FASHION Magazine

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Toronto Fashion Week may be more than a month away, but street style trends were top of mind for the city’s fashion lovers last week. And with good reason: J. Crew held a sleek party to celebrate the opening of its first Collection store on Bloor Street, making it the brand’s fifth Toronto location and first standalone store. Unlike other locations, the J.Crew Collection store features a curated selection of limited edition women’s and menswear pieces, including accessories (hello, statement jewellery!) cashmere and more.

Despite its 6,000+ square foot size, the store was tightly packed with eager party guests, many of whom were likely hoping to catch a glimpse of the woman who makes print mixing look as natural as wearing neutrals. Alas, it was not to be: a blizzard in New York meant Jenna Lyons was stranded and we had to settle for an Instagram stand-in—which did indeed complemented the party’s Canadian-ified photo booth. (Complete with stuffed moose and a Pharrell-meets-Mountie hat.)

Two budding Canadian design talents—Amanda Lew Kee and Chloé comme Parris—are heading to Big Apple for GenArt’s 14th annual Fresh Faces in Fashion event. The event, which showcases up and coming designers, takes place on September 9th and will include both men’s and women’s Spring 2013 read-to-wear collections. Fresh Faces in Fashion has sent some […]

The post Toronto’s own Amanda Lew Kee and Chloé Comme Parris to show at GenArt during New York Fashion Week appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Last night, some of Toronto’s fanciest tastemakers headed to the east side’s hanger-cum-venue Airship 37 to partake in The Society’s equally fancy soiree: a pairing of fancy wines and fancy music. Dubbed The Urban Symphony, the event planning duo Ashleigh Dempster and Amanda Blakley combo’d fine wine from New Zealand brand The People’s Wine and fine music from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s violinists Peter Seminovs and Amanda Goodburn, viola Eric Nowlin, and cellist Igor Gefter. Bathed in purple light, the group, including designers Maryam Keyhani, Amanda Lew Kee and Kirk Pickersgill (Greta Constantine), as well as PR aficionados Lauren Wolff and Candice Best, enjoyed a Pinot Gris and Mozart blend followed by a Pinot Noir and Tchaikovsky. For those who thought music was best listened to with your ears, think again.

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View the full collection » See all Toronto Fashion Week coverage » Last night at The Hoxton felt very much like discovering a new designer—a dark, moody space and several unknowns clothed in all black. In reality, it was more like we were in a time warp, since Amanda Lew Kee is in her fifth […]

The post TFW Diary: Amanda Lew Kee goes back to black basics for fall appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Next up in our all-Canuck fashion film series, we’re heading to the squash court for an ultra-trippy and ultra-sporty play on Amanda Lew Kee’s kaleidoscopic Spring 2012 collection. Filmed in Toronto at the Ryerson Athletic Centre, this shoot took flight once director Hannah Sider, along with partner Gabriel Graham, began to see Lew Kee’s models as athletes in their own rights. What we see is a fierce spring collection on a fiercely stunning model. What do you see?

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When a brightly packaged macaron invite to Amanda Lew Kee’s Spring 2012 show appeared on our desks last week, we knew we were in for something sunny. And it was so sunny that models wore visors, while several suited onlookers peered in to watch through the King Street West-facing glass wall. In contrast to last season’s sometimes over-embellished outing, this season was a light and airy ode to hip sportswear, featuring sheer-white button downs, panelled leggings, shorts with oversized and exposed pockets, and a beautiful pair of beige silk wide legs that were slit along the sides. Two graphic prints—one with distinctly early ‘90s hippy wall-hanging flare—appeared as panels, yokes, and stripes added some serious cool-factor that we’re sure to be seeing on many a cool girl come spring.

The Spring 2012 collections, taking place October 17–21, will mark the 25^th Toronto fashion week. Having previously announced the location of the new venue, the Fashion Design Council of Canada has now released the schedule and details about the week.

