FAT alternative fashion week 2011 day three

sadly i missed breeyn mccarney's showing of paper garments due to a work shindig, and just barely made it on time for the 9pm runway shows. seatless, positioned under the armpit of a photographer, and in flats (why, why!?) resulted in less-than-optimal viewing of the runway - a real tragedy because this was the day that i was most excited for. alas, there were no photos taken, and no space to scribble notes, so forgive me if my descriptions are slightly off.

heidi ackerman and lindsay sinclair blew me away. new favourite toronto designer combo: people should be screaming their names from the rafters. both have matured greatly since their last combined showing, and the results were breathtaking. ackerman's collection was feminine and flowing, but she didn't lose that urban edge and the architectural approach that she's known for. her use of fabrics including (apparently) tybek, silk and mesh had a serene beauty that her previous collections have not been able to capture. grey shift dresses with white bars were recognizably ackerman, while more dramatic pieces took her in a new direction - such as the full-length sheer bodysuit(?) that contoured the body before veering off into a bat-wing shape, resolutely steering clear of any sex-kitten association. each piece was set off by sinclair's ash and poplar sculptures, with standouts including ones that curved over a model's shins before extending past the calf, and a dramatic neckpiece that was solid in the front and separated into horizontal strips at the back. best of all was a sinuous sleeve composed of three curving strips of wood extending from shoulder to wrist. stunning. i'm in love.

anastasia lomonova is another one to watch. with models sheathed from head-to-toe in red and grey bodysuits, and the palette of the clothing being dark, the collection was as dramatic as it was well-executed. each piece was wearable and the draping was done masterfully. unimaginative viewers were overheard critiquing the bodysuits ("i would never wear that!"), while cheers aplenty were heard from the balcony above as male models strutted their stuff in the 'female' pieces.

i also quite liked the ruth weil collection, comprised mostly of painted silk dresses. designer hillary sampliner's brightly coloured silks (in yellows and blues - right?) were paired with sheer black overlays (the thing it would seem), or were seen on their own. one thing i would change would be to lose the sheen on the overlays - i felt it distracted the viewer and added nothing to the looks. overall, sampliner shows much promise.

FAT alternative fashion week 2011 day one

unlike LG fashion week, FAT groups designers together for the runway shows, giving viewers more bang for their buck (or media pass). therefore i've already been able to take in eight shows: martin lim, paria lambina, epoque by thea barber, demoyo, emily woudenberg, jessica clayton, lubica, and belinda visag. comparing lg fashion week with this alternative one is fruitless, for they are completely different entities; however, what the shows did lack in polish, they made up for in spirit.

the night's standouts (and i didn't make it to the last group showing) were emily woudenberg and jessica clayton. woudenberg's show was precursored by a film by justin arjune. inspired by the penrose stairs - which we all recognize from m.c. escher's ascending and descending - the short depicted a model running down stairs in a variety of garments. the opening piece - a floor-length jersey dress the colour of bronzer - was a standout. chiffon-y blouses in periwinkle blue and dusty pink that were cropped in the front and floated down in the back were oh-so desirable, as was a full length dress that paired stripes, a geometric cutout at the bust, and a sheer flowing skirt.

jessica clayton showed more pieces in this vein of thought, with blue tie-dyed shirts, and dresses with chiffon skirt overlays. if there's one thing i want this season, it's a floor length sheer skirt that will flutter in the wind...sigh. clayton also showed a white sheath dress with a delicate geometric pattern printed on it in black; i quite liked it, but felt it could have done without the diamanté details. finally, during the break a band (name?!) played with two twins/sisters singing while dressed in bodysuits with studded shoulders. i want one!

one thing i will say though - and this applies to any fashion week - is that the design teams need to ensure details they are in control of are taken care of. most importantly, models need to wear proper undergarments. should they arrive empty-handed - and one can guarantee this will happen - the design team needs to have spares present. as a viewer i find nothing to be more distracting than ill-fitting underwear on a model - it takes away from the garment and cheapens the look. another avoidable issue is visible stickers on the soles of shoes. on the runway models' shoes are at our eye-level and again, this rubs me the wrong way. a black marker can make a world of difference...

emily woudenberg

emily woudenberg

jessica clayton

FAT alternative fashion week 2011

my first time at FAT left me feeling....um....pleasantly plump? ha! writing now is a terrible idea, for everything is bound to disgust upon re-read. overall i quite enjoyed it. shows ran basically on time, i got a front row seat, there were videos, art pieces, and bands to watch, and people were casually boozing during the show. what's not to love?

mary katrantzou s/s 2011

i was a wee bit overly ambitious with regard to the anna dello russo exhibit at the bay, showing up yesterday after work only to realize that they were still setting up! oh the confusion. either way i'll be back, though i believe thursday will be impossible to run off to spot adr as the magazine's about to go to press.

