FASHION Magazine

With sport utility making the spring runway rounds, now’s the time to get your game on. Victorinox Swiss Army’s first North American flagship store (95A Bloor St. W., 416-929-9889, swissarmy.com) houses an impressive selection of womenswear, including anoraks, bright polo shirts and colourful ankle-grazing trousers (shown, $145 each). The maker of the Original Swiss Army Knife, this 128-year-old global company also makes timepieces, travel gear, fragrances, menswear and those famous knives.

From Nanette Lepore’s neon bags to Nicole Miller’s eye-popping print dresses, ’tis the season to turn up the lights. Acid-bright accessories, like these mini cross-body bags from H&M ($20 each, hm.com), take an ensemble from ho-hum to high-watt. More into monochrome? Stick with classic white.

The city’s cardigan quotient will see an increase this month: J.Crew has opened the doors of its first West Coast location, in downtown Vancouver (1088 Robson St., jcrew.com). The 5,953-square-foot space is brimming with preppy pieces such as ankle-grazing print trousers, bow ballet flats and sparkly statement necklaces.

Browsing the newsstand at London’s Heathrow Airport last November, I found tabloids full of footballers’ wives, all orange of complexion and platform of shoe, and the glossier monthlies stocked with society girls. But whether their readers’ penchant was for players’ wives or the polo set, every magazine I read contained at least one story extolling the brilliance of Downton Abbey.

Meanwhile, in North America, despite winning six Emmys last September, Downton Abbey hadn’t yet broken into the mainstream. The ITV1 television series set in World War I–era England chronicles in equal measure the lives of the upper-class Crawley family and their servants. A quiet but respectable viewership had discovered the show in its first season on PBS’s Masterpiece Classic, but when season two began at the start of 2012, we fell into the grips of a collective Downton fever like a heartbroken fiancée succumbing to Spanish flu. This might be because Downton offers something for almost everyone. There is the wealth and glamour of the Crawley family, who dress every night for dinner as though they’re attending the Met Ball. Downstairs, the servants’ plays for household power mirror the tension of Glengarry Glen Ross, except here it’s “A-Always, B-Be, C-Conspiring.” And juxtaposed against the feeling that you’re watching a classic literary adaptation are elements that reflect a contemporary audience, from caught-in-the-act trysts to the characters learning how to use a telephone. Downton is no Greek drama, with the action happening offstage.

Of course, there is romance. The will-they-or-won’t-they relationships of two sets of lovers have kept viewers tuning in: more than five million watched the season two finale. In Canada, Downton is now enjoying a run on VisionTV on Wednesday evenings.

“There’s a cadre of people who are watching it because it’s an allowable soap,” says New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum. “It’s dressed up in all sorts of fancy class indicators including, but not limited to, England, PBS and historical times, and rich people in large country houses.” And, as Nussbaum adds, it is very well made, costing roughly $1.6 million per episode to produce.

It’s also extremely fun to talk about. With season two came online recaps from New York magazine’s Vulture and Vanity Fair’s The Hollywood Blog (we at FASHION produced a wonderful one). Further signs of the show’s reach include character-inspired Twitter accounts and countless memes—all that’s missing is a Tumblr of Ryan Gosling Hey Girl–ing the women of Downton.

This year, one of Edmonton’s local treasures celebrates the 10th anniversary of her ready-to-wear label, Suka Clothing (sukaclothing.ca). Alisha Schick is known for balancing feminine silhouettes with edgy geometric details, and her Spring 2012 show at Western Canada Fashion Week included an array of cool cosmic microprints. Here, the designer and fashion design instructor (she teaches at Edmonton’s MC College) talks secret fashion weapons and childhood fads.

What is your secret design weapon?
“My sketchbook is my most important tool. I sketch a full figure for key pieces and looks, and then elaborate. There is always a strong story behind each collection.”

Designer Natasha Thomas launched her label, By Thomas (bythomas.ws), in 2011, shortly after being crowned winner of Fashion Pop, a juried show that takes place during Montreal’s Festival Mode & Design. Known for streamlined silhouettes and muted palettes, the 29-year-old Val-d’Or native has moved into colour and cool prints for spring. Here, she talks accessories and artistic inspiration.

What are the first things you do when you start a new collection?
 “I usually look at different images and then go vintage shopping. I like to take pieces apart and make them look modern. The sleeves in the ’80s were huge, with shoulder pads, so I might shorten them and soften the silhouette.”

Stylized ’50s femininity meets Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks: Extraterrestrial perfection was achieved with hyperreal skin and tall, immaculately twisted updos that looked like elongated beehives.

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THE LOOK | HAIR | SKIN | EYES | LIPS

We feel like beauty vandals swirling our fluffy brush into bronzers imprinted with designs as pretty and perfect as these.

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By Samantha Shephard

It’s a sunny Saturday morning in West Hollywood and Rita Ryack, the Oscar-nominated costume designer known for her work on Casino and A Beautiful Mind, is on a hunt for sequined dresses. Production on the film Rock of Ages is wrapping and she needs one more piece for Catherine Zeta-Jones’ character. Judging by the racks she’s browsing, which are filled with this season’s hottest labels and trends—Versace print T-shirts, heavily embellished Moschino jackets, sweeping red carpet–worthy gowns—you’d think she were shopping at an upscale department store. Think again. She’s at The Way We Wore, a vintage-clothing mecca that attracts A-list clients like Angelina Jolie, Dita Von Teese and Katy Perry. The shop is full of high-end designer pieces, like little black dresses from Chanel, elegant Christian Dior gowns, Pauline Trigère party dresses and Pucci pyjama pants, all dating from the 1930s to the early 1990s.

Check out G-Star Raw’s debut flagship store (328 Queen St. W., 416-977-8828, g-star.com) for all of your blues and beyond. This large industrial space (think concrete, steel and wood) houses the brand’s full fashion spectrum, from its street style–inspired women’s and men’s collections to footwear and accessories. Stop by the denim wall and pick up a pair of noir Arc 3d Super Skinny jeans: Clémence Poésy, the French actress known for her role on Gossip Girl, rocks this style in the brand’s spring campaign.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of Leone (leone.ca), a local luxury retailer where Christian Dior, Prada, Versace and Alexander McQueen are among the dreamy designer labels. We asked the grande dame behind this family business, Maria Leone, about must-haves and milestones.

What was the first garment you sold at the store?
“It was a Versace flowered chiffon skirt. I definitely remember the emotions I had when we first opened the doors and cut
the ribbon.”

“This candid shot of Kirsten Owen has a strong grunge feel to it. It’s the graffiti on the wall and the dirt on the ground, and her messy blonde hair and clothes are almost anti-fashion,” says FASHION’s current art director, Maarten Sluyter.

“As a model, she was always creating other people’s moments—photographers, stylists—and this image captures her moment, her five minutes spent by herself. She seems completely unguarded and happy. It’s really street photography before street photography became a trend. Now, we see photos of models off-duty all the time, but back then most people probably wouldn’t have recognized her so dressed down. It’s about feeling comfortable, looking exactly the way she wanted to.”