FASHION Magazine

Old Montreal is sizzling these days. Whether  it’s for cinq-à-sept cocktails, gallery-hopping  or moonlit dinners, I often find myself there and invariably my credit card gets a workout.

Montreal fashion week is strutting an eager new February time slot (sayonara March!) that puts the city’s Semaine de la mode literally at the forefront of fashion ⎯ starting the 2011 fashion cycle ahead of New York. From a packed schedule of shows, presentations and parties, I’ve distilled my top moments. Here are the highlights.

Montreal designer Denis Gagnon (www.denisgagnon.ca) gave FASHION the exclusive inside scoop that he has created the new uniforms at Le Place d’Armes (www.hotelplacedarmes.com), one of Old Montreal’s most stylish boutique hotels.

When I first received the invite for Travis Taddeo‘s spring and summer show and saw a picture of a noose, two things popped into my head. First, “This is going to be interesting.” Second, “How very Travis.”

The young designer’s show was held last month in Griffintown, a barren albeit “up-and-coming” area. By the time I arrived, all the other usual suspects had already been seated: Eva Friede from the Gazette, a slew of French and English bloggers, as well as Taddeo’s eclectic entourage that included Denis Gagnon, Yso, and Cary Tauben. As I read the designer’s press statement, I learned that Taddeo’s inspiration drew upon “slain celebrities where spirits of tragically erased stars reappear to haunt the designer’s new titillating collection.” That explained the T-shirts printed with River Phoenix’ face – and the noose. I don’t make this stuff up.

Cult fashion designer Denis Gagnon recently showcased his avant-garde Spring 2011 collection at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The show was in celebration of spectacular exhibit, Denis Gagnon Show All (until February 13, mbam.qc.ca), which features work from the artist’s 10 years in fashion. FASHION‘s Montreal editor, Patricia Gajo, attended the show with her […]

The post Video: See inside the Denis Gagnon retrospective in Montreal appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

To say that Denis Gagnon‘s Spring show is fringed would be a 100 per cent accurate and yet far too simple description. This is not cowboy fringe. The strands of silk spilled down like a waterfall, were swagged like drapery, or snaked down mesh panels. The opening look featured a pair of pants that looked almost sinewy. In addition to the silk, Gagnon used fine metal chains to form delicate shoulders or an overlay on lace sleeves. For the finale, he made a shimmering dress with bare zip-away shoulders. There were a handful of pieces done in Gagnon’s signature draped and knotted leather that in any other show that week would have been the standout, but here they served as moments of stillness in show that was fully in motion.

See a gallery of the Denis Gagnon show»

Read our full coverage of Toronto Fashion Week»

It takes a certain amount of guts to co-opt Diana Vreeland’s famous line, “Pink is the navy blue of India.” Holt Renfrew turned that on its ear at last night’s LG Fashion Week opener, casting magenta–their signature shade–to fill that role in Canada. Well it was, at least for the night, when the luxury department store brought nine designers from their stable of homegrown talent to the runway. It was a blockbuster ticket that included five looks each from Jeremy Laing, Lida Baday, Line, Pink Tartan, jacket specialists Smythe, glamour veteran Wayne Clark, Mikhael Kale, menswear label Wings + Horns and Montreal designer Denis Gagnon. With a few of the designers, it was a bit of an appetizer–Pink Tartan and Line show tonight and Gagnon presents on Friday–but the show also served as a crib sheet for some of our country’s brightest fashion lights (and a handy-dandy walking catalogue for Holts’ customers).

See a gallery of looks from last night’s show»

Watch a video of the Holt Renfrew runway show»

Read our full coverage of Toronto Fashion Week»

Fashion prayers were answered when cult hero Denis Gagnon announced his collaboration with Montreal-based boutique Bedo (bedo.ca). The collection will be sold in 14 stores across Canada.

Inspiration: “For the individualistic woman who’s strong and sexy.”

On Wednesday evening, I rode the elevator up to Toronto’s the Spoke Club to scope out the fall offerings from Montreal leather goods house Fullum & Holt (fullumandholt.com). If you’re not familiar with the brand, here’s a recap: The company is 113 years old, they have an 80,000 square foot factory in Montreal where they construct all the bags, belts and wallets, overseen by creative director Morgan Lackman. They also make bags for Alexander Wang and have a mini-collection from one of the top names in Canadian fashion, Denis Gagnon.

Read the rest of the entry and see photos after the jump.

At Denis Gagnon’s fall show, I chatted with Dana Drori, 21, one of the models who helped bring the Montreal fashion designer’s vision down the catwalk. (When not working the runway, Drori is an English Literature major at McGill University). Here is her unique perspective on what was undoubtedly the show of the season. [See our review of the show]

What was the atmosphere like backstage before the show?
“I think the hype was mostly perfectionist stress, getting the hair perfect and stable, and making sure all the girls had nude lips. But it was a pretty positive atmosphere, which was good for me because I get nervous before shows. During the first show one dress got completely tangled and Denis had to come and try to untangle it under time pressure. Ryan (the model) was just standing there naked ready to dash to her place in line as soon as she was ready, but the dress was too knotted and she missed her place, which wasn’t a big deal in the end. By the second show (the one open to the public) Ryan’s dresser had the whole fringe thing figured out and everything went smoothly.”

My first fashion intake at Le Marché Bonsecours – the main stage venue for Montreal Fashion Week – was local lady Marie Saint Pierre’s futuristic collection of body conscious jersey dresses. Other highlights that ensued included Helmer’s rainbow couture patchwork, Barilà’s rock band divas, and J.U.D.E.’s modern take on the 1960s—a show designer Judith Desjardins dedicated to the late Alexander McQueen.

By fashion week’s finale, it was back to the future with Denis Gagnon. After his impromptu second show last season (added last minute due to overwhelming attendance), it was a surprise to no one that the city’s fetish designer had two consecutive slots planned this time around: one at 8 p.m. for media and friends and a second at 9 p.m. that was open to the public.

With all the shows running behind schedule, come 9 p.m. on Denis Day, show number one was still waiting in the wings as Gagnon groupies lined up outside in a fidgety, albeit stylish, tizzy. Eventually, the Fashion Week police opened the floodgates and the masses poured in to take their places by the runway.

Last night, Toronto’s fashion crowd gathered for the first official party of LG Fashion Week: the Holt Renfrew Media Cocktail. The bash is always a hot ticket, and in recent seasons, Holts has offered up a mini runway show to showcase the Canadian talent they’re featuring in their World Design Lab. This season, the group was, what the company’s VP of fashion direction, Barbara Atkin, referred to as “our own group of seven.” The presentation was a chance to take a peek at looks from designers who show in other cities, as with Jeremy Laing and Denis Gagnon, or who don’t do shows at all, as is the case with Mikhael Kale, Lida Baday and Smythe. Kale’s pieces were a space-age pastiche of skins, prints and fringe, while Baday showed a trio of simple, well-crafted pieces in black and white. And we never get tired of seeing what Denis Gagnon can do with leather. Also on the ticket were a handful of looks from Greta Constantine, who showed their full collection last week, and Pink Tartan, who’s up tomorrow night.

Check out the gallery of looks after the jump.