – 19

WAYS Celebrates Canadian Designers – Charity dinner and fashion show (London, ON) Nov. 18 event details contact Barb Weir at 519.672.8072