FASHION Magazine

See the Jeremy Laing Spring 2014 »

Damn, girl. Jeremy Laing’s got it going on for Spring 2014, and in more ways than one. The Toronto-based designer ventured into so many fresh territories last night that it took all 42 looks to digest all that superb newness.

First, colour: With one intentionally wonky dye job, Laing re-invented his own personal colour wheel, embracing tone on tone neon jumpsuits, ponchos and Bermuda shorts for spring. Bright pink, blue and a Tiger Tail-inspired orange and black combo were all viable options for the typically neutral-happy designer. Must be the unmistakable nostalgia that’s swallowed us ‘90s kids whole as of late, cause I never thought I’d be associating Jeremy Laing with Donna Martin. Woven in to the colour portion of the collection, was a squeegee-effect multi-hued print created in partnership with painter Julia Dault, which appeared on a flow-y dress, a button down and on short shorts.

See the party pictures »

On Wednesday night, Ossington Avenue boutique Jonathan + Olivia kicked of Toronto Fashion Week in high style with a party celebrating homegrown designers Jeremy Laing, Calla and Horses Atelier. Swapping digs for the night, the must-have den brought it’s cool kid friends to the revamped Storys Building, which now boasts a swanky bar set up. Fresh off The Shows, guests including stylists Cary Tauben, Corey Ng and crop cut queen Chanel Croker tripled the double C effect, while Bad Day Magazine editor Eva Michon and Jeremy Laing communications director Frank Griggs lent their tunes to the night in the DJ booth. Many guests wore black, because obviously.

  If you haven’t yet embraced that pink is a big part of Fall 2013’s colour palette, we don’t blame you. Though pink has been there for us when we bid adieu to the winter’s cold and reclaimed our femininity from dark heavy coats it’s time to embrace it as a burst of girlishness to […]

The post How to wear pink: 11 Style Panel tips for co-opting spring’s typically girlish hue for fashionable Fall 2013 wear appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

New York, London, Milan and Paris may host countless (and mind-blowing!) shows during September, but with October quickly approaching our minds are already prepping for Toronto Fashion Week. When it comes to saving the best for last, our city is wrapping up the Spring 2014 season with stellar home-grown talent.

The packed Toronto schedule includes both The ShOws and World MasterCard Fashion Week, both of which are sure to show spring collections that will have us wishing we could just sleep through winter. Need more intel? Read on—we’ll be updating this guide to Toronto Fashion Week Spring 2014 as the details roll in.

Jump to: World MasterCard Fashion Week | The ShOws

See the Spring 2014 nail art looks up close »

The nails at New York Fashion Week were right in tune with the ’90s minimalism style we saw on the Spring 2014 runways. Sheer is in, colour is out and the nail art trend seems to be winding down. The bare and buffed nails of last spring are still going strong for 2014, with designers like Altuzarra, Alexander Wang and Jeremy Laing opting for pale shades of pink, lavender or beige instead of punchy pastels and neon brights.

See Christian Louboutin Design Exchange opening party photos »

Last night, lovers of the greatest name in footwear came to meet the man himself at the opening of Christian Louboutin’s retrospective exhibit at Toronto’s Design Exchange. The designer, who graced the crowd for a moment in the VIP room on the third floor said but a few words, the most important ones being “French and Canadians, we get along ok.” We’ll take it! With that ceremonious kick-off, the party, which had been on for an hour at that point, really revved up. Amidst three floors of Louboutin goodness, the crowd, which included actress Sarah Gadon, Jeanne Beker, socialite Krystal Koo, and Design Exchange president Shauna Levy, got down to the hip hop stylings of New York-based It girl/DJ Hannah Bronfman.

The exhibit itself is a fantastical treat for anyone who not only loves shoes but the naughty likes of Dita Von Teese as well. Brought to town by the London’s Design Museum curator Donna Loveday, the exhibit is comprised of a mini carousel, a garden and a hologram of Von Teese which set the quirky stage for 250 pairs of Louboutin’s most iconic and outlandish shoes since he opened his first boutique in 1991.

See the Power Ball 2013 party photos »

Last night, Power Ball 2013 a.k.a. the art party of the year/social event of the season and so on and so forth went down at The Power Plant gallery on Toronto’s harbourfront. Despite the rain, the city’s finest art, fashion and social types filled the expansive space in designer gowns, costumes, and in one instance, a birthday suit. Celebrating its 15^th year under the guise of Andy Warhol’s famous line “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” the space was tricked out with Factory-worthy silver foil which made for some pretty fierce voguing props for designer Jeremy Laing and Frank Griggs much later in the evening. Power Ball’s famed exhibitions and installations were omnipresent as always, including a fortune-telling psychic, Chat Roulette-style wall projections, and two twisted prom queens dancing around a birthday cake and a mounted spinning motorcycle all night long. Curiouser and curiouser…

See the party photos from “This is Queen Street West” »

Already a favourite spot with the fashion set, add a worthy cause to a party at Toronto’s Jonathan + Olivia boutique and you’ve got a full house. Last night, J+O owners Nic Jones and Jackie O’Brien Jones (and their cherubic son, Phoenix) hosted “This is Queen Street West,” a clothing drive in support of CAMH‘s the Suits Me Fine Boutique alongside Queen Street West mainstays Jeremy Laing, Frank Griggs, Derrick Hodgson, Jesse Girard, Richard Lambert, Brendan Canning and Alison Milne. Suits Me Fine, which provides clothing for patients of the treatment centre, received stylish donations from everyone in attendance, as each party-goer was required to bring an office-appropriate article of clothing upon entry. As Canning and Laing hit the turn tables, the hip crowd snacked on M&Ms and basked in their hipness. Much like a typical night out on Ossington Avenue, I spose, but this time it was for a cause.

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 all the Holt Renfrew party pictures »

Not even a micro-blizzard can stop Toronto from celebrating the start of World MasterCard Fashion Week in style. Open-toed shoes and floor-grazing hemlines were spotted on many of the attendees at Holt Renfrew’s cocktail kickoff party, with barely a salt stain or goose-bump in sight.

The party, which started after the last of Monday’s shows, transplanted the front row set—that is, a mix of editors, designers, photographers and buyers—onto the third floor of Holt Renfrew. Ambient music (courtesy a Bellosound DJ in a white Jeremy Laing dress) mixed well with on-brand magenta lighting, making for quite the party den far away from the tents at David Pecaut square. And magenta wasn’t just everywhere thanks to the lighting: from Ashley Rowe’s dip-dyed hair and bright caftan to Lisa Tant’s magenta bolero jacket to a pocket square (that may have actually been a pair of panties, according to one onlooker) worn by a crafty male guest, the evening was filled with shades of pink, purple and red.

Missed Toronto Fashion Week’s first batch of shows? Have no fear! In this short and sweet video, we recap some of the best moments on and off the runway as well as speak to two of our favourite hot young talents, designers Tanya Taylor and Steven Tai. Visit our Fashion Week page for complete coverage […]

The post Video: Behind the scenes of The Shows at Toronto Fashion Week Fall 2013 appeared first on FASHION Magazine.