I talked about Sacai knits last year. I’m loving what Spring 2010 has to offer too. Designer Abe Chitose worked at Comme des Garçons and Junya Watanabe for 10 years before starting Sacai in 1999. I’m even surprised by my love of the odd pieces in the collection, the lace and terry jacket or the grey furry one with the white chiffon looking material. Sacai is available at Holt Renfrew. images: The Fashion Spot
I posted about the thoughts of Barbara Atkin of Holt Renfrew on NYC Spring 2010. Here is what she is saying about Milan and Paris. Milan Barbara Atkin, vice president of fashion direction, Holt Renfrew: “We are leaving Milan feeling positive about our buys. We will spend the same amount as in previous seasons, editing to the best with the right balance of the soft and fluid with the tailored and geometric.…We loved Gucci, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Jil Sander and Marni. Clothes were either calm and beautiful, or hard-core and sexy. Our checklist includes languid pants; soft tailored jackets; short, sexy skirts and shorts; essential shirts; feminine dresses, and bodysuits as the foundation to dressing. What we didn’t see on the runways in the form of tailored silhouettes was picked up in earlier deliveries. Off the runways, we liked Pollini, Marco de Vincenzo and Gail Sorronda from Australia.†Paris Barbara Atkin, vice president of fashion direction, Holt Renfrew: “Paris delivered an exuberant spring season. Designers seemed to be reworking their own inventiveness with …
I love this photo of Grace Jones taken by Andy Warhol. If I had some purple fur I would totally do this version of Grace for Halloween. You might remember my outfit last halloween for Fashion sCares. image: nasher.duke.edu
Thanks to Alison from Cossette I was given a set of four tickets to the new Cirque du Soleil production, OVO. A pair of tickets were for me and guest and the other pair were for a reader contest. I decided to do a quick twitter contest to decide the three winners that would attend the show with me. It was pretty successful and I might incorporate more twitter contests in the future. OVO is a headlong rush into a colourful ecosystem teeming with life, where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look for love in a non-stop riot of energy and movement. The insects’ home is a world of biodiversity and beauty filled with noisy action and moments of quiet emotion. When a mysterious egg appears in their midst, the insects are awestruck and intensely curious about this iconic object that represents the enigma and cycles of their lives. It’s love at first sight when a gawky, quirky insect arrives in this bustling community and a fabulous ladybug catches his eye – …
I love, love these grey wedge boots. I can see them with woolly tights and sweater dresses or leggings/slim pants and over sized ts. These boots have the neat cutout detail in the heel.
The Celine Spring 2010 collection is one of my favourites from the season. Everything was so clean and perfect. It looks even better in motion. I could wear it all.
This image from the Vogue UK Blog shows you just how crazy the shoes are from the Alexander McQueen Spring 2010 collection. WOW. They call them the armadillos. image: vogue.co.uk
It was the battle of the lower priced lines on Wednesday at LG Fashion Week. I had already seen a wonderful collection from Attitude by Sears and it was Joe Fresh turn to showcase the Spring 2010 collection. This season, Joe had Keith Richards’ daughter Theodora opening and closing the show. I have to admit I didn’t know who she was until afterwards. The colour palette was very boring to me. Lots of cream and white with yellow, blue and pink thrown in for a few looks. My pictures paid the price with this colour palette. The lighting wasn’t great if you weren’t in the front row and many of my pictures got washed out. I was screaming for something dramatic in the colour department but it never came. The styling confused me. Was the show a mix of underwear and outerwear? I saw bras over top of shirts and dresses that looked like shapewear, girls wearing underwear but no bottoms. Sheer shirts and jackets were a big part of his collection which I was …
Sometimes readers ask me questions. If they are of value to all my readers I post them online. If you have a question, please feel free to submit it using the contact form. I’ll definitely do my best to answer it. I want – I got reader Angela wrote: where can i buy alexander wang ‘s collection in Toronto other than Holt ?? Hi Angela, You can find Alexander Wang at Jonathan + Olivia and TNT. UPDATE:(April 23, 2010) Alexander Wang shoes are available at Holt Renfrew only.
There is a completely free lecture happening at the ROM tonight for all you pop culture junkies. See the descriptiom below. The Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) presents the fourth annual Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture on Tuesday, October 27, 2009. This year the ICC welcomes Lewis Lapham, editor of Lapham’s Quarterly, who will discuss celebrity in contemporary culture.The lecture begins at 7 pm in the ROM’s Signy & Cléophée Eaton Theatre, on Level B1. Admission is free to the public but seating will be available on a first-come first-served basis. In his lecture, Lewis Lapham will present his unique ideas about fame in modern society, making comparisons to ancient societies and referencing the prophetic writings of Marshall McLuhan, among many other far-reaching concepts. Drawing on his great erudition, his decades of thought about American society and a good deal of humour, Lapham will present a stimulating analysis of our culture’s ravenous need for celebrity and its implications.
