FASHION Magazine

After having spent most of her formative years in daylong dusk—she was raised in Alberta and studied for a time in Finland—Jessica Mary Clayton now brightens our fashion landscape by illuminating the oh-so-standard palette.

Against too many blacks, whites and a mess of monochrome, Clayton’s most recent line plays a lively riff on the classic prototype. Her latest collection features a broader greyscale, a scheme well known and well loved by many Canadians. Done by Clayton though, grey is translated with a sweeter, softer spin.

The second half of [FAT] shifted from presentations of (relatively) wearable street fashion seen earlier in the week to runway-shows-come-performance-art that featured some truly impressive avant-garde and theatrical designs.

Night three with its theme of ‘Fashion/Unfashion’ drew unprecedented crowds hovering on tip-toes around the coveted seating to catch shows of buzzed about designers like Breeyn McCarney and Heidi Ackerman, whose capsule collection was accessorized with sculptural bent wood adornments by industrial designer Lindsay Sinclair. Our favourite looks from the collaboration were a gold parachute coat and a black chiffon one-piece pantsuit, the lightness of which was balanced by a panelled wood collar that spanned from the model’s breastbone to above her ears.

When attending [FAT], Toronto’s alternative arts and fashion week—with its norm-subverting, boundary-busting mandate—it’s impossible to predict what’s in store for the (equally eclectic) audience. Runway presentations over the first two nights have featured ballerinas, acrobats and a puzzling—albeit comical (though maybe not intentionally)—light-saber dual. But beyond the showmanship, we were delighted to discover some true talent. Here are our favourites from the first two nights: