FASHION Magazine

After a long and exhausting month of shows (it’s a hard life… we know), we’ve finally had a few minutes to digest the thrills and frills that we saw on the runways in New York, London, Milan and Paris. So, here they are. Our top ten hits, in no particular order. (Ordering them would be like choosing favourite children, and we simply CANNOT go that far… )

By Laura Minquini

The fashion planets aligned in perfect unison for me to attend the most Parisian of fashion shows. Chanel+Haute Couture=dreams come true. The show was held yesterday at one of the city’s most majestic of buildings, the Grand Palais–it is a sight to behold from the moment one arrives. It’s easy to  become an expert at spotting the clients and celebrities. Clients are clad in Chanel head to toe, celebrities—among them Leighton Meester and Blake Lively, Milla Jovovich, Jessica Alba and the very French Cleménce Poésy–are surrounded by a sea of photographers.

Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce took a trip to the O.K. Corral for their Spring 2010 D&G collection. There were plenty of ripped jeans and snap-up denim shirts, but more than cowboy chic, this was high-noon Wild West camp:

Photographer Gabor Jurina–one of FASHION’s BFFs–went to yesterday’s Chanel couture show and sent us this report. Check out his work at gaborjurina.com (or in the Summer issue of FASHION) and his blog at gaborgeous.com.

Last evening’s Fall 2009 couture presentation from Chanel was the perfect combination of French luxury with German precision. Kaiser Karl pulled it off yet again, to the pleasure of his devotees. There was a sea of Chanel bags, in every shape, colour and fabric. It was a virtual retrospective of past Chanel collections in the audience. The genius of Chanel is that even though we shoot it for our pages of FASHION Magazine on lithe young women, it works beautifully on ladies of any age.

You know summer is officially here when:

a) the Main is closed for the weekend and you can smell the chow mein from miles away.

b) You and your friends are trying desperately to find a new friend with a pool.

c) the Festival Mode et Design is finally taking downtown in hostage! From June 17 to 20, get ready for full fashion and music marathon. Here’s my personal to do list for the festival this year:

Eating up the East Coast love is all well and good for our Atlantic Canadian designers, but who can say no to a little national exposure? Not Kim Munson, Anna Gilkerson and the Sunsets on the Eastside trio, who will have their designs walked down the runway at Montreal’s Festival Mode & Design (June 17 to 20, festivalmodedesign.com) as part of the event’s inaugural cross-Canada showcase on Thursday, June 18.

The TransCanada Runway will bring together designers from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Nunavut, Toronto, Montreal and our beloved Maritimes and marks the first time Atlantic Canada has been represented at the festival, a four-day event produced by Sensation Mode, who also put together Montreal Fashion Week.