I want – I got reader Valerie commented on the post Fashion Trends 2009: i liked the link about tights. can you recommend places to buy them? (not online) The link Valerie is referring to is Tightsplease Autumn/Winter Hosiery Trends for 2008/09. In Toronto/GTA your best bets are: H&M – Eaton Center is the only H&M I’ve seen with hosiery. Legs Beautiful – various locations Holt Renfrew – Bloor Street is probably your best bet Wolford – Yorkville American Apparel – various locations The Pantyhose Shop Recently Club Monaco has fashion tights for sale If you are willing to go to Niagara there is the Phantom Outlet Click Klak – Various locations The Bay – Various location Accessity – Yorkville I tend to troll Winner’s also, sometimes you can find some good deals. Finding cool tights in Toronto unfortunately takes time. EDIT: A note about H&M, if you see tights you like, buy in bulk. They are cheap and don’t last very long and their colours and styles rotate a lot, so a favourite colour …
I was walking through the Eaton Centre H&M when I saw these Star Wars tshirts. If George Lucas didn’t make Parts 1 – 3 I would have bought both, however he has killed much of the love I had for the series.
Wallpaper has posted some images of the venues for the Spring 2010 collections. From top: Louis Vuitton, Prada, Stella McCartney, Dior, Viktor & Rolf, Jean Paul Gaultier, Chanel, John Galliano Check out this video featuring the making of the Chanel venue from Wallpaper.com. images: wallpaper.com
Sculptz is a shapewear company that started in 1974 and still has a manufacturing base in the United States. They differentiate themselves from other companies with their use of bold colours and prints. They had a small show in the showroom at LG Fashion Week to preview their Spring 2010 collection.
Katrina Tuttle is proud that she never when to fashion design school. I would say she might want to reconsider that statement as it looked like she could use a little help in the construction side of things. Towards the end of the collection my inklings about fit and construction of the line were confirmed. In the front row you get a better look at the clothing and their imperfections. One pretty grey skirt came down the runway with zipper side completely open. The finale dress was painful to watch. The model was holding it up from falling with the sides of her arms. It looked very unnatural and you could feel the model’s anxiety of keeping the dress up. The collection was mostly a series of short cocktail dresses. I didn’t see any noticeable theme so it was a typical hodge podge of fabrics, silhouettes and garments. Katrina has a lot of potential. I saw her at FAT earlier in the year and I still stand by the unnecessary details comment I made back …
This was the surprise collection of my time at LG Fashion Week. I really enjoyed what I saw. I had a little preview of Attitude before I left for India. I was impressed with the more fashionable direction they were moving the line in. This show at the tents blew me away with what they have in store for spring. The colour palette was simple, black, white, gray, royal blue and dashes of coral. The collection was easy relaxed sportswear with ruffles, strong shoulders, one shoulder, stripes and polka dots details. Pegged pants, boyfriend blazers, shorts, biker jackets, tops and little black dresses were the key pieces of the fashion forward, 80s influenced collection. They even threw in a couple of jumpers that were pretty nice. I’m a huge fan of the cropped pleated pant, the slouchy cardigans and blazers which had a slit detail in he back. Sears won the battle of the low priced brands for me that night. I was impressed with the collection and can’t wait for February so try this …
As I was reading the list sheet for Jason Meyers’ spring 2010 show I noticed a of couple things. He included suggested retail prices for all of his clothing. He’s launching an online store on November 1, 2009. How much taffeta was in this collection. Taffeta is one of my most hated fabrics. It reminds me of bad formal dress from grade school. I hate the way it feels and it’s draping properties. It reminds me of Barbie honestly and you all know my relationship with her. Jason’s collection was full of embellishments, some of which I didn’t see the value in. Too many ruffles of various sizes adorned clothing. I felt they distracted from the clothing and all I could remember were the ruffles. For example the first look has ruffles on both sides of the garment along with puff sleeves and a huge bow. Too many details which just lead to my confusion about the garment. When things weren’t being over-embellished they were very body conscious, 80s influenced, minimal and short. I did like …
Sometimes readers ask me questions. If they are of value to all my readers I post them online. If you have a question, please feel free to submit it using the contact form. I’ll definitely do my best to answer it. I want – I got commentor Liana wrote in the post Revlon Warehouse Sale: Hi everyone… Does anyone know where I can get nice plus-sized clothing for myself here in Toronto? I’ve tried the usual haunts (Cotton Ginny, Pennigton’s, etc) but affordable too. I know in the U.S of A, they have lot’s of stuff cheap, but I don’t have a car and no one to take me there. This isn’t a topic I’m very knowledgeable in but I have looked up some of the plus sized boutiques in Toronto. I can’t guarantee it will be cheap like the states but the price probably would work out to be the same if you factor in gas, accommodation, car rental, etc. Toronto Life has a small article called Living Large which features shops in the …
Agendainc.com is back and they are posting their Fashion Week Soundtracks PDF once more. The first draft of Spring 2010 is out. Look for it to be updated again to include the Paris collections. Go forth and find out the name of that song.
