FASHION Magazine

Every facet of fashion is going high tech. From smart fabrics to computerized sketches, old school techniques are going the way of the dodo. Case in point, Stephanie Mckay’s fashion illustrations from The Collections’ RE\SET Fashion shows in Toronto last night. No longer are artists frantically scribbling in notebooks and juggling pencils, crayons and charcoals […]

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See the photo shoot » Although Toronto Fashion Week had it’s last hurrah over the weekend, we’re sharing one more exclusive photo shoot, brought to you by Toronto-based creative group, The Collections. While we’ve already shown off the best coats, knitwear, and sportswear that Canadian fashion has to offer, we can’t forget accessories because we […]

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See the knitwear photo shoot » It’s the final day of fashion week in Toronto and we’re getting ready to wrap things up with the final designers set to present this afternoon. Today’s shows will be no less exciting than the last four days, with the exotic jewellery and handbag collection from Huntress, as well […]

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See today’s photo shoot » We’re on to day three of Toronto Fashion Week and we couldn’t be more excited about what we’re seeing. From the origami-inspired designs at Sig Neigum to the ’70s rock-n-roll chic look at Pink Tartan, we have been seriously impressed so far. Getting us on the edges of our seats today […]

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See the photo shoot » Live from Toronto, it’s World MasterCard Fashion Week! The Spring 2015 shows take to the stage tonight, and in celebration, we present a special project. Beginning today, we’ll be featuring exclusive photo shoots done in collaboration with Toronto-based creative group The Collections. The photo shoots will feature the best in […]

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See fashion week party pics »

It was a busy start to World Mastercard Fashion Week in Toronto on Monday. Not to be outdone by a show-packed schedule, the trio behind promo team The Collections threw an opening night party at Soho House. Drawing their usual west end crowd, cool kids in toques, cornrows and dark lips filled the elegant space with attitude to spare. The company’s troupe of represented designers including Beaufille’s Chloe and Parris Gordon, Sid Neigum and Thomas Balint’s Michael Thomas all came by to toast the week ahead. Photographer Renata Kaveh went for early spring megawatt, opting for head-to-toe white. Meanwhile, several fresh-off-the-runway models infiltrated with glass cutting cheekbones.

In the age of pop culture fashion, we’ve all become hyper aware of the fashion competition. Whether on screen or IRL, Project Runway concepts promise a knockout throw down between up and coming designers vying for fame, fortune or just a little financial boost. The fashion competition is real exciting for those on the outside, but it can often be insurmountable pressure for all designers involved—especially those who don’t win anything. Thus became Threshold, a Toronto Fashion Week showcase of burgeoning designers who can launch their collections sans struggle.

“I have worked with many designers who have participated in competitions in the past and although I do think there are many benefits from being part of them, I also feel the disappointment of not winning can be very demotivating and hard on a new designer,” says Dwayne Kennedy, The Collections fashion director and one of the brains behind this showcase. “We want Threshold to be a positive experience from beginning to end and to equip designers with the tools to succeed season after season.”

This Wednesday at World MasterCard Fashion Week, Threshold will premiere with Paria Shirvani and Axel Kohler, two Toronto-based designers with skills to spare. Here’s a little preview of what’s expected for Spring 2014.

See the JNBY party pictures »

Amidst the homegrown talent, one very cool and far away brand will be making its Canadian runway debut next week during World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto. JNBY (Just Naturally Be Yourself) is big in Japan…and Thailand and Singapore and France as well as China, where it hails from. A week before its reveal at fashion week (and we’ll save the oohs and aahs till then), JNBY previewed its Spring 2014 collection to an ultra trendy crowd at a pre-fashion week party hosted by The Collections. The stellar clothes were shown alongside a large photo print by Cory VanderPloeg of a model wearing Laura Siegel‘s spring collection..

Regular scenesters like Amina Said, Sarah Magwood, Parris Gordon, Jay Strut and The Collections threesome Dwayne Kennedy, Mel Ashcroft and Brian Richards lined the walls as well as fresh faced models in Miley buns and off duty sweaters. As with any cool kid party, there were plenty of new faces to creep in true Cinderella form. We’d like to crown a new style princess, but we don’t know her name. You! Got the other glass slipper?

See the photo shoot »

If Canada’s latest crop of cool has taught us anything, it’s that the ultimate creativity comes from collaboration. Take the sister act behind the newly renamed label Beaufille (formerly Chloé Comme Parris) for example, or the creative team behind Toronto’s go-to nail mecca, Tips Nail Bar. The best results are often a team effort.

It’s with this pretext that Toronto-based stylist and fashion director Dwayne Kennedy operates. Along with his many collaborators, most notably his The Collections partner Brian A. Richards; he’s been responsible for much creative and young gun business around town, including the up-and-coming designer specific portion of Toronto Fashion Week, which has boasted the impressive likes of Rad Hourani and Sid Neigum.

See what’s inside the bags of the brains involved with fashion week »

Packing a bag for Toronto Fashion Week should be considered some sort of art. The contents of the bag must be able to transport the owner from work, to shows, to more shows, and to after-parties, therefore having the essentials on hand is, well, essential. This week, we’ve taken a look inside some of the organizers of rogue fashion week, including The ShOws mastermind Paola Fullerton, and three-member team spearheading The Collections: Dwayne Kennedy, Brian A. Richards and Mel Ashcroft. We’ve also snuck a look into Caitlin Power’s bag—the Calgary-born designer showed her collection as a part of the Mercedes-Benz Start Up competition at World MasterCard Fashion Week last night. The contents of these It bags (which range from Chloé to Chloé Comme Parris!) have one thing in common: they all serve as fashion week survival kits.

See all the backstage pics from Chloé Comme Parris Spring 2013 »

It was dewy skin like we’ve never seen before for Chloé Comme Parris Spring 2013, where the theme was California’s Venice Beach and models looked like they’d just emerged from the water. “It’s all about layering different kinds of textures to create this really beautiful, metallic skin,” explained M.A.C makeup key Melissa Gibson. To start, she used M.A.C Cosmetics Mineralize Charged Water Face and Body Lotion ($40, maccosmetics.com) followed by Studio Finish SPF 35 Concealer ($22, maccosmetics.com)—though dabbed only where necessary. The almost supernatural glow, however, came courtesy of Mineralize Skinfinish in “Soft and Gentle” ($34, maccosmetics.com) which Gibson generously applied with a brush “literally all over the face.”

See every look from Sid Neigum’s Spring 2013 collection »

Colour for spring? Pfft. Or at least, that’s what Sid Neigum’s Spring 2013 collection has convinced us. The Toronto-based Albertan showed a collection with long jersey dresses, fashion doo-rags, and majorly smoky eyes which when combined, created the ultimate cool girl look (look out Wang, Sid Neigum’s coming for you).

Neigum welcomed the reverse mullet cut to the runway—long in the front and bootyliciously short in the back—which is a necessary change from the current mullet craze out there on the mainstream market. The standout pieces of the show were the unexpected knits, ranging from a turtleneck dress to a grey oversized sweater piped with leather, the pieces were kind of a fashion reality check that made us realize knits are not only for fall.