anyways, i browsed through the clothes and realized that i am infatuated with mary katrantzou's spring/summer collection. apparently inspired by 1970s photographs, katrantzou looked past the models and settled her gaze on the stunning interiors, overlooked in photos by guy bourdain and helmut newton. while katrantzou's pieces certainly are works of art from afar, up close you're able to take in all the little details that otherwise are easy to overlook due to the elaborateness of the prints. the dresses are her strong point, with trompe l'oeil portions offering up even more to the wearer than expected; the skirts modelled after lamps - complete with beading dangling from the hems - are a bit too much of a literal interpretation for a piece of clothing. sitting would be difficult at best, and i'm one for discomfort. all in all though, a terrific collection.

vice fashion issue

the entire fashion issue is delicious, including interviews with the likes of nicola formichetti, hussein chalayan and vice fave gaahl whose never ceases to amaze. little did i know that his ex-boyfriend has a clothing line. nor did i know he likes men - or, as he specifies, the male sex in their late teens, before they have lost their inquisitiveness. or something like that. he's also a vehement opposer of sweatpants. me too.

anyways, the piece that really stood out was a photo essay by jen osbourne, a harm-reduction worker from van city who spends much of her time in the downtown eastside. her photos depict people from the area in before and after shots as the individuals doll themselves up for their nightly routines, be it dumpster diving, panhandling, prostitution or whatever they do - usually a way to get drugs. it's beautiful, and sad, and disturbing, and distressing, and human. and it makes you think, which is what is should do.

viceland.com

galliano dropped from galliano

according to women's world daily, galliano has been dropped from his other label, john galliano, which is 91% owned by dior. looks like he won't be making a comeback anytime soon, although fashion does tend to be forgiving...didn't i just read something about coco chanel galavanting about with nazis? apparently she was ousted from fashion for seven long years, before becoming the adored figure we all know.

when tommy met anna

goodness gracious, toronto's really stepping it up. come april 21st, the incomparable anna dello russo is pairing up with tommy ton - hogtown's own blogger extraordinaire - for a meet 'n' greet at the bay's room between the hours of 11 and noon. should you be unable to squeeze out of the office at said time, an exhibit of 81 photographs titled 'when tommy met anna' will remain at the room until may 8th as part of the contact photography fest. methinks i shall step out of the office for a moment or two...

two looks

while perusing through the sartorialist over lunch today, i found these two ladies' looks to be particularly enchanting. all-white looks have never been something i've been particularly drawn to, yet this modern ethereal take still manages to have some edge thanks to her light smoky eye and tribal accessories. on the look below, i love the pops of colour seen in her kicks, purse and a matching lip, and the button accents are a fresh perspective on the punk pin which was a bit overdone on lapels due to balmain.

images: thesartorialist.blogspot.com

ica watermelon

julia knüpfer is the eco-conscious designer of ica watermelon who's about to partake in FAT alternative fashion week as a guest designer. hailing from germany, knüpfer hopes to bring attention to a huge upcoming exhibit on sustainable fashion, taking place in berlin during their fashion week. much of her focus is on handmade knits, although many other sustainable materials are used, including organic cotton, silk and linen. on april 28th at 3pm, julia will partake in a debate on sustainable fashion at thieves boutique on west queen west.

ica watermelon: icawatermelon.com

thieves boutique: thievesboutique.com

heidi ackerman

this avant-garde canadienne - who designs with an eye to the future in terms of both her vision and the environment - is soon to show her latest collection at FAT alternative fashion week. ackerman is exactly the kind of designer we should be excited about here in canada due to her sharp, architecturally designed pieces paired with an adamant refusal to be safe. while the euros are eating her up, she's struggled to gain the support needed at home, claiming she wouldn't show at this year's FAT unless she came across funding. thank god she's making it.

find her pieces at thieves boutique: http://www.thievesboutique.com/

chloé comme parris F/W 2011

sisters chloé and parris gordon's sophmore showing at LG fashion week seemed to be inspired by both witches and an angry schoolgirl from bratislava circa 1994. following their initial spring showing last year, we were not expecting to see them take such a dark turn this time around; the carefree girl was gone and replaced with a brooding individual who roams the streets while reciting 'mad girl's love song' in her head.

while it took us a moment to adjust our heads in this new direction, there were pieces that immediately stood out. we loved a mullet of a skirt paired with a shawl edged with bits of shaped and mirrored glass, while a pair of leather shorts were a fun take on the traditional lederhosen. meanwhile a sheer black striped shirts-cum-dresses offered up endless possibilities to the wearer. the accessories were really what nailed the looks: from an urban warrior headpiece in what seemed to be black rubber, to necklaces with arrowheads slung defiantly over torsos, to the wonderful bags and rucksacks fit with heavy buckles bringing hikes in the alps to mind (one particular pack with three buckles side-by-size made our head spin), they were all spot on.

some of the looks seemed a bit too 90s driven in both cut and fabric: no matter how hard we try we cannot warm to the hunter green striated fabric, witnessed in multiple looks. although we admire the idea of cutouts around hips, in reality the look falls flat, mostly due to the fact that it's a