I was already home and ready to start writing when I got a message that I should head down to The Black Hoof to see Rita Liefhebber collection. I put some some relaxed clothing and my Final Fashion Dr. Martens and headed out. I was so glad I did but pissed I forgot my camera. I had to use my blackberry. The presentation was in the back room in the restaurant. There were a steady stream of people when I arrived. I learned the kitchen was making appetizers. I was in heaven as the food at The Black Hoof is amazing, a meat eater’s paradise. Finally, I made my way inside the white room. Two rows of models lined two walls. They each were wearing a different look from the collection. It was very well done. I loved the colour palette of grey, black and punches of seafoam. There were a lot of pieces I would wear from the collection including the black dress with triangle panels. This was an unexpected treat of fashion week, …
It was no way to view a show. There were hundreds of us packed into the Showroom at LG Fashion Week. We were here to see Andy The Anh. I wasn’t sure how anyone was going to see anything, it was packed like sardines. People were angry. I was angry. I saw a little bit of the show. Some things looked pretty nice. It was very body con with a colour palette of blue, black, grey and white. The showroom as a venue for a show wasn’t optimal for Andy The Anh. It would have been nice with a much smaller guest list or a static presentation.
After the David Dixon Spring 2010 collection was Barbie by David Dixon. I’m gonna be honest, Barbie and I don’t get along. I don’t have the same connection to here that many people had. She awakened no particular love of fashion in me. I didn’t go in thinking that I would walk out a fan. I was right. I liked the first set of black and white looks and the sequined stuff. But overall it was too pink and too many polka dots. The pocket details didn’t grab me either. It was very accessible and lots of people loved it. It’s just not my style. David used coated tyvek, cotton, wool, organza, jacquard, bengaline, silk, taffeta and chiffon fabrics in the collection. The colour palette was black, white, grey, and pink of various shares. The men’s looks threw me for a loop. I liked the first look and thought the model was really beautiful. So out of the two collection I like the signature one more. It was directional and interesting to me. Prior to …
I’m really excited about the Dare to Wear Love show on October 23th at LG Fashion Week. It’s one of my highlights. Do you dare? For the first time ever, Hoax Couture and the Fashion Design Council of Canada (FDCC) are partnering with the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) to produce a fashion-forward, cause-driven and meaningful closing night show with Canada’s top designers at LG Fashion Week beauty by L’Oréal Paris. The goal is to leverage the power of the Canadian fashion and entertainment communities to raise awareness and funds for the SLF as it works to support communities that are affected by the AIDS pandemic in Africa. Starting at 9 p.m. on Friday, October 23, a star-studded audience will experience the Dare to Wear Love show, full of beautiful fashion, dance and music inspired by Africa. The multi-faceted collaboration is the largest public dare of the SLF’s new fundraising initiative A Dare to Remember. Recently launched, the nationwide initiative challenges Canadians to take on dares of all kinds to raise awareness and funds for the …
I always enjoy the Holt Renfrew Media Cocktail and I think they might have put the best one on yet. The 3rd floor Contemporary space was more open. No more talking through the racks of clothing. The runway was nice and high so everyone could get good pictures. Random celebrities showed up too. I was so angry that I missed Sam Neill in the flesh. I’ve been in love with that man since Jurassic Park. I was too busy running around talking to people and getting my picture taken. The Jeremy Laing dress I was wearing caused quiet the stir. Even Lisa Tant said she liked it. It was the first time she’s talked to me. I think of it as a personal fashion milestone. Yes, I am quite silly. This season we saw designs from Jeremy Laing, Greta Constantine, Erza Constantine, Pink Tartan, Lida Baday, Smythe, Denis Gagnon and Mikhael Kale. They are some of our best designer talent in Canada. They are all available at Holt Renfrew. Yes, Canadian designers are available at …
I was very excited to see the Vawk Spring 2010 show for LG Fashion Week. It was the only offsite show part of the program and it was held in AGO. I wasn’t in the glass-and-wood façade area of the building. That would have been a logistical nightmare but oh so fun. There was an open call for fan to show up for first come first serve seats. There was a pretty big line in front of the building and I was really glad for that Media/VIP entrance. It’s a life saver. Leading up to the show, Sunny posted a series of preview videos for the collection. If they were embeddable I would have posted them here. He also streamed the show live for viewers that couldn’t attend the open call. Reading the Vawk line sheet revealed a show full of luxurious fabrics: sand leather, silk cotton, crepe de chine, silk organza and silk chiffon. Sunny Fong was influenced by French Polynesia. This was seen with the bright red and orange colour palette which contrasted …