Posts about LG Fashion Week on I want

I'm quoted in the China Textile News Weekly Magazine

Canadian Designers, Designers, Fall 2010, Fashion, Press 4 Responses » Tagged with: LG Fashion Week

Apr 282010

I was asked to provide a short quote on trends during LG Fashion Week for the China Textile News Weekly Magazine. I want – I got has made it to print in PRC. Ha Ha.

Started their initial issue in 1986 and has been a publication of both domestic and international delivery ever since. As a weekday publication Monday to Friday, it is the only comprehensive and giant newspaper in China specialized in the textile industry. China Textile News mirrors the economic performance in the textile and apparel industry in a complete and prompt manner, and timely gives out the governmental policies and regulations with regards to the growth production and performance of the textile industry. It also provides the readers with textile information from domestic and international markets with news coverage extended to three important aspects: apparel home textile, industrial applications and to textile machinery raw materials intermediates and finished products/markets; also going further to management operation science and technology and corporate culture.

Circulation: 200,000 copies per issue/day.

200,000 copies a day, that’s pretty crazy.

Click image to see larger

So you wondering what I said. Here’s the English translation.

Black and fur were two very strong trends that permeated the collections at LG Fashion Week Fall 2010. Most collections used a lot of black or very dark colours. Surprisingly, the camel coat trend didn’t take hold in Toronto like it did internationally. Fur was everywhere and LG Fashion Week was following right along with this huge international trend. The question was “who wasn’t using fur?” Designers used it as accents on sleeves, shoulders and accessories. Sometimes the use of fur seemed a bit contrived and only done for trend sake. Then there were other designers like IZMA who perfected its use.

LGFW - Joe Fresh Fall Winter 2010 - 2011

Canadian Designers, Designers, Fall 2010, Fashion, Ready to Wear, Toronto No Responses » Tagged with: LG Fashion Week, Toronto Fashion Week

Apr 052010

LGFW - Joe Fresh Fall Winter 2010 - 2011

The brilliant swing coat, Crystal Renn

I battle the crowds and complete silliness of attending a Joe Fresh show for one reason. Models. It’s not for the clothing in any way shape or form. This season Joe brought in Crystal Renn and Kirsten Owen. I had to see Crystal Renn with my own eyes as I’ve had suspicion about this “plus size” label she has been given. You know what people, it’s all bullshit. Crystal Renn is a far cry from plus sized. People who seem to think that this is a win for the average sized women seem to forget that Crystal Renn is anything but average. This girl is a model the last time I checked. She’s 5’10 and has all the features that required. She’s on the edges of that bell curve and that is the complete opposite of your average person. She is gorgeous and has great hair.

LGFW - Joe Fresh Fall Winter 2010 - 2011

Joe Fresh jumped on the fur bandwagon hard. Of course a lot was faux. I thought everything was faux but the line sheet is telling me differently. I really don’t want to know how Joe Fresh can produce real fur gloves for $16 or a fur peacoat at $99 . Faux/real fur Chanel 2.55 handbag knockoffs, vests, peacoats, elbow length gloves, hats, scarfs and swing coats all paraded down the runway. I wanted it to stop, everything but the crème swing coat was awful. That coat was a stroke of brilliance in the collection. It looked real and had great movement. It retails for $99.

LGFW - Joe Fresh Fall Winter 2010 - 2011

There were a lot of sporty influences and track pants and sweatshirts were pretty prominent. Plaid mohair fabric in blue, pink and red became skirts, jackets, capes and scarves. I like the fur, I didn’t enjoy these pieces much. The collection managed to include sequins, animal print and military details too. Yes, it was a bit all over the place but what do you expect for 52 looks from Joe Fresh.

The shoes intrigued me. I spotted some Bess boot and Alexander McQueen knockoffs. I haven’t heard many good things about the fit of Joe Fresh shoes but I would be willing to check these out come fall if I can find them. It seems many pieces from the fashion show are difficult to come across in the retail stores.

See more photos from the Joe Fresh Fall Winter 2010 collection on Lgfashionweek.ca.

EDIT (April 6, 2010): I’ve just been informed that all the fur in Joe Fresh Fall Winter 2010 -2010 is faux.

images: George Pimentel

LGFW - Pink Tartan Fall Winter 2010

Canadian Designers, Designers, Fall 2010, Fashion, Ready to Wear, Toronto No Responses » Tagged with: LG Fashion Week, Pink Tartan, Toronto Fashion Week

Apr 052010

LGFW – Pink Tartan Fall Winter 2010 Favourite Looks

The Olympus PEN died just before the Pink Tartan Fall Winter 2010 fashion show. I have no pictures and I wasn’t happy. Just another headache to deal with on Wednesday which was painful. Battling crowds and terrible entrance points into the runway room has a way of turning one into a bitch very quickly. I remembered how I spent the Spring 2010 Pink Tartan show, drinking a Peroni in the VIP area watching the show on the LG tvs. I wished for a return to those simple days.

The show opened with an electric Violinist. I really don’t know what he had to do with the collection. The theme of the Pink Tartan show is aviation. The models wore aviator style hats. Winged shoes and harnesses made of fur and feathers evoked winged gods like Icarus or Mercury. There were bomber jackets of the puffy variety and ones made of leather and trimmed with fur or Mongolian fur. Shapes were generally body conscious with legging like pants and dresses. Some dresses broke from their body con counterparts at the waist with full skirts. There were a lot of details: shoulders were high and rounded or pearl encrusted, ruffles gathered at the centre of the body on dresses and tops, zipper tops and bows.

