FASHION Magazine

If there were ever an excuse to wear Canadian, it was Saturday’s second annual Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards (CAFA), which took Toronto’s swanky Fairmont Royal York hotel by literal storm. In the thick of Hollywood’s awards season, the CAFAs were probably as close to the Oscars as anything we’ll ever attend, with homegrown designers […]

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See the Massive Party dressing tips » After last week’s epic induction at Holt Renfrew, spring party season ramps up with the Art Gallery of Ontario’s annual Massive Party this Thursday. In its 10th year, the bash is a stylish, sexy night at the museum, complete with installations, performances and open bars a’plenty. And while […]

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See the street style from outside Toronto Fashion Week »

Just when the international Fashion Weeks wind down, Canada revs its engines. Last night, the unofficial pre-cursor to Toronto Fashion Week, The ShOws, kicked off with presentations from Bellevance and Steven Tai. As the city’s industry insiders rejoiced in the 24-hour teaser of warm weather, light spring jackets in mostly neutral palette of blues, beiges and greys were spotted on the street outside the shows. Not wanting to tempt fate however, others layered up, ready for whatever Mother Nature decided to dish out. (Cue today’s blizzard.)

Canadian model Liisa Winkler brought a little bit of rural chic to the city, donning a mid-length lightweight black jacket, paired with a denim ruffled midi skirt and black Chelsea boots with socks. This is how you country in the big city, folks. Holt Renfrew’s Brittany Barkwell and Blaire Borins looked perfectly chic. Barkwell opted for a matching patterned top and trousers finished with lace up heels and a wide collared camel coat, while Borins looked cozy a fuzzy knee-length coat finished with big buttons, adding a raspberry red bag for a well placed pop of colour.

See the Miami photo shoot » If the frigid temps in our neck of the woods weren’t reason enough for an ample dose of wanderlust, Miami Art Basel (on through Sunday December 8) has us fantasizing about hitting the beach. Last month, Toronto-based photographer Renata Kaveh and The Collections fashion director Dwayne Kennedy did just […]

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In the age of pop culture fashion, we’ve all become hyper aware of the fashion competition. Whether on screen or IRL, Project Runway concepts promise a knockout throw down between up and coming designers vying for fame, fortune or just a little financial boost. The fashion competition is real exciting for those on the outside, but it can often be insurmountable pressure for all designers involved—especially those who don’t win anything. Thus became Threshold, a Toronto Fashion Week showcase of burgeoning designers who can launch their collections sans struggle.

“I have worked with many designers who have participated in competitions in the past and although I do think there are many benefits from being part of them, I also feel the disappointment of not winning can be very demotivating and hard on a new designer,” says Dwayne Kennedy, The Collections fashion director and one of the brains behind this showcase. “We want Threshold to be a positive experience from beginning to end and to equip designers with the tools to succeed season after season.”

This Wednesday at World MasterCard Fashion Week, Threshold will premiere with Paria Shirvani and Axel Kohler, two Toronto-based designers with skills to spare. Here’s a little preview of what’s expected for Spring 2014.

See the JNBY party pictures »

Amidst the homegrown talent, one very cool and far away brand will be making its Canadian runway debut next week during World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto. JNBY (Just Naturally Be Yourself) is big in Japan…and Thailand and Singapore and France as well as China, where it hails from. A week before its reveal at fashion week (and we’ll save the oohs and aahs till then), JNBY previewed its Spring 2014 collection to an ultra trendy crowd at a pre-fashion week party hosted by The Collections. The stellar clothes were shown alongside a large photo print by Cory VanderPloeg of a model wearing Laura Siegel‘s spring collection..

Regular scenesters like Amina Said, Sarah Magwood, Parris Gordon, Jay Strut and The Collections threesome Dwayne Kennedy, Mel Ashcroft and Brian Richards lined the walls as well as fresh faced models in Miley buns and off duty sweaters. As with any cool kid party, there were plenty of new faces to creep in true Cinderella form. We’d like to crown a new style princess, but we don’t know her name. You! Got the other glass slipper?

See the photo shoot images »
Examine Edie’s impact on trends »

From her platinum blonde bob to her itty bitty mini dresses, everyone’s been exposed to the everlasting effects of perennial sixties It girl, Edie Sedgwick. Literally or loosely, her style has inspired countless collections, most recently for both Spring and Fall 2013. Last month, we set out to tribute the late fashion icon with a luxe and louche photo shoot masterminded by stylist Dwayne Kennedy. Shot by photographer Renata Kaveh at Toronto’s storied Windsor Arms hotel, the photo shoot depicts Bojana as a later-years-Edie strewn across couches and carpets in designer duds as we image she’d have been.

