FASHION Magazine

If there were ever an excuse to wear Canadian, it was Saturday’s second annual Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards (CAFA), which took Toronto’s swanky Fairmont Royal York hotel by literal storm. In the thick of Hollywood’s awards season, the CAFAs were probably as close to the Oscars as anything we’ll ever attend, with homegrown designers […]

The post CAFA Awards 2015: 35 glitzy pictures of Canada’s fashion industry all dressed up appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

View the photo gallery »

If last night’s cocktail party at The Room in Toronto was all about the Mugler woman, the party’s many attendees showed just how diverse that woman can be. At one end of the spectrum was the usual mix of the city’s most fashionable ladies: Model Yasmin Warsame in exaggerated shoulders and a floor-length skirt, the Bay’s Sarah Kosloff in a velvet and shimmering silver vintage duo (the whole outfit bought for a cool $45), and our own Bernadette Morra in a black metallic Herman-Sellers-Gough jacket with a platinum-tipped fox collar. At the other, two transgendered attendees respectively in lace and coned leather, looking every bit Mother Monster as Gaga herself.

View the runway photo gallery »
View the backstage beauty »
View the runway video »

When it comes to fashion, I have two minds. I oscillate between editor mode (carefully scrutinizing trends, fabrics, cuts, and colour) and shopping autopilot (dreaming up outfits, making must-have lists, and slowly building my dream closet). Last night’s Joe Fresh show threw me for a loop. While I was technically there for work, I couldn’t pry myself away from my material side. Not only did the presentation of the show blow me away—Joe flew in the who’s who of Canadian models as well as used some of the beauties who’ve been in town for the week including Alana Zimmer, Kate King, Heather Marks, Herieth Paul, Kristin Owen, Liisa Winkler, Tara Gill, Yasmin Warsame, Kori Richardson, and Amanda Laine—but the clothes have never looked so… expensive (a coup for a mass-retail brand). Perfectly fitting tight jersey tees, pointed loafer pumps, and a printed ankle pant all got the green light in my mental notes. The clever combination of clean ‘60s minimalism (the show opened with a Mondrian-esque shift dress) with sportwear-detailed separates (neoprene, parachute fabrics, and drawstring details were everywhere) ensured the show didn’t feel one-noted. While they certainly won’t alienate their core grocery-store customer, Joe certainly upped the ante for the fashion followers who will be anxiously awaiting the runway styles come spring.

View the runway photo gallery »
DIY: We teach you how to tie a turban, Jay Manuel style »
View the runway video »

The intense dry-ice spectacle at last night’s Attitude Jay Manuel show may have blurred the sight of some, case in point, the gorgeous Yasmin Warsame’s disoriented runway tumble, but Jay Manuel’s vision for his collection is crystal clear. For spring, it’s all about jet-setting ‘70s style. After a 30-minute delay, the antsy crowd settled their sights on the Missoni-inspired runway, to a parade of slick jersey jumpsuits, off-the-shoulder open knits, breezy cotton tunics and brightly coloured Palm Springs prints. On my personal can’t-live-without list is the chic two-tone denim trench. A shout-out must be given to our go-to guy, George Antonopoulos, for an amazing job styling—the headscarves, raffia fedoras, and oversized sunnies secured a care-free cool factor and added the perfect finishing touch.

British fashion magazine Dazed and Confused christened its first iPad-compatible issue the “Iran Issue,” due to Apple’s insisting they censor all nipples. While Apple (understandably) wants to keep its content squeaky clean, the i-empire may need to realize that a European fashion magazine without nudity is like our magazine without shoes. [Gawker and The Cut]

Chronicle Books has just announced the November release of a 400-page retrospective look at Anna Sui’s 20 years in the biz. The coffee table tome includes fashion spreads, text written by Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton, a preface by Jack White and a foreword by Sui herself. [WWD]