LGFW – Pink Tartan Fall Winter 2010 Favourite Looks

I’m really sick of seeing fur on the runway. So many designers are using it because it’s trendy and not a product of their theme for Fall. Pink Tartan’s fur usage had been harmless enough until this horrible, ill fitted fur skirt came down the runway. All I thought was, “They actually sent this monstrosity out on the runway.” It looked terrible and stiff on the model and when it doesn’t look good on them you are in trouble. It was a completely out-of-place piece that should have stayed backstage. The lone jodhpur look could have stayed too, the theme is aviation not equestrian.

Edit, edit, edit. I say this all the time. I guess people feel the need to have long shows. I say Celine has shown us you can have a 4 minute show and no one will care, some will even rave about it. There were a lot of repetition of looks in different colours. I don’t think it’s necessary to see the dress with fur bottom in all three colour choices. Especially when your audience is already losing focus.

LGFW – Pink Tartan Fall Winter 2010 Favourite Looks

Garment construction is never an issue with Pink Tartan but I was a bit bored by the collection. Remove the obvious show pieces and you’re left with some strong but standard looks. I did have a few favourites though.

See more photos from the Pink Tartan Fall Winter 2010 collection on Lgfashionweek.ca.

images: George Pimentel

LGFW - Evan Biddell Fall Winter 2010 - 2011

Canadian Designers, Designers, Fall 2010, Fashion, Ready to Wear, Toronto No Responses » Tagged with: Evan Biddell, LG Fashion Week, Olympus E-PL1, Toronto Fashion Week

Apr 042010

LGFW - Evan Biddell Fall Winter 2010 - 2011

You can always expect a specific point of view from Evan Biddell. The Fall Winter 2010 collection continued with Evan’s obsession with the cocoon shape and a new fabric, cork. It was the most interesting items in the collection. He transformed cork into shorts, skirts and jackets. One jacket in particular made the wearer look like a Geiger Alien. The cork was stiff but not the point where it looked unwearable. It was more appealing to me than the PVC cocoon shapes that preceded the wave of cork pieces.

Understanding that head on images would not display any volume, Evan had the models stand at the end of the runway and face sideways to the photographer’s pit. Fall Winter 2010 wasn’t as cohesive as what I saw with Spring 2010 at OZ Studios. The 80s prints, pvc, fringe, ruffles, animal print and cork left me wondering what direction Evan was going. It was a battle between sleek bodycon and volume away from the body. The short video that preceded the runway show was random and I don’t see its relation to the collection. Maybe there isn’t one.

It was a great show and I enjoyed myself. The sci-fi references alone had me on board. I love Evan’s inventive nature. I had a preview of the cork shorts during my visit to the OZ Studios and I thought they were great. I didn’t expect him to make so many different cork looks, it was pretty amazing. The prints were very 80s but I loved their bright, bold nature. Evan Biddell occupies a small niche in fashion, he’s not corporate or looking for mass appeal. It’s refreshing to see his point of view. Too bad the FDCC didn’t allow him to show at his newly opened OZ Studios. I would have loved to see what he came up with.

Pictures are getting better but I still have a lot of work to do as a newbie Olympus E-PL1 user. Here are some of my favourite looks.

LGFW - Lundström & Lundström Collection Fall Winter 2010

Canadian Designers, Designers, Fall 2010, Fashion, Ready to Wear No Responses » Tagged with: LG Fashion Week, Linda Lundström, Lundström Collection, Olympus E-PL1, Toronto Fashion Week

Apr 042010

Lundström & Lundström Collection Fall Winter 2010
This season LUNDSTRÖM would be without it’s namesake designer. Linda Lundström left Eleventh Floor Apparel to launch her Lean Manufacturing consulting career. That would explain the distinction between Lundström and Lundström Collection. The former designed by Linda and the latter by the team.

Lundström came out first with the La Parka and a few other jackets. Then Lundström Collection paraded out looks I could see on women by my office in the financial district. I heard a lot of negatives things about the show from others. It’s not my style but I think it was a success for the demographic Eleventh Floor Apparel is targeting. Juliana Schiavinatto’s (she did Line Knitwear too) styling was very good. I usually hate velvet but it was well done. The colour, tabac is a good choice for the conservative demographic. I liked the ombre mohair jackets in black and white. Those were the only two pieces that got any reaction me. The fabrics sound delightful: silk, mohair, velvet, alpaca, angora and cashmere. There is some dreaded taffeta in there though, grrr.

It was my first outing with the Olympus E-PL1 camera and I missed a lot of shots. The lighting in the runway room is always a problem for me.

i want: Paper Doll book by Danielle Meder

Fashion, Spring 2010, Toronto, i want No Responses » Tagged with: LG Fashion Week, TEFW

Dec 162009

Paper Doll book by Danielle Meder

Danielle has taken her paper dolls from LG Fashion Week and turned them into a book.

15 designers, 17 paper dolls, over 60 items of clothing and accessories to play with. This is the result of a rather involved project I gave to myself to commemorate the Spring 2010 collections shown in Toronto this October.

The resulting dolls are available in a book from Blurb for $42.95 USD.

image:finalfashion.ca

Toronto's Own Edition of the Fashion Week Daily

Canadian Designers, Fashion, Ready to Wear, Spring 2010 1 Response » Tagged with: Fashion Week Daily, LG Fashion Week, TEFW

Nov 122009

LG Fashion Week this year featured something pretty neat. Toronto got its own edition of the Fashion Week Daily. I was obsessed with this mag when I was in NYC for the Spring 2008 collection. I’m not sure if the magazine was available anywhere else but the tents. It came out towards the end of LG Fashion Week and I was really impressed with their turnaround time. I’ve scanned the magazine, sans ads, so that you can enjoy it.