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In just under a year, Edmonton-born model Grace Mahary has become a star on the international fashion scene. launching her international career as an exclusive on the Givenchy Fall 2012 runway, she then landed big for the Spring 2013 season, walking runways at Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Prada and for Hedi Slimane’s first collection at Saint Laurent. For this photo shoot from our February 2013 issue, we cast the model as an It girl in transit alongside fellow model Angela Page, checked in for a night at Toronto’s brand new Four Seasons Hotel with a suitcase full of homegrown designer pieces. From Pink Tartan’s minty fresh pant suit (pictured above) to Vawk’s strict black leather dress, Grace Mahary’s star shines bright in the best of Canadian fashion for the season.

The race is on to find this season’s most sleek, athletic-inspired pieces. “Sport was touched on in almost every collection,” says Nicholas Mellamphy, creative director of The Room at the Bay. He points to Anthony Vaccarello’s use of tech fabrics and utility details, Antonio Berardi’s strong colour and stripe detailing, Yves Saint Laurent’s “sporty but elegant” eveningwear jumpsuits and J. Mendel’s play on the old-school sports jersey. The question is: Can sporty wear be made office-appropriate? Mellamphy laces up to give us a pep talk.

4 tips on how to wear sport utility »
See our editor’s picks »

View the photo gallery »

Holt Renfrew kicked off LG Fashion Week with a noisy, crowded bang last night—editors and buyers (and a one Mr. Jay Manuel) got to know each other really, really well, all squished in together on benches in the tents at David Pecaut Square. As is their wont, Holts sent out micro collections from eight of their Canadian best—for whom the question of whether their collections will actually make it to stores has already been settled. The best bits, in order…

It takes a certain amount of guts to co-opt Diana Vreeland’s famous line, “Pink is the navy blue of India.” Holt Renfrew turned that on its ear at last night’s LG Fashion Week opener, casting magenta–their signature shade–to fill that role in Canada. Well it was, at least for the night, when the luxury department store brought nine designers from their stable of homegrown talent to the runway. It was a blockbuster ticket that included five looks each from Jeremy Laing, Lida Baday, Line, Pink Tartan, jacket specialists Smythe, glamour veteran Wayne Clark, Mikhael Kale, menswear label Wings + Horns and Montreal designer Denis Gagnon. With a few of the designers, it was a bit of an appetizer–Pink Tartan and Line show tonight and Gagnon presents on Friday–but the show also served as a crib sheet for some of our country’s brightest fashion lights (and a handy-dandy walking catalogue for Holts’ customers).

See a gallery of looks from last night’s show»

Watch a video of the Holt Renfrew runway show»

Read our full coverage of Toronto Fashion Week»

Back in October, we told you about the Bay’s new line of Canadiana–The Hudson’s Bay Company Collection–the brings canoes, paddles and point blankets together with collaborations with Canadian fashion names such as Pink Tartan, Harricana and Virginia Johnson. The line launched Tuesday night at a packed cocktail party where guests noshed on de rigueur nouveau comfort food–grilled cheese sandwiches with homemade ketchup, potatoes with bison tartare and maple syrup poured over freezer-made snow. The big attraction of the evening was the official unveiling of ten one-of-a-kind coats–together dubbed The Blanket Statement–that the Bay commissioned from a group of Canadian designers who played with the iconic point blanket. (Gallery after the jump)

Last night, Toronto’s fashion crowd gathered for the first official party of LG Fashion Week: the Holt Renfrew Media Cocktail. The bash is always a hot ticket, and in recent seasons, Holts has offered up a mini runway show to showcase the Canadian talent they’re featuring in their World Design Lab. This season, the group was, what the company’s VP of fashion direction, Barbara Atkin, referred to as “our own group of seven.” The presentation was a chance to take a peek at looks from designers who show in other cities, as with Jeremy Laing and Denis Gagnon, or who don’t do shows at all, as is the case with Mikhael Kale, Lida Baday and Smythe. Kale’s pieces were a space-age pastiche of skins, prints and fringe, while Baday showed a trio of simple, well-crafted pieces in black and white. And we never get tired of seeing what Denis Gagnon can do with leather. Also on the ticket were a handful of looks from Greta Constantine, who showed their full collection last week, and Pink Tartan, who’s up tomorrow night.

Check out the gallery of looks after the jump.

The Bay opened the doors of their transformed home of high fashion, The Room, on Wednesday night for a party at their Queen Street location in Toronto. Models Daria Werbowy and Jessica Stam, designers Erdem, Jeremy Laing, Kimberley Newport-Mimran, Lida Baday (it goes on), socials Stacy Kimel and Victoria Webster all packed the massive third floor space to check out one of the most highly-anticipated retail unveiling in recent memory.