FASHION Magazine

Read today’s Toronto Fashion Week pop quiz » Toronto Fashion Week has grown to such heights that now hundreds of people are milling about David Pecaut Sqaure. With so many glamorous bodies posing coyly or flicking through their phones, it was the perfect time to strike. We hit up some of the busy-bods outside of […]

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Toronto fashion week may be coming to a close, but we’ll be obsessing over the impressive backstage beauty looks all season long. But what do you do when runway makeup seems a little too out there for your own daily life? We turned to beauty expert JJ Cowan to help decode some of the top […]

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See the final street looks from Toronto »

Can it be? Is this really the final day of Toronto Fashion Week? Say it ain’t so! The week has flown by in a blur of models, outrageous outfits and one or two parties. So to celebrate the week that was we have an extra-large extra-stylish batch of street style pics for you.

The looks on the streets seemed to be a resounding chorus of leather and patterns. Leather baseball hats, one particularly fierce glossy leather skirt, black leather moto jackets, and more than a fair share of leather handbags in a variety of colours and textures. And did you see those waxed cotton overalls? The look of leather minus the sweat factor. Genius.

See the Joe Fresh/Pink Tartan after party pics »  

Without a doubt, Wednesday night is the biggest of Toronto Fashion Week. The show schedule is stacked with the city’s—the country’s!—greatest hits and the after party scene is getting just as competitive. To keep things interesting, Joe Fresh and Pink Tartan combined forces this season, hosting a smash of a party just down the street from the tents, at Lee Restaurant. Considering that the Pink Tartan crowd has always been a a big part of the Joe Fresh after party tradition, it just makes sense for Joe Mimran and Kimberley Newport-Mimran to make it official.

Also becoming a part of the Joe Fresh/Pink Tartan after party tradition is DJ Mad Marj, the unassuming New York-based heiress who kept the tightly packed crowd dancing, be it to 2 Chainz, Pharrell or… Nora Jones. (Seriously.) Lee’s two-room layout allowed for a bit of a divide between social sets, with fresh-from-the-runway models, stylists and party-hopping editors taking over the back room, while Mimran family friends (including the horn-blowing Bruce C. Bailey) and backstage stars filled up front of house.

See the Joe Fresh Fall 2014 backstage beauty gallery »

We may be itching for spring weather to arrive, but there’s nothing like a superb Fall 2014 show to make us—dare we say it?—want to embrace the cold just a little bit longer. At Joe Fresh, the beauty was just as pitch-perfect as the winter-ready collection. Maybelline New York lead makeup artist Grace Lee said that Joe Mimran wanted “the girls to look like they’ve been out wandering in the nasty polar vortex,” and, well, we’ll happily spend some more time outside if we can look as perfectly flushed as these models.

See the Pink Tartan Fall 2014 backstage beauty gallery »

Weathering an ice storm doesn’t always look as pretty as it did on the Pink Tartan runway last night. Makeup artist Grace Lee gave the models a slight windburn flush on the cheeks using Maybelline Master Glaze in “Pink Fever,” icy highlights with snow-white Color Tattoo in “Too Cool” mixed with Baby Lips, and a glow of bronzer all over the face for a touch of winter sun. Skin was evened out with Baby Skin primer and given a matte finish with Fit Me foundation. Designer Kim Newport-Mimran referenced Veruschka bundled up against the snow in furs, from a classic Richard Avedon Vogue shoot, so the eyes were given a slight ’60s look with fake upper lashes and a sweep of warm brown gel liner blended out in the crease of the eye. Brows were filled in with pencil and brushed upwards, so they looked full and perfectly groomed. Lee further “contoured” the eyes using kohl pencils—in cream along the waterline to make eyes appear wider, and in warm brown underneath the lashline. Lashings of Pumped Up mascara completed the look.

World MasterCard Fashion Week can get a little hectic at times. Actually, scratch that—very hectic. At any given moment there are hundreds of impeccably styled bodies rushing all over the place, many staring at their iPhones with furrowed brows, all trying to get in place before the lights go down. With so many fashion insiders […]

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See the Joe Fresh Fall 2014 collection » 

On the eve of its global takeover, Joe Fresh took a decidedly Canadian approach to its Fall 2014 collection, which debuted last night at World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto. Before the show, creative director Joe Mimran offered the words “stay humble,” when approaching such minor company changes as opening in 23 countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. But hey, that’s just another day in the life of Toronto’s suave answer to Ralph Lauren.

The polar vortex-ready collection breathed new life into winter staples, featuring a teddy-soft faux fur coat (surely a nod to this Shrimps number seen everywhere outside the fall shows), a sherpa wrap-skirt and a faux fur-topped sweatshirt amongst others. And while they may have felt a little “for-show-only”* the collection’s superb assortment of trim sweats, nubby turtlenecks and pea coats are sure to have cash registers a-chinging when they hit stores next fall.

See the Pink Tartan Fall 2014 collection »

Living through this winter’s polar vortex seems to have deeply affected Pink Tartan’s Kim Newport-Mimran—the Fall 2014 she showed in Toronto last night offered plenty of solutions for protecting her customers in arctic conditions. Starting her design process with the fabrics (including a log cabin’s worth of faux and sustainably-sourced real fur), Newport-Mimran said she moved on to study the way Inuit people traditionally arm themselves against frigid temperatures, and drew inspiration from Richard Avedon’s 1966 Vogue editorial, “The Great Fur Caravan,” starring Veruschka bundled up against the Japanese Alps. The snow across the country has been no less insistent recently, and next season the urban winter-warrior has her pick of cozy layering pieces: neat black and red buffalo check and houndstooth dresses, wool outerwear of varying lengths and shapes—short and sharp, pea coats, long and menswear-style coats—and a voluminous black quilted coat-duvet hybrid that was shown with 1960s Courreges-classic white-out glasses.

See the Mackage Fall 2014 collection »

To survive a Canadian winter in style, it’s crucial to have an arsenal of coats and layers in your closet that actually keep you warm. No one has perfected this art better than Elisa Dahan and Eran Elfassy. The Montreal-based co-creative directors of Mackage have made it their mission to keep us looking sleek in the sleet.

Feeling the chilly effects of the unyielding and sometimes cruel power of Mother Nature, the designers found inspiration in the much-maligned polar vortex of 2014. “We really want to show that you can look amazing even though it’s cold, even if you’re bundled up,” said Dahan backstage before the show. “For us, a coat is not a commodity anymore. It’s your outfit.”

Showcased on a runway covered in faux fall leaves, this season’s offerings are sure to please the most discerning of northern dwellers. Quilted leather bombers, boucle tweed trench coats, camo varsity jackets, magenta cocoon coats and parkas, of course, were layered over neoprene crop tops, wool skirts and leather pants. The brand’s handbag collection, which launched last season, has been expanded to include options for the boys, including laptop bags and backpacks.

See the street style from outside Toronto Fashion Week »

It can be easy when out on the streets outside of the fashion show tents to focus on the big names and habitual style stars. So it’s somewhat refreshing when we have a almost a whole batch of street style shots of relative unknowns—you can appreciate the unsponsored and unbiased looks for their uniqueness and how their personality shines through.

While there was plenty of statement outerwear, we are especially loving all of the throwback styles on the street. Going back to the athletic vibes of the ’90s and ’00s, an oversized Adidas logo tote bag caught our eye and one, very brave and probably frost bitten, fashion goer bared her tummy in a sports bra and matching track pants topped with a long fur jacket. It’s like Britney meets J.Lo—our teenage style idols in one perfect outfit mash-up. Toronto stylist Odessa Paloma Parker was a playful hodge podge of ’80s patterns, everything from blown up houndstooth to artsy paint splodges to a loud yellow and black plaid wrap. Only a true pro like Parker could work just a jumble of patterns—budding stylists take note.

Yesterday wasn’t without it’s daily dose of daytime fashion week glamour however. One head to toe plaid look kept things feminine with midnight blue velvet pumps and a lacy, and racy, bodysuit underneath. Bonus points for taking slouchy plaid pants off the golf green and making them suddenly covetable. Fancy shoes were abound outside the tents, with several dramatic metallic takes, covering everything from gold oxfords to platform black and gold medallion sandals. Doing metallics in a slightly more low key approach, were two friends dressed in similar iridescent jackets, one in cream, one in mint, both finished with a pearly sheen. This is how you do metallics for the daytime, people. Another great example of rocking high-shine during waking hours, was a stunning black belted jacket finished with gold embellishments across the front and sleeves. The simple silhouette of the jacket, matched with pared down accessories was the perfect way to take metallics from day to night, without going over the top.

See the Laura Siegel Fall 2014 collection »

As folks settled into the cozy, faux-candle lit studio space at the World MasterCard Fashion Week tents in Toronto, it was a rare moment of calm during the otherwise frenetic goings on of the week. It was a fitting scene for Laura Siegel’s Fall 2014 collection, made in partnership with the Soko sustainable production facility in Kenya, which focused on natural materials and handcrafted finishes. The bohemian styles could have been plucked straight out of the Outback. For just a moment we were able to forget about the snow outside.

Although the collection of safari-inspired pieces had a few expected pieces, like relaxed drop crotch pants, billowing ivory silk shirts, and several bush hats, there were a few glimmers of ingenuity. The layered tie dye wrap skirts were a slick nod to the current ‘90s revival, with the front knot and side slits echoing the once omnipresent trend of tied plaid button downs slung nonchalantly around the hips. Siegel’s outerwear was another high point, proving her deftness in working with a material’s innate folds and shape, as seen in a distressed leather jackets with shawl collars and asymmetrical hems. Her grey green quilted pieces, a skirt and belted jacket, were neither bulky nor weighty and would be perfect fall transition pieces. A constant theme through out the collection was a unique finish of exposed cross-stitches, slightly worn down and imperfect seen on skirts, shirts and dresses. The simple stitching was clever way to do light embellishment without sparkle or flash, adding custom handcrafted appeal to the pieces.