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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…

Follow our ongoing coverage of the Royal visit! »

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge haven’t even reached our shores yet and Kate has already nailed the Canuck fashion connection. Spotted at Heathrow boarding a plane to Ottawa earlier today, the Duchess donned her signature colour in a knee-length dress by Roland Mouret and a blazer by Toronto’s own design duo Smythe. Hoping to get your hands on the same thing? Get thee to Holt Renfrew, fast! The blazer is available at locations nationwide, but word on the street is that they’re selling out fast. Is it too early for lunch? ($550, holtrenfrew.com)

Check out the rest of our Canadian design forecasts for Kate’s trip »

By Randi Bergman and Jordan Porter

Introducing the first in our new weekly feature, where we combine our love for pretty pictures and talent for delivering ultimate shopping picks. Each Tuesday, we’ll be gathering deliciously buyable products based on a common theme. First up: Toronto fashion week essentials! With the shows just around the corner and some shows already underway, now is the perfect time to indulge in some homegrown retail therapy. From household names like Roots to accessory artisans like Maryam Keyhani, here’s our list of Canadian can’t-live-withouts.

Shop the guide now! »

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»

Smythe, makers of fine Canadian coats and blazers, has a new celebrity to add to their already impressive clientele (Jeanne Beker, Kate Hudson and nearly the entire cast of Gossip Girl). Madonna, the woman who needs no introduction, recently ordered a lace blouse (pictured, $250, at Holt Renfrew and TNT starting in September, smythelesvestes.com) from their fall collection. Add that and a feature in the July Vogue and you’ve got yourself one big week. We caught up with designers Andrea Lenczner and Christie Smythe, on Madonna as a client, their fall collection and the perks of being part of a duo.

How many Canadian icons can you spot in this photo? The Canuck contingent in Paris was buzzing this weekend when Jeanne Beker arrived at Viktor & Rolf in this HBC blanket coat, specially designed by Smythe. It’s a little bit of home at the Tuileries.

See the full look after the jump.

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.

We went over to the Bay Queen Street earlier today to check out the newly revamped The Room. Actually, revamped is too soft a term for the metamorphosis of the Bay flagship’s home for runway wear–it’s truly a sight to behold. We’ll have pictures tomorrow, but in the meantime, we wanted to show you another of the company’s cool projects: the Hudson’s Bay Company collection. The new line has everything from canoes to tees and includes collaborations with some Canadian designers–striped cardies from by Pink Tartan, recycled fur handbags by Harricana’s Mariouche Gagné and one-of-a-kind, not-for-sale coats from the likes of Jeremy Laing, Erdem (see it on our cover!), Smythe and Todd Lynn.

Check out the photos after the jump and read the full story in the November issue of FASHION.