FASHION Magazine

Still exhausted from last Thursday’s Emerging Designer Showcase, an epic evening of 15 collections, a glance at my sparse program the following evening reminded me of the even-then thin second showcase we experienced last season at Atlantic Fashion Week. With some of our hard-hitters (namely Katrina Tuttle and Deux Fm) nabbing spots in, ahem, shall I say larger fashion weeks, ol’ AFW night two, intended to show our biggest and brightest, was feeling a little sparse.

Luckily, many of our remaining players stepped up to the plate.

Satisfying about a handful of pipedreams all at once, Nova Scotia designer Anna Gilkerson (deuxfm.com) has swapped the province’s south shore for the Big Apple this week, prepping for her New York Fashion Week debut at the GreenShows today. The only event of its kind on the official NYFW calendar, the GreenShows (thegreenshows.com), running from February 14 to 17, executes a commitment to eco-conscious fashion by bringing green designers to its runway while ensuring the production itself is 100 per cent environmentally friendly.

With the likes of WWD–and our own Sarah Casselman–on the RSVP list for the Deux Fm show this afternoon, and with Vogue asking for a private peek at the collection later this week, Gilkerson has the fodder for a solid case of cold feet. We caught up with the young designer to see how she’s handling all the anticipation.

On the heels of Wednesday’s jam-packed design-fest, the second night of Atlantic Fashion Week felt noticeably thin with only five collections. Regular show-stoppers Deux fm, Turbine and Katrina Tuttle (read about her show at LG Fashion Week) weren’t on the evening’s agenda—having other projects, from solo showcases to newborns, to tend to—and I darn well missed them.

Padding the blow, however, were new faces, including jewellery designer Megan Allison, an artist-in-residence at NSCAD who knows how to make that statement accessory. Belly-button hovering medallion necklaces were as glamorous in the front as they are in the back, and single earrings—a weakness of mine, as you know—dangled in rich golds with flashes of turquoise and wood.

See a look from Megan Allison’s collection.

This is a bikini you can’t help but feel good in—and it has nothing to do with how much time you may or may not have spent at the gym this spring. Made right here in Nova Scotia, the Deux Fm Mystique ($82, at Love, Me Boutique, 1539 Birmingham St., 902-444-3668 and at select boutiques across Canada, deuxfm.com) string bikini is about as homegrown as you can get, and wearing something saturated in sustainability feels so damn good.

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.

Ever run into a friend’s younger sibling, after years, and spend the whole time grinning at how much they’ve grown and who they’ve become? That was the second Atlantic Fashion Week designer showcase for me—an evening of cheek pinches and head pats, or at least the seated, acceptable equivalent: much-deserved applause.

Fashion isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of bamboo. Pandas love it, but more and more designers do too. With the sheen and softness of luxurious silk, bamboo fabrics feel like a million bucks (only better–it’s washable!).