FASHION Magazine

When it comes to eyewear, Kathy Tran believes that one size doesn’t fit all. While completing her MBA, this Toronto-based designer conceived the idea of redefining fit in the eyewear market (think non-slip frames and indent-free cheeks). Her debut collection of Kaytran Eyewear (kaytran.com) features 20 reinvented classics.

What inspired you to launch an eyewear brand?
“I had been looking for years for eyewear that fit my Asian facial structure—I have a smaller nose bridge. I decided to design a collection that would offer a different fit. There are endless options for jeans to suit [various] body types—why should eyewear be any different?”

If the fashion universe hasn’t already noticed, Jordan-native/Montrealer Rad Hourani is taking Paris by storm (fitting that his name means “thunder” in Arabic), never mind making history. On July 3, the model scout/stylist/designer/visionary will be the first Canadian to present an haute couture collection in the City of Light. This event is also unprecedented in that it will make Hourani the first unisex haute couture designer on the planet. Not bad, considering his label only celebrated its fifth anniversary this year. Not bad either when you remember he’s only 30, just turning so last Friday!

I managed to catch hold of the jetsetter just before he boarded a flight to Hong Kong. He was on his way to attend an exhibition in his honour, “Five Years of Unisex,” at I.T Hysan One, laudably one of the most artfully designed department stores in the world. Here’s the Rad update:

As Canada’s athletes gear up for the London 2012 Olympic Games, we speak with a veteran and a newcomer—six-time medallist Clara Hughes and first-time Olympian boxer Mary Spencer—about preparation, pressure and product.

By Elio Iannacci. Photographed by James White. Styled by Penny Lovell.

Read our interview with Anna Paquin »
See Anna Paquin’s shopping picks »

You can learn a lot about an actress by the way she steps on set for a photo shoot. Some stars require the armour of an entourage; others need a personality-devoid space and monastic silence. Anna Paquin is unquestionably neither of the above. Upon arriving at L.A.’s Smashbox Studios on a scalding Saturday afternoon, the Winnipeg-born, New Zealand-raised actress introduces herself to the FASHION crew without hesitation. Serving up a warm, Kiwi-accented “Nice to meet you” to photographer James White—and his troop of all-guy assistants crushing on her—the 29-year-old talent does the rounds as if she were hosting a cocktail party. Of course, there is a reason for Paquin’s accelerated social skills. Having won an Oscar at the age of 11 for her performance in Jane Campion’s The Piano, Paquin has grown up with cameras and handshakes at every corner, starring in a mix of family pictures (Fly Away Home), blockbusters (X-Men), indie flicks (The Squid and the Whale) and, most recently, a ratings monster of a TV series called True Blood.

After changing into her favoured cover look—a Jackie Onassis-like Marc Jacobs dress trimmed with silver studs—Paquin dashes in front of the lens, occasionally cracking jokes and posing without any forced fabulousness. Her good humour remains intact long after the array of designer heels and baubles are put away and we are left alone to talk.

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.”

Essie Weingarten steps off the elevator on the penthouse level of New York’s Mondrian SoHo hotel and is greeted by a wall covered floor to ceiling with framed photos of the most iconic nail polish shades she’s created over the past 30 years. “Oh my God, this is amazing!” she says, marvelling at the tributes to colours like “Mademoiselle,” “Wicked” and “Chinchilly” that her team has surprised her with as part of a dinner in her honour. As the founder of one of the most well-known brands in the category—seriously, walk into any nail bar, particularly in Manhattan, and you’ll see that her bottles dominate the shelves—Weingarten, originally from Queens, has much to celebrate. Not only did L’Oréal acquire her company in 2010, providing distribution of Essie to even more countries, but her colours are worn by everyone from the Queen (Her Majesty is fond of “Ballet Slippers”) to Lady Gaga (she paired “Merino Cool” with her infamous meat dress).

For Alexandre Despatie, diving is all about aesthetics. “Every time I step on the boards, I’m judged by how I look,” says the two-time Olympic medallist while on set at his Men’s FASHION cover shoot in Toronto. “It’s a fact I live with. My form has to be sharp. Every angle of my body is studied—it’s what I’m marked on.”

