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For his fifth anniversary show Friday evening, Rad Hourani opened with a multi-screened, black-and-white video presentation set to an ambient soundtrack of chirping birdies. But before long, the runway was taken over by an army of androgynous models, hair centre-parted and slicked back, in a parade of beyond-streamlined belted coats and tight pants. The classic Rad by Rad Hourani uniform of black-on-black was given an earthy punch of mossy green; nearly every model carryied a sleek, sharp-angled leather bag. With spring barely here, I’m already getting excited for the fall, if only to wear Hourani’s futuristic take on the varsity jacket.

The message at yesterday’s Ashtiani show was clear: Muted tones and simple structures trump the over-the-top elaboration seen elsewhere this week (you know who you are). Done up in calming greys, muted mints and the like, designer Golnaz Ashtiani served up quite a few must-haves for fall. Case in point: a light cream cropped wool jacket with mini cape collar in frosty blue, that was paired with a patent leather trimmed wool skirt and a close-fit dress with soft green pleating. Have you ever seen such soft angularity?

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“Mix master! Cut faster!” is what we’re singing right now. Just look how well leopard, stripes, florals, and Navajo have been spliced by yesterday’s most stylish Toronto Fashion week attendees. Being Friday and all, that’s really all we have to say, but these delicious images really do speak for themselves. Happy viewing!

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While beatnik style was the official inspiration for beauty at Pink Tartan’s Fall 2012 show, there was a definite Rooney Mara vibe happening backstage. The makeup was almost entirely focused on a deep “ox blood” red lip—Maybelline Super Stay 14Hr lipstick in “Wine and Forever”—a colour that Mara’s known for and that has been trending on runways all season long. (Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, for instance.)

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You would think it was commonplace, but creating a diffusion line that has direct ties to its sister brand isn’t always how things go down. Such was the case, however, with Matis by Lucian Matis, Lucian Matis’s affordable line of wears (as if we needed to clarify that), which showed earlier this week. The collection borrowed its largely black colour scheme along with the notable feather adornments—a definite street-style want—from its older sister label.

Matis featured many a wrap dress in almost every technicoloured pattern imaginable. Trust us, Joseph would be jealous. It’s a flattering shape to be sure, but it would have been nice to see Matis mix up the silhouettes a bit, especially given how great some of the other styles were.  Case in point: one simple black shift with elbow-length sleeves and knit outer pockets seemingly made just for a Coachella girl.

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The post TFW Video: Behind-the-scenes at the Fall 2012 Pink Tartan show! appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

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Pink Tartan’s Kimberley Newport Mimran aimed her Fall 2012 collection at the same glossy working woman as usual—the one who sweeps elegantly from the office to a cocktail party—though perhaps this season she’s had a promotion. The textures were extra sumptuous, from a fluffy rose-pink jacket to a deep red velvet coat with furry sleeves to a full feather peplum. This is the collection to shop for the peplum trend this fall: the waist frill appeared on sleeveless shells with lean flared trousers or over long bandage dresses. (One of those was worn by model Kate Somers, with a new wispy, shoulder-length haircut, who decided her vertiginous pointy heels had to come off at the end of the runway, to cheers from the socialite-filled crowd.) Newport-Mimran made a strong case for selling us our fall coats—most of the looks were dominated by their toppers, and we have our eye on a gorgeous Céline-esque forest green wool coat with leather sleeves. Really, a promotion deserves a little self-present.

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Line has us covered for all sorts of cozy knits come fall. Combined with slimmer underpinnings the collection features knobby knits in rich eggplants, oranges, and greens. The best looks were schoolboy inspired—picture: über graphic-meets-Fair Isle knits topping untucked oxford shirts and bulky trousers. The results were just as successful when sweaters were layered atop sweaters (shocker!) and paired with a sheen-y (but not quite metallic) skinny pant.

And while our ever-picky eyes couldn’t help but focus on the somewhat puzzling inclusion of fur-knuckled fingerless gloves (nor the redundant black leather leggings, if we’re being honest), we have a mile high ‘want’ list of stylish Line knits for fall.

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The Joe Fresh girl is always pretty, in a never-ambitious and always-achievable sort of way. After all, when your product is sold at grocery stores across the country, it’s best to avoid making a statement with a bleached eyebrow or dreadlocked hair. But that’s not to say Joe Fresh has to be completely vanilla: the beauty inspiration for their Fall 2012 show was Blow-Up, a sultry, swinging film from the ‘60s.

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Looks like everybody was thinking the same thing when they got dressed for the shows yesterday, as Toronto’s finest stepped out in some of the juiciest brights we’ve seen all season! (And by season, we mean the unseasonably warm few days we’ve been having). There was tons o’ tangerine and even pastel It bags, from Céline to Prada and beyond! Take a look at our best shots and get inspired to brighten it up yourself.

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If yesterday’s Vawk show was any indication, designer Sunny Fong’s muse for fall was a Grecian goddess-meets-art-deco Amelia Earhart. Models stormed down in the runway in aviation caps (sans goggles, sadly) and in regal purple and bronze.

The collection touched on some of the biggest trends for fall. The waist was the zone of focus; fur adorned peplums and leather bands created super-flattering nipped-in silhouettes. And then there was the art-deco detailing seen on the spring runways of the likes of Gucci and Alberta Ferretti. Geometric lines decorated skirts and dresses to much success.

Post-finale, the audience was shown a film of Fong describing the Vawkkin (Vawk’s accessible sister line) modus operandi. Kudos to the designer for making a fashion week film with some substance.

Then came Vawkkin, modeled by “real women” (because real women can only ‘Vawkkin’ budget clothing lines?). The more affordable collection of maybe too much black and grey (and a somewhat budget looking turquoise fabric) touched on some real trends (read: peplums) and seemed to be met with approval from the crowd.

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Sid Neigum’s Fall 2012 collection saw him taking a much-needed breather from his perennial all-black course. And boy, are we glad he did. Mixing tan suede and cream knits among copious darks provided a fresh and optimistic look at fall. With only one female model among a slew of males (all clad in gargantuan Dr. Martens, no less), it was clear post-apocalyptic androgyny was the (somewhat tired) name of the game.

Neigum’s womenswear collection was selected as one of the finalists in the Toronto Fashion Incubator’s New Labels competition. Since the rules of the competition stipulate he can’t show his pieces until a winner is chosen, Neigum showed only two womenswear looks, and had us lusting for more (who says playing hard to get doesn’t work?).

Outerwear was the real standout in this collection. Piece after piece—be it fastened from textural leather or soft felt—was perfectly tailored. The clear runway winner? A buckled leather jacket worn with the model’s arms protruding from cape-like arm-slits underneath the sleeves.