I posted about the new Lanvin ♥ Acne 2010 collection for women previously on I want – I got. I really love the grey ruched shoulder dress the most out of the collection.
Ruched shoulder dress with a beautiful, feminine fit. The ruching sits over the left shoulder, with pleats running across the bust. The right shoulder is sleeveless. A zipper runs through the back of the dress.(source)
The dress is available online at shop.acnestudios.com
image: shop.acnestudios.com
A few weeks ago I attended the Miss J. Alexander Celebrity Walk Off at Holt Renfew. The show was a lot of fun and afterwards I got to meet Miss J Alexander himself where he wrote a super cute inscription in his book, Follow the Model. I found some video of the event. There is the official Holt Renfrew video which is a series of clips and interviews and video from youtube which is the complete celebrity walkoff.
Holt Renfrew’s Official Video
Full Celebrity Walk Off Video Part 1 via djsanfan
Full Celebrity Walk Off Video Part 2 via djsanfan
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.
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.
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 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
I didn’t even know about the Mikhael Kale presentation at the Spoke Club until the day before. Thankfully a resourceful and close fashion friend alerted me to this and expertly took care of everything. Soon we were rushing out of Evan Biddel and hopping into a cab desperately hoping to make the start of the show.
I only see Mikhael’s collections at the Holt Renfrew’s LG Fashion week cocktail parties. This year it became a breakfast and I was at the office in a meeting room with my lovely coworkers discussing trade processing and business scenarios. The joys of a double life. I was really disappointed that I missed the breakfast so I didn’t want to miss the Spoke Club gig either.
We made it to the show in the nick of time. The runway room was tightly packed and had a raised runway. I knew my newbie camera skills would fail me again. I tried my best with the photos but being backlight and super close didn’t help me. TCHAD has some photos of the event including backstage shots.. The show featured a few looks from Mikhael’s Spring Summer 2010 and Fall Winter 2010 – 2011 collections.
TFW - Mikhael Kale - Spring Summer 2010
Spring was a series of super short pastel coloured dresses. Some were strapless and details included snake-skin accents and brocade fabrics. I would wear leggings or really opaque tights with these dresses, they are a little too short for me and I love showing leg. The Mikhael Kale website has a good display of all the looks in the spring summer 2010 collection.
TFW - Mikhael Kale - Fall Winter 2010 2011
This was the only collection of the week that floored me. He showed a series of dead sexy dresses and contrasting minimal coats. The looks were beautiful, inventive, rich in detail and well constructed. Mikhael is the only person that can put so many design details on a garment and get away with it. It really is a gift. The dresses incorporated sheer panels, mini ruffles, reptile like fabrics, beading, applique and plastic floral like embellishments. The colour palette was only grey and black.
TFW - Mikhael Kale - Fall Winter 2010 2011
The finale jumpsuit with the reptile treated fabric was to die for. I would learn from Mikhael after the show that he created the fabric himself by dipping it in acrylic and cracking it to create the pattern. I can just see this man holed up in his studio for days at a time without emerging working on his creations.
I’ve always thought Mikhael Kale was one of those under the radar designers. It’s a shame more media didn’t know about this show. Photos of Mikhael’s work is hard to come by on the Internet. Hopefully the article “Made in Canada: Breakfast with a Whole New Generation of Designers” on Vogue.com changes that.
Mikhael Kale Fall Winter 2010
Mikhael Kale Spring Summer 2010
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.
Rita Liefhebber Fall Winter 2010 collection was in a truck parked outside The Black Hoof on Dundas Street West. A group of the city’s cool kids and fashion industry types gathered as I walked up. Like Rita’s Spring 2010 presentation, The Hoof was catering. Every once in a while someone with a tray of Hoof specialties would come out and feed the fashion folk. Too bad there was no drinking allowed on the corner.
I enjoy the change of pace with fashion presentations. Rita’s idea of presenting in a truck felt much like an art installation. Many people commented about how it felt like Nuit Blanche with the group of people milling around outside the truck. The models stood between judys that look made of cellophane tape. The judys showed the collection during NYC Fall Winter 2010 market in February. The presentation was well done but it made for crappy photos for a newbie Olympus E-PL1 user.
I don’t have a strong idea of the Rita Liefhebber brand. The fall collection looks like it’s moving in a different direction. It’s not what I expected after spring 2010. Fall Winter 2010 didn’t have as many looks either. It’s probably too early to make comparisons and try to figure out trends, it has been only two seasons. That being said, I loved the ruched skirts and the roped wool on jackets. It might be these two details that are throwing me off. I’m expected more of the Spring 2010 minimal and relaxed styles.
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’ve been excited for the Line Knitwear Fall Winter 2010 fashion show since I learned about it from John Muscat and Jennifer Wells. I went to the Fall Winter 2010 Lookbook photoshoot a few months back. I spend the day hanging out with the crew and getting a great preview of all the Fall merchandise.
I was all over it, a full range of textures and weights in knits and the leathers jackets. The collection has all my favourite shapes and details: long, oversized, sheer, chunky and dramatic movement. All the pieces were stylish and functional. I wanted all the looks.
I wanted to see which pieces they would pull and use to present as a collection. They would be presenting a single message for Line Knitwear. They shot over 100 looks that day, it’s a lot of clothing to edit. I was also interested to see what underpinnings they would come up with to complement.
The Line Fall Winter 2010 fashion show was at The Oasi at 99 Sudbury St. A large warehouse space held the rectangular and raised runway.  You were sitting right up against the runway. As the models walked out I kept saying to myself, “Why do I know that face?” Turns out the models are women with international experience like Alana Zimmer, Amanda Laine, Addison Gill, Elise Hélène Gatschene and Tara Gill. Some of them had just returned from fashion month. I’d been flipping through their images for the last month and it was a minor shock to see them in up close.  I knew John and Jennifer wanted great models for the show and they got them. Hair and makeup were perfect complements to layers of textures. I stared at knits of all textures: sheer, chunky, hairlike and deconstructed. Everything was lush and comfy looking without sacrificing fashion.
The underpinnings were brilliant. The models wore slouchy, sheer knit leggings and thermal underwear like bodysuits with exposed full brief panties and occasional nipple. Knits of all textures covered the shoes. There were thigh high or little booties with chunky knits or Mongolian hair. Scarves and wraps were so rich in texture they looked opulent.   I died over the cream and black long ruffled scarves again (I did it first at the lookbook photoshoot). The clothing was a display of all the different techniques Line Knitwear has to offer in a variety of sweater dresses, cardigans, scarves, ponchos, tank tops, tshirts and sweaters. The collection stuck to black, grey and crème for the most part but a few looks were in seafoam and coral. They stuck to a single print which resembled tree branches.
I really enjoyed the show.  John and Jennifer received a well deserved standing O. Great models and amazing clothing you can’t go wrong. I can’t think of a better way to introduce a Canadian success story to the Toronto fashion community.  I received a copy the final lookbook a few days before the show.  It was interesting to see what wasn’t shown. The 40+ looks shown are less than half of what is available for buyers to purse.  Line also does great leather jackets. I know that Fawn carries them.
See the full collection
Photos of the Line Fashion Show Taken by Paul Baik for I want – I got www.paulbaikphoto.com
It’s the last day LG Fashion Week. Just wanted to apologize about the lack of timely posts but fashion shows, after parties and job obligations make sleep the first priority. I’m also enjoying trying to learn to use the Olympus PEN E-PL1 that Olympus loaned to me. You’ll see the results of that in the photos :). Tomorrow will have my full round up of show reviews and general thoughts.
Anita
