Halifax: Hey, Canada, we can do it too

For a city you can hide in the palm of your hand, it’s mysteriously possible for its citizens to be right in the thick of citywide event and not have a clue. Halifax’s first dance with fashion week was no exception, passing by without stirring up much more than a light breeze. An event needs deafening buzz to catch this city’s attention and it seems this time around, the vibrations were at just the right pitch.

As I pulled up to Olympic Hall for Atlantic Fashion Week’s (atlanticfashionweek.com) Designers Showcase on November 1, nearly an hour before the models were set to hit the runway, the line was already streaming down the front staircase and curling around the building and the anticipation was palpable. When the doors opened chairs quickly filled with Haligonians, perching in their finest. (Click to read part one of Atlantic Fashion Week.)

The night’s roster included five local and national, production-ready designers, each showing a different side of Atlantic Canadian talent. Laura Chenoweth (laurachenoweth.com) launched the show with breezy fabrics and easy cuts, a practical line made with organic cotton and non-toxic dyes that offered up the first taste of the East Coast’s eco-friendly mindset. Orphanage Clothing (orphanageclothing.com) designer Kim Munson’s line of reconstructed—and perhaps too deconstructed—T-shirts and clothing energized the runway and big hair and rockin’ tunes added an edgy slant to green design.

Mahone Bay’s Deux Fm (deuxfm.com) impressed as usual, showcasing a sexy spring 2009 collection that draped models in saturated blues and Victorian hues, a colour palette cut into puffy shorts, bubble skirts, floor-length dresses, breezy wraps and locally-made bikinis—all in eco-friendly fabrics, of course. And Lisa Drader-Murphy’s Turbine (turbine.ca), which takes a sustainable approach, brought a unique contrast to the mix, layering luxurious tweeds and houndstooths with their softer, silkier counterparts to create feminine silhouettes ideal for the mature, style-savvy professional.

The finale, Halifax’s Tuttle & Leonardo (tuttleandleonardo.com), hit the AFW runway with an explosion of styles. The diverse collection bounced with bubbles of raw silk, streamlined cuts and geometric prints, but lacked cohesion. Still, though scattered, the show churned out some of my top picks for the night—an aqua asymmetrical mini dress and an I-need-it shrunken red trench—so what’s a little creative wanderlust when it turns out all right?

So, can the port city do fashion week and do it well? I dare say round two has packed quite the punch.

Shown: A model walks the runway in Tuttle & Leonardo’s shrunken red trench. Photography by Josh Webb

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