See the photo shoot »

If Canada’s latest crop of cool has taught us anything, it’s that the ultimate creativity comes from collaboration. Take the sister act behind the newly renamed label Beaufille (formerly Chloé Comme Parris) for example, or the creative team behind Toronto’s go-to nail mecca, Tips Nail Bar. The best results are often a team effort.

It’s with this pretext that Toronto-based stylist and fashion director Dwayne Kennedy operates. Along with his many collaborators, most notably his The Collections partner Brian A. Richards; he’s been responsible for much creative and young gun business around town, including the up-and-coming designer specific portion of Toronto Fashion Week, which has boasted the impressive likes of Rad Hourani and Sid Neigum.

See The Room’s Viktor & Rolf party photos »

Viktor & Rolf’s love affair with Toronto began last night with a fittingly springy fête at Toronto’s Hudson’s Bay Queen Street flagship. In town to celebrate their recent collections as well as to do press spots for their upcoming Dolls retrospective exhibit with Luminato this summer, designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren sported matching embroidered jeans (Horsting’s featured sunglasses while Snoeren’s featured moustaches) and matching thick rimmed frames, making them the ideal models for Toronto’s new eyewear-specific blog, The Spectacled.

In keeping with the Dutch duo’s eccentricities, The Room was transformed with newly papered walls featuring the Fall 2013 runway room’s eerie black and white floral print, a string quartet playing instrumental takes on pop music and strapping waiters, who passed many a prettily-decorated Perrier-Jouët champagne flute while wearing V&R-esque (and maybe even a little Denis Gagnon) glasses.

See photos from the Holt Renfrew Rag & Bone party »

Toronto is so desperate for springtime, that not even last night’s biblical style storm wouldn’t stop its style inclined inhabitants from flocking to Holt Renfrew for a party in honour of Rag & Bone’s neon-heavy spring collection. Packed to the racks of the department store’s third floor, partygoers—including designers Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, who made it in the nick of time after hours of flight delays—seemed especially eager to throw down to the DJ tunes and get crafty with the makeshift graffiti board that had been installed on a nearby wall.

And now for the fashion: Spring’s graphic black and white trend was embraced by many partygoers, most notably by stylist Mariko Lauren who channeled Wednesday Adams in a peter pan collar dress and wide brimmed hat and the always-fabulous Kealan Anne Sullivan, who artfully paired a vintage policeman’s hat with a black velvet cape, a white turtleneck sweater and beat up jeans. Socialite Stacey Kimmel braved gravity in a skin-baring halter black dress with selectively geometric fabric slashes. And at the other end of the spectrum, designer/photographer Ashley Rowe went for the kaleidoscopic effect with her lime green active suit suit, turquoise-dyed hair and gal pal stylist Cara Joy Purkis who wore head-to-toe red.

See all the pictures from the Toronto Life Most Influential party »

Last night Toronto Life celebrated the reveal of their Most Influential list by toasting Toronto’s 50 most influential people at The Ritz-Carlton. The lucky heavyweights—ranging from politicians to bankers to TV personalities—were profiled in the magazine’s December issue and, as the evening’s emcee Amanda Lang was eager to point out, also given a definitive rank. (Her 41st place spot obviously not affecting said eagerness.) Upon our arrival it was clear how those on the list have become so successful: they’re certainly not the familiar faces of Toronto’s late-night party circuit. The mood was much more about networking than clamouring for a cocktail, despite the impressive array of Ketel One and Tanqueray creations. Tailored suits and black dresses dominated—though oxblood items and fur accessories proved to be just as popular, including many a lush stole and a pair of furry booties on Leesa Butler.

See what’s inside the bags of the brains involved with fashion week »

Packing a bag for Toronto Fashion Week should be considered some sort of art. The contents of the bag must be able to transport the owner from work, to shows, to more shows, and to after-parties, therefore having the essentials on hand is, well, essential. This week, we’ve taken a look inside some of the organizers of rogue fashion week, including The ShOws mastermind Paola Fullerton, and three-member team spearheading The Collections: Dwayne Kennedy, Brian A. Richards and Mel Ashcroft. We’ve also snuck a look into Caitlin Power’s bag—the Calgary-born designer showed her collection as a part of the Mercedes-Benz Start Up competition at World MasterCard Fashion Week last night. The contents of these It bags (which range from Chloé to Chloé Comme Parris!) have one thing in common: they all serve as fashion week survival kits.