While we’re not sure what to expect with the week’s theme of “CanadaCool,” we’re excited about the new venue, David Pecaut Square. With the new venue being downtown, we no longer have to teeter down to the exhibition in four-inch heels.

Each season showcases Canada’s design talent and Spring 2012 is no different, with collections from fashion heavyweights Joeffer Caoc, Pink Tartan, Denis Gagnon, and the new and exciting Amanda Lew Kee and Chloe Comme Parris. This season is also going international with established American designer Cynthia Rowley showing three never-before-seen looks.

With a new name and venue, we hope that the collections from Canadian designers are equally as fresh and thrilling.

Last week, the sight of Eric and Sookie christening every room of the house may have scarred our memory, but other stuff happened too: Lafayette is a medium, Tommy is a skin walker who can shift into people, and Bill and his vamps took a self-imposed silvering to try to beat Antonia at her game of unhide-and-go-seek-the-sun.

Stackhouse Tackle
– Jessica, under Antonia’s spell, opens the door to meet the sun only to get tackled by tight end (not sure if that was his football position; we’re mostly alluding to his butt) Jason who rushes in Superman-style, hair blowing in slow motion. He wraps her in a carpet and shuts the door faster than you can say “touchdown.”
-She’s no football, and so she’s quickly on top of him and about to bite when Antonia and her rag-tag witches stop chanting.
-Jess is slightly singed but grateful Jason saved her and a thank you make-out ensues as Bill shouts her name from below.
-Jason carries her to bed like a groom with a bride (we doubt she’s too weak to walk, but we wouldn’t turn that down either) and re-chains her—they don’t know when Antonia will start chanting again.
-Oh, and that gunshot from last week? That was Jason shooting a guard in the shoulder, but all is forgiven.

The post Video: Amanda Lew Kee talks natural disasters and Asian cinema appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

Designer about town Amanda Lew Kee, often spotted sporting frosty blue lipstick interestingly took her runway bow without her signature pigmented pout (same goes for her models). Does this mean she’s experimenting with a new identity? Compared to last season’s capsule-sized collection, her fall outing certainly showed growth and a certain commerciality. She started with a more sophisticated aesthetic, but the collection lost focus and veered in a different direction. The heavy matte velvet, cut-to-there skirt suit with gold zips looked fresh and wearable, but sheer paneled leggings with soft cardigans, grommeted knit dresses and a hairy metallic dress in caution orange detracted from the more mature appeal. Similar shapes cut in different fabrics were repetitive, no matter how shiny or eye-catching they might be (gasoline-spill iridescent foil aprons included). She seemed to be at odds with who the Amanda Lew Kee girl actually is…  maybe this leopard is rethinking its spots.

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By Randi Bergman and Jordan Porter

Introducing the first in our new weekly feature, where we combine our love for pretty pictures and talent for delivering ultimate shopping picks. Each Tuesday, we’ll be gathering deliciously buyable products based on a common theme. First up: Toronto fashion week essentials! With the shows just around the corner and some shows already underway, now is the perfect time to indulge in some homegrown retail therapy. From household names like Roots to accessory artisans like Maryam Keyhani, here’s our list of Canadian can’t-live-withouts.

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Last October, a breath of fresh air breezed through the grounds at Heritage Court⎯the home to “official” Toronto fashion week⎯in the form of an über hip group of young fashionites called The Fashion Collective. A sort of mélange of hype-making and style setting, PR maven Kate Mullin, stylist Dwayne Kennedy and producer Brian A. Richards brought the likes of Rita Liefhebber, Thomas, Amanda Lew Kee and Chloé Comme Parris to the official schedule. Whereas the edgy designers such as these would have previously stayed as far away from the official schedule as possible, the group bridged the gap between the established and the upstarts making the official week a hub for all. For the fall 2011 season starting on March 28^th, the Collective’s got a whole new bag of tricks up their sleeve, introducing LABEL, Heather Lawton, Sid Neigum, and diepo into the Toronto fashion week womenswear stratosphere. Here’s our sneak peek of what these hot young things have got in store: