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Thomas Tait was the first out of the gate last night at The Shows, the four Canadian-born and Euro-based designer two-day extravaganza put on at the splashy Ritz Carlton in downtown Toronto. The show was introduced by none other than supermodel Coco Rocha, in town to host the event and show her documentary Letters to Haiti. Tait’s Spring 2012 unveiled (on this side of the pond, at least) a minty fresh departure from his signature black-on-black. Ultra-structured white cocoon jackets were shown alongside tennis-apropos looking combos of ribbed bubblegum pink sweaters and tailored pants, as well as the most amazing glistening jumper and pantsuit. The black was still there, but this time, layered with multiple pops of white.

Tune in at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. EST to watch the Thomas Tait and Calla Spring 2012 collections LIVE from the shOws at the Ritz Carlton in Toronto!

The post Livestream: Watch the Thomas Tait and Calla Spring 2012 shows LIVE! appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

View our favourite moments from the Fall 2011 London collections now »

Your all-access pass to the Fall 2011 collections—the gossip, new obsessions, parties, famous faces, and more.

View our favourite moments from the Fall 2011 collections now »

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“Why do you come to London? Is it the best for finding new designers?” I forget who asked me this the other eve⎯by now the whole week’s a blur of long skirts and spikes and unnaturally bright hair⎯but the answer is yes. It’s not the weather.

Everyone loves a Canadian designer in London. From Erdem to Mark Fast to Thomas Tait, it’s a whole new boys’ club over there. But they better make room for one serious creative force of a girl: Kat Marks.

The Calgary native graduated from the Ryerson School of Fashion in 2008. I’ve never forgotten her work at the grad show. While most of her peers were fussily reinventing the cocktail dress, Marks was making balloon-shouldered bodysuits and plastic torsos with jutting hips. Think Margiela, but at a sex shop. Soon after leaving Ryerson, off Marks went to the London College of Fashion, where she got her Masters in Fashion Artefact and all the right kinds of attention.

Today, Marks’ fashion film, The Karass, premieres at SHOWStudio.com. No big deal: it’s just the major-est, most respected avant-garde fashion force in the whole UK. And yes, the short is shot by the site’s mastermind and genius image-maker, Nick Knight himself!

Experience the video for yourself, but be sure to keep in mind that every interchangeable piece of these hyper real tuxedo-like breastplates was made by Marks’ own hands: the vegetable-dyed, heat-moulded leathers, the manipulated bits of brass and the Perspex, which was hand-etched (“tattooed,” she says) with ink.

How did Marks and this bizarre, wearable-but-just-barely work get such a spectacular break? She didn’t. She sent an email. Alexander Fury, fashion director of SHOWStudio, “got it” right away. “It is rare to see pieces as distinctive and strong as Kat Marks’ work,” he says in a press release for the film. “Rare on the catwalks, and certainly rare in a designer so young.”

And so here’s the mega-talented Ms. Marks in her own words, typed over Skype and delivered straight to you.