FASHION Magazine

When I try to digest yesterday’s Chloé Comme Parris show, all that comes to mind is wow wow wow. In their sophomore LG show for fall, sisters Chloé and Parris Gordon mixed understated western elements with a distinctively refined downtown edge. But these aren’t just run-of-the-mill western elements, they are right out of the (Gold Rush) history books… or off the (True Grit) silver screen. Silver belt buckles in multiples adorned tailored jacket shoulders, the waists of bombers and the edges of several poncho-like sweaters. Coattails and the backs of shirtwaists alike appeared as curvilinear outpourings from otherwise structured garments. This is becoming something of a signature for the sisters, who seem to pay special attention to the caboose of things. And the accessories! Crystal shoulder straps and buckled bags added even more it-factor to the show’s offerings.

View the Chloé Comme Parris photo gallery »

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:

Sisters and design partners Chloé and Parris Gordon brought their Chloé Comme Parris label to the LG Fashion Week runway for the first time yesterday afternoon. It was a promising start for the Toronto natives, who already sell their line at two Toronto boutiques. Chloé, who designs the clothing, is a graduate of NSCAD, where Parris, in charge of jewellery, is in her last year.

The clothes were both military- and athletic-inspired–though not too obviously either one. For example, polished brass buttons running up the legs of slouchy sweats.  The cutaway jackets and dresses offered a twist–an olive green utility jacket featured long panel at the back that zipped away–ditto the belts, which were found around the neck of a sleeveless blouse or hanging from the bottom of a cropped baseball jacket. All the cut-outs also offered some flashes of skin in unexpected places. A favourite came from a striped dress whose skirt was attached with metal buttons, partially undone for a peek of the hips.

See a gallery of the Chloé Comme Parris show»

Watch a runway video and an interview with the designers»

Read our full coverage of Toronto Fashion Week»

While sisters Chloé and Parris Gordon will be showing at Toronto Fashion Week for the first time the Toronto natives aren’t new to the runway–they’ve shown at Atlantic Fashion Week three times. The pair took time to answer our fashion week first-timers questionnaire. See what they had to say after the jump.

By the time hosts Lisa Drader-Murphy and Joanne Lawen slipped behind the mic last Thursday night, the packed O’Regan’s Mercedes-Benz showroom had filled to standing room only—and rightfully so. The Emerging Designer Showcase, the first of Atlantic Fashion Week’s main events, has developed quite the reputation over the last couple years. This season, over a dozen up-and-comers unveiled their latest, and I was pleased to welcome a few more names to my list of young talent for which to look out.

Following in Atlantic Fashion Week tradition, the first designer showcase of Halifax’s two-night AFW kicked off in the Mercedes-Benz showroom on Kempt Road last Wednesday with work by current students of Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. Unlike the past, however, their unveiling didn’t whip by with only the ghost of a few key pieces lingering in its wake. Instead, the NSCAD students, their designs rich with imagination and artistry, have completely swallowed my memory of the evening. Our art college, ever strengthening its fashion department, must be doing something right.

Read a round-up of the shows, after the jump.