FASHION Magazine

Leather isn’t the first thing you throw on when the weather turns warm, but more than a few designers put leather pieces into their spring collections. Even if you don’t want to don these slim-cut leather jeans from Danier in the sticky months, at only $79 (on sale from $249, danier.com) they’re a cracking investment […]

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The competition was tough enough, with 65 third-year Ryerson School of Fashion students competing to have their leather jacket be chosen as the winner in Danier‘s Design Challenge. The fact that none of the top three contestants had ever worked with leather before made their achievement especially impressive.

Danier and Ryerson dreamed up a three-stage competition that allowed students to test their sewing skills by creating a women’s leather jacket. The challenge began with participants preparing a two-minute video presenting a sketch of their garment. The videos were then posted online and the public got to vote on who made it to the next rounds–25 students got to create a muslin (dummy garment) and only 15 got to create their final leather piece.

Along with the public, a panel of judges, which included Jeanne Beker, Ryerson Fashion chair Robert Ott, stylist George Antonopoulos and Globe & Mail style writer Tiyana Grulovic, chose the winning design.

If you’re on the hunt for a biker jacket, city tote or belted dress (and you have a love affair with leather), look no further than Montreal label Rudsak. Designer Evik Asatoorian’s spring 2010 collection for the brand was heavy on the aforementioned pieces, ranging in shades of mushroom, bone and vanilla. But amidst all of these neutrals came a knockout chili-pepper red dress (in leather, bien sur) and a rich purple foldover clutch. Rudsak’s success lies in its’ simplicity. Think pared-down classic pieces that have been reworked – ruched coat dresses, techno-fabric trench coats and leather dresses with pintucked fronts. FASHION‘s final thought: Sometimes less is more.

See a gallery of looks after the jump.

Monday’s look of the day was plucked from Sunny Fong’s 12-piece collection for his label, Vawk. Fong’s perforated leather was our favourite of his hand-done details and we love the simplicity of this vanilla-hued coat dress. SEE THE FULL COLLECTION Check out all of FASHION’s coverage of LG Fashion Week.

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Nada Shepherd’s fall collection imagines clothes for distopic future. View the collection: NADA

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When I first held a Jessica Weatherhead bag (they woo themselves right into your arms, I swear), I knew it was something way more than a purse. With its buttery soft leather, its cutout pattern that flowed into a white shell wrapped in a twisted net, its braided rope-like strap and its blue silk lining, this beautiful bag looked like something straight out of an underwater paradise. I knew the story behind this bit of whimsical beauty, and the designer herself, had to be anything but boring.

And I wasn’t wrong.

It happened on the floor of my hotel room in Zermatt, Switzerland. After a full day of swoosh, swooshing in the Alps, and a brief promenade through the ski town, I had schlumped my way back up to my fourth-floor room, dropped to my tired bottom and reached for the zipper of my boots. But it didn’t move. The white Aldo kicks that have been stompin’ me through winter since halfway through my undergrad had finally called it quits.

With a stir of rebels and rivals, a pinch of angst, romance and graduation anxiety, cinematic high-school drama never fails deliver. My coming-of-age retrospective is consumed with the fashion in juicy teen classics like Dazed and Confused, The Breakfast Club, Clueless and the cream of the crop, Grease.

By Stephanie Trendocher

As a footwear fanatic, I like to step out in style (often resulting in me teetering, not-so-street-appropriate stilettos). But sometimes you just need to keep it casual and carefree like the oh-so-effortless French girls I spotted strutting around on my trip to Paris.

{FASHION WEEK SPRING 2009 TORONTO}

By Sarah Casselman

The final day at the tents was an air kissing, Peroni-sipping good time. Yours truly spent time in the sponsor lounge talking accessories (Hermès H bangles) and lingerie (think naughty and nice) with the Agent Provocateur PR rep, Elyn. Despite the long week, I felt energized and could feel the electricity in the air for the long awaited Denis Gagnon spring collection.

{FASHION WEEK SPRING 2009 TORONTO}

By Sarah Casselman

This season, everything is coming up roses for designer Renata Morales who sent models down the runway in an array of ethereal, candyfloss frocks.