FASHION Magazine

Fashion’s favourite season is finally here and we’ve got the chock-a-block trend report to prove it, complete with 138 of the top looks that take you from Fall’s dark fantasies into Winter’s light and feminine pastels. Go on, get clicking!

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NIGHT VISION | EMBELLISH THE STORY | PANTS | GREAT OUTDOORS | FINE CHINA | MISS ‘60s | JEWEL TONES | SUGAR RUSH | SPECIAL FX | SIZE MATTERS | PEPLUMANIA | KNIT PICK

Fashion Television (RIP) was ahead of its time in several ways, and here is one of them: In 1985, when executive producer Jay Levine launched the program, he imagined it might become a channel for short narrative videos about clothing. Fashion films, now so inescapable a phenomenon, were then just a thought without a name: if music videos could revolutionize the way we consume pop, couldn’t a little cinematography do the same for clothing? The ’70s had seen then-living legends Guy Bourdin and Richard Avedon experiment with the moving image, and as film-recording cameras became less expensive, it seemed likely they’d land in the hands of younger, emerging lensmen. As MTV was to music videos, so might Fashion Television be to this new mode of image-making.

Leave it to Valerie Steele, the first person to ever tout a fashion studies PhD, to tackle an industry-related question that’s rarely been explored before: why is it exactly that modern fashion history has had so many iconic gay designers?

Steele, a bona fide fashion expert who has pioneered fashion-related academia, said she wants to celebrate gay designers in an upcoming exhibit at The Museum at FIT, where she sits as director and chief curator. Along with these designers’ deserved nod of recognition, she wants to explore the ways in which their sexuality has helped develop the industry into what it is today.

It’s true: even when compared to other creative fields, many if not most of fashion’s influential leaders are gay, including (but obviously not limited to) Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.

Despite the fact that generally speaking, this density of gay designers is common knowledge, Steele points out that no one has ever really delved further into the question of why so many gay people seem to flourish in the industry.

“[…] Nobody’s ever really thought consciously to put the gayness back into fashion history and say, ‘Why are there so many gay people in fashion?’ and ‘Is there a gay aesthetic?’ and ‘What have been the influences of having so many gay people in fashion?'” Steele told Fashionologie.

It’s an interesting and potentially groundbreaking point: given fashion’s runway-to-streets trickle down effect, is it even possible that the fashion industry’s early embracing of homosexuality has helped encourage similar acceptance outside of the industry’s confines? And Steele’s question of aesthetics makes us look at some famed designs in a completely different light: for example, could a straight man have ever created Le Smoking, or was Saint Laurent able to create such a game-changing design thanks in part to his sexuality?

Though we doubt these questions could ever be answered in full, given Steele’s past thought-provoking exhibits, it will definitely be interesting and insightful to see how she navigates her way through these questions.

Couture being one of the last unattainable bastions of the fashion industry pretty much guarantees that the beauty side of things will be appropriately thrilling. From the gravity-defying ponytails at Alexis Mabille to the jewel-encrusted face masks at Maison Martin Margiela, here are 10 of the most beautiful and extreme beauty looks from Paris’s latest Couture Week installment.

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We’ve all had a few days since Raf Simons’ spectacular Dior couture debut was shown in Paris this past Sunday, and one of the things that keeps coming to mind is how oddly… sellable this collection is. While that may be the complete opposite goal of couture, we had no problem at all envisioning ourselves swinging by the brand’s Avenue Montaigne flagship and picking up a few pieces. Here are a few personal favourites from the FASHION team:

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After seeing Dior‘s spectacular Couture show earlier this week, one thing (aside from the collection, that is) stood out: the brightly hued lashes on each model. Created by makeup artist extraordinaire Pat McGrath, hot pink, cobalt blue and lime green eyeliner was applied over silver shadow, with matching mascara to make the neon colours stand out even more. Basically, it was impossible not to turn back to Sally Singer’s eyeball manicure for Nail Corner inspiration. This design may have more of a cartoonish than couture feel, but it’s one way you can get away with neon eyelashes for everyday wear.

Couldn’t you see Katy Perry in this mani? Find out how to do it before she does! »

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Read our Girls recaps »

It’s 26 minutes and 11 seconds into the third episode of HBO’s Girls. A struggling writer named Hannah Horvath, played by the show’s 26-year-old creator/star, Lena Dunham, is in her bedroom staring at a laptop. She’s just endured the most hellish month of her adult life: Her parents have stopped paying her rent, her doctor has diagnosed her with HPV and her former college boyfriend has let her know that her “handsomeness” helped him realize his attraction to men.

Instead of having a breakdown, Hannah decides to throw down. She double clicks an MP3 of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” jumps off her bed and swings her tattooed arms to the gunning beat. Her impeccably put-together roommate, Marnie, played by 24-year-old Allison Williams, catches Hannah’s impromptu dance party and joins in. Together in their tiny Brooklyn apartment they hair-flip the pain away, share a hug and make the tragic magic. The credits roll.

Last night, Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum opened its latest exhibit, a retrospective of Parisian shoe designer Roger Vivier, with a glittering fête complete with champagne flutes and many a pilgrim buckle. The exhibit follows the designer’s career from his couture-style creations for Christian Dior in the 1950s to his legendary pilgrim-buckle flats made famous by the likes of Catherine Deneuve in the swinging ‘60s and beyond. Italian-born designer Bruno Frisoni, who helms the label in the present day, was there to toast to the exhibit, alongside our editor-in-chief Bernadette Morra (donning—what else?—pilgrim-buckled silver flats), Alexandra Weston, Jeanne Beker, Marilyn Denis and the museum’s grand dame, Sonja Bata, whose star shone brighter than ever with her lively opening remarks.

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See our vintage-inspired slideshow »

By Samantha Shephard

It’s a sunny Saturday morning in West Hollywood and Rita Ryack, the Oscar-nominated costume designer known for her work on Casino and A Beautiful Mind, is on a hunt for sequined dresses. Production on the film Rock of Ages is wrapping and she needs one more piece for Catherine Zeta-Jones’ character. Judging by the racks she’s browsing, which are filled with this season’s hottest labels and trends—Versace print T-shirts, heavily embellished Moschino jackets, sweeping red carpet–worthy gowns—you’d think she were shopping at an upscale department store. Think again. She’s at The Way We Wore, a vintage-clothing mecca that attracts A-list clients like Angelina Jolie, Dita Von Teese and Katy Perry. The shop is full of high-end designer pieces, like little black dresses from Chanel, elegant Christian Dior gowns, Pauline Trigère party dresses and Pucci pyjama pants, all dating from the 1930s to the early 1990s.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of Leone (leone.ca), a local luxury retailer where Christian Dior, Prada, Versace and Alexander McQueen are among the dreamy designer labels. We asked the grande dame behind this family business, Maria Leone, about must-haves and milestones.

What was the first garment you sold at the store?
“It was a Versace flowered chiffon skirt. I definitely remember the emotions I had when we first opened the doors and cut
the ribbon.”

This spring, shimmering shells, luminous pearls and treasures from the deep have sprung from the sea.

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Much has been said of what Raf Simons will do for the house of Dior, now that he’s landed the big gig, but how does he feel about it? Whilst we were all taking dibs on which of his many modern approaches he may take with the house, he revealed quite the opposite to The […]

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