At a solid five-foot-eight and 155 pounds, Despatie’s frame is noticeably well toned. As he approaches the camera in a brief black swimsuit, an air of confidence radiates from his diamond-cut build. “Our bodies are our machines—our Formula One race cars,” he later says, after throwing on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. “They need to be perfect to run well.”

In the midst of preparing for the London Summer Games—his fourth Olympiad to date—the Montrealer is clearly running on overdrive. Heading to the gym six days a week, he maintains a schedule that befits his title as Canada’s 36-time senior diving champion. Yet his daily routine—which includes 1,000 crunches, one hour of strength training, 20 minutes of trampoline work, an indoor cycling program called PowerWatts and 50 sets of ab exercises called “pike-ups”—is something he feels “lucky” to be able to  do at all.

André 3000, real name André Benjamin, along with actors Adrien Brody and Gael García Bernal, is featured in the Masters of Style campaign, created by Gillette to promote its recently introduced Fusion ProGlide Styler, a tool that combines the functions of shaver, trimmer and edger. Benjamin, too, is a triple-threat talent. As half of Outkast, the Atlanta-based duo, he became one of hip hop’s most acclaimed musicians. He has also won praise as a menswear designer since launching his label, Benjamin Bixby, in 2008. And as a dresser, he’s known for being one of the best. He’s been celebrated in fashion magazines, and in Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, an academic work of groundbreaking cultural history, his name shows up on the very first page.

Let’s catch up on the musical action. Last year, you earned a Grammy nomination for a track with Beyoncé. In February, Converse presented “Do Ya Thang,” your collaboration with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, and Gorillaz. Is an Outkast album due to come out in 2012?
“To be honest, no, there is not an Outkast album in the works. I know there’s been a lot of talk in the internet world. I don’t have Twitter or Facebook or any of those kinds of things, so I haven’t had a chance to address it.”

Last summer, when J.Crew opened a store in Toronto—its first store in Canada, or anywhere outside the U.S. of A.—the guys in town were left boo-hooing when they learned that that shop is only for women. But Canadian men can dry their eyes: J.Crew is opening three more stores in Canada—Vancouver in April, Edmonton in May and Toronto in September—where the offerings will include menswear.

So, OK, maybe big boys don’t cry. But they do care about clothes, and they let it show. They’re no longer bashful or embarrassed about matters of style.

“Men’s fashion has moved more quickly in the last 10 years than it has over the last 40,” Millard “Mickey” Drexler, J.Crew’s CEO, told The Wall Street Journal last fall.

It’s a cliché, yes, but age is just a number. To prove it, we’ve rounded up some of the most influential women in fashion and beauty and asked them about everything from how they celebrate birthdays to the products they swear by.

View all the profiles now »
View all the beauty picks »

Inès de la Fressange, 54 | Liu Wen, 24 | Olivia Giacobetti, 45 | Hanaa Ben Abdesslem, 22 | Jacqueline Bisset, 67 | Jenna Hipp, 30 | Linda Rodin, 65 | Gucci Westman, 41 | Rachel Roy, 38

Strategic cut-outs, thigh-high slits and body-con shapes: Sébastien Peigné and Nicola Formichetti of Mugler are bringing sexy back.

Reviving Mugler is a monster task. After designer Thierry Mugler took his final runway bow at his couture show in July 2000, this kinky house of cool (remember Demi Moore’s bondage-style dress in 1993’s Indecent Proposal?) started flatlining. Ten years later, the resuscitation began. In 2010, following months of speculation, Nicola Formichetti (Lady Gaga’s stylist) was tapped to lead the revival of the French house known for its over-the-top theatricality and sex appeal. Besides outfitting Mother Monster, this 34-year-old half-Italian, half-Japanese, techno-savvy superstar is also the fashion director for Vogue Hommes Japan and global retailer Uniqlo. His debut Mugler womenswear show during Fall 2011 Paris Fashion Week had the twitterverse buzzing about its latex-dipped leggings, body-stocking dresses and the catwalk pièce de résistance: Gaga, smoking in every sense of the word.

Read the interview »
See the slideshow »