FASHION Magazine

“It’s fashion week here?” says the taxi man, pulling away from Paddington Station. “That’s good.” For the cabbing business? Of course. Fashion week heels and London cobblestones don’t mix.

Luckily I’ve got razor-grips on my Camilla Skovgaards, which have already been photographed, in early Jak & Jil style, more times than my face. Er, I won’t take it personally. After all, I took the red-eye quite literally; if I were any more bloodshot I’d be Charlie Sheen. Crimson was the colour du jour at Jean-Pierre Braganza, too. The Ryerson grad and ex-Montrealer is one of my favourite Canadian expats, and that’s saying a lot, because there were loads of them here by my last count. Homeboy has got a wicked way with tailoring, envelope-folding, laser-cutting… even the LBD is interesting in his hands.

By Lesa Hannah and Sarah Daniel

With only New York done, it’s a little premature to pinpoint the key beauty trends for fall. That said, we’re definitely putting our money on metallics, thanks to some backstage intel from makeup artist Tom Pecheux who predicts they’ll be a major trend come fall. While we wait for the dispatches from London, Paris and Milan, we’ve picked some of the standouts from the city that kicked it all off.

As the fashion crowd (and our very own Sarah Nicole Prickett!) settles into London, we take a look back at an explosively informative and entertaining 8 days of #nyfw tweets! Here are our top ten favourites:

Judging from the swinging, statement-making earrings at Oscar de la Renta’s fall 2011 show, jewellery is back in a big way (cue the Hallelujah chorus).  From Karlie’s ‘40s-inspired beaded tassels to Carmen’s gunmetal and ruby crystals, shoulder duster earrings have swept back onto the style scene this season. Watch for these movers-and-shakers to make a red-carpet appearance at the upcoming Academy Awards.

How do you get Hollywood royalty like Michael Douglas, wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bette Midler and Angelica Huston to be up and at ‘em, bright and early on a Wednesday morning? Well, let’s just say it helps if your first name is Michael, and your last name is Kors. Celebrating 30 years of American luxury, Kors created 64 fall looks that nodded to his design aesthetic over the years: seventies disco glitter, eighties athleticism and nineties minimalism. Skin tones of nude, suntan and cocoa mixed with dusty shades of blush, plum and mauve (the colour of the week). Throw in a few graphic splashes of crimson, long, lean lines and a dream team of models (Carmen! Jourdan! Daria! Karolina! Frankie!) and you’ve got the hottest ticket in town. Even Kors’s show invitation (bearing a vintage shot of the designer himself) seems to say let the good times roll. Here’s to the next 30!

Only Marchesa designers Georgina Chapman and Karen Craig could make Miss Havisham look haute (oh to be a wealthy spinster living in a dilapidated mansion). For fall, the duo drew inspiration from David Leon’s 1946 film version of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations. Amidst all of the usual tulle, light-as-air layers and long pooling silhouettes, they created a fresh spin using exaggerated Victorian shapes, dusty, antique accents and unexpected new pieces (snakeskin print leggings).

I spotted Anna Dello Russo, editor-at-large and creative consultant for Vogue Japan, at the Michael Kors show. An avid collector of the quirky and cutting edge, Dello Russo is best known for her picnic-worthy headpieces. From bejewelled watermelons to metallic cherries, the produce aisle is the coolest new place to find your fashion inspiration. Carmen Miranda would approve.

Having trouble making runway reservations at the New York fashion week hot spots? Have no fear… you’ve got connections. From breakfast at Vera Wang to dinner with Narciso Rodriguez, virtual dining is the best way to stay in the know without having to pick up the tab. Bon Appetit!

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.

Attending a Marc Jacobs show is like going to the theatre. There’s THE SET (for fall 2011, it was French boudoir with white patent padded columns, mirrored floors and soft red lighting), THE MUSIC (Marilyn Manson’s “Beautiful People” on repeat), THE AUDIENCE (Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie and her hot hubby Josh Duhamel, kitchen queen Martha Stewart, Gossip Girl’s (and our February cover girl) Leighton Meester and Jacobs’s BFF Sofia Coppola). And then there’s that little thing called THE COSTUMES. Jacobs sent 63 looks down the runway, all of which showed very little skin but still managed to look subversively sexy with their body-skimming silhouettes⎯a major departure from his flowing spring lines.

After climbing 3 sets of Jack-and-the-Beanstalk sized stairs at the New York Public Library, I reach my destination along with 50 other huffing/puffing journos: Thom Browne’s womenswear presentation. Two alter boys (dressed like Thom Browne twins in matching shrunken blazers and walking shorts) kneel and pray, while haunting choral music fills the large room. No one speaks. It feels very Eyes Wide Shut. Then the magic begins. Models dressed in pure-as-the-driven-snow nun habits flutter their mile-long faux lashes to Browne’s soundtrack of choice, The Sound of Music’s “How do you solve a problem like Maria?”

Call it an occupational hazard, but I am ready to start shopping for fall. Spring, schming! For those of you equally obsessed fashion folks out there (yes, I’m talking to YOU), here’s your first look at what you will be drooling over in about six months: