FASHION Magazine

Groundbreaking or not, florals have an appeal that none of us seem to be able to shake. No wonder, then, that the power of flowers brought together two East Coast brands — Maggie Jayne from Halifax and Fellow Earthlings from Guernsey Cove, PEI — for a made-in-Canada design connection. The creatives behind the two labels […]

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'Tis the season!

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Maybe it’s the rows of technicolor houses adorned with pastel painted doors, or the crisp salty air of the Atlantic. Maybe it’s the mangled lobster cages stacked in briny fisherman villages, or the cherry-red-and-white lighthouses that forever watch the waves. Whatever it is, to me, Atlantic Canada has always been a postcard, and scrawled on […]

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If you’ve ever visited Halifax, even for the briefest of times, you’ll know what it’s like to wish you were a full-time Haligonian. I’ve been living there since 2013, and can honesty say that as soon as that salty east coast air hits my face, I feel the stars align. The Hali life is like no other […]

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The time has come to show off your new bikini. Sure you could hit up the closest public pool, but the pools we’ve gathered below are totally Insta-worthy, situated on the 60th floor of a hotel, along the ocean, and or in the mountains. Just getting there can be an experience in itself. Definitely a […]

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By the time Style Panel‘s Mo Handahu hit her sweet sixteen in 1998, she knew two things: she couldn’t live without colour and she would grow up to be great. Last month, with the launch of her Summer 2012 Clutch Culture collection at Halifax’s chic FRED, the young designer made darn certain the packed house would agree with her.

Handahu started the evening with a collection that more than nodded to that pivotal year in the 29-year-old designer’s life. As Lauryn Hill’s “That Thing” filled the white, airy venue, models flooded the runway in printed mini dresses, neon-armed wayfarers, punchy shoulder-slung blazers and bright pumps—all second to Handahu’s bold (and beautiful) clutches. The “1998” collection, made up of oversized pieces in streamlined shapes and unapologetic patterns, aren’t for the meek: if you have to ask, “what could I wear that with?” Handahu admits her clutches just aren’t for you. Her second shown collection (because a quest for greatness might as well involve two home runs) made a different connection to the designer’s past. With “Wild Hearts,” the Zimbabwe-born designer’s heritage was pulled to centre stage with a series of elegant handbags in deep and intricate African prints.

Word: Wunderkammer

Meaning: A cabinet of wonders, of marvels, of curiosities; synonym: my bathroom. Origin: Germany.

Usage: “A collection of bookshelves, Kunstkammer, Wunderkammer, salon-style hangings, advertising, litter, clutter, chaos, and any other example of our desire to fill space.” —  Among the Mess

From the West Coast to the Atlantic Ocean, Beauty Director Adriana Ermter scours the nation for must-try rejuvenating, relaxing and beautifying spas. This month, she sends Nadine LaRoche to check out Spirit Urban Spa in Halifax.

Spirit Urban Spa
5150 Salter St., Suite 200, Halifax, 902-431-8100, spiritspa.ca

As my aesthetician Allison lifts my head from the table, I feel all weight release from my body. I’m half way through the one-hour Sweet Skin Organic Facial ($90), which is customized for your skin type, waiting for my strawberry rhubarb mask to hydrate and replenish my skin and Allison has taken the opportunity to massage apricot oil into my scalp.

Halifax designer Katrina Tuttle is set to put on her second show on the Toronto Fashion Week runway on Wednesday evening. (See her Spring 2010 collection.) She talks champagne and Sarah Jessica Parker in our pre-show Q&A.

For Thaw, Halifax conceptual fashion designer Akshay Tyagi’s (akshaytyagi.com) debut solo collection, the inspiration was simple: cracked ice along the winter-licked shores of Nova Scotia’s St Margaret’s Bay. As swiftly as the icy scene gave seed to the idea of a collection, the designer was instantly envisioning bits of his future designs—the pleats of translucent fabrics and the folds of layered cloth, like frozen water wrapping around a rock.

But how he would share this quickly cultivated idea to the public wouldn’t be as simple.

“This couldn’t just be your typical runway show,” says Tyagi.

Not unlike fellow designer Jason Meyers, Halifax’s Katrina Tuttle designs clothes for parties, though Tuttle’s are of the garden, not nightclub, variety. And many of her spring frocks were garden variety indeed. Similar one-shouldered shifts marched out in textured white, pink satin with a tone-on-tone circle motif, a black and white paintbrush print. Better was Tuttle’s fun take on handkerchiefs. Fabric was buttoned and folded into bubble skirts gray and white, up the front of a translucent pale gray dress or into a strapless frock in three shades of aqua. (The idea was less successful creeping over the shoulders of jackets and yet more dresses.) A few standalone items of note were a strapless maxi in an oversized flower print, a bubble dress done in bright white jersey with floral burnouts and the final looks: two embellished, effusive pieces that seem to best display the kind of party Tuttle wants to attend.

See a gallery of the show after the jump.

When the first outfit of Louanna Murphy’s four-look collection—a pair of high-waisted drainpipe trousers in a warm, leafy print paired with a dusty blue cami and a camel vest with a flawless circle hem and prim epaulettes—appeared on the runway at the Off the Cuff finale on September 13, the design competition was practically already won. Though her two opponents stepped up as her creative and conceptual competition, her technical talent and flawless execution remained unmatched. After the three presented their eight looks (including looks from previous rounds) Murphy took home the winning title, a prize that comes with such benefits as mentoring and instruction sessions, studio and runway time, and gift certificates and fabric.