Pink Tartan Fall 2014: A blanket coat, fur pants and buffalo checks prove the perfect antidote to winter

by Rani Sheen March 20, 2014

See the Pink Tartan Fall 2014 collection »

Living through this winter’s polar vortex seems to have deeply affected Pink Tartan’s Kim Newport-Mimran—the Fall 2014 she showed in Toronto last night offered plenty of solutions for protecting her customers in arctic conditions. Starting her design process with the fabrics (including a log cabin’s worth of faux and sustainably-sourced real fur), Newport-Mimran said she moved on to study the way Inuit people traditionally arm themselves against frigid temperatures, and drew inspiration from Richard Avedon’s 1966 Vogue editorial, “The Great Fur Caravan,” starring Veruschka bundled up against the Japanese Alps. The snow across the country has been no less insistent recently, and next season the urban winter-warrior has her pick of cozy layering pieces: neat black and red buffalo check and houndstooth dresses, wool outerwear of varying lengths and shapes—short and sharp, pea coats, long and menswear-style coats—and a voluminous black quilted coat-duvet hybrid that was shown with 1960s Courreges-classic white-out glasses.

The final looks offered no excuse for missing a party in a snowstorm: a metallic full-skirted party dress was layered over a lurex turtleneck, and under a black fur circlet enveloping the upper body. The final look, which Newport-Mimran said was inspired by Inuit legwear, is for when things get really bad: a metallic skirt worn over shaggy fur trousers. Stilettos non-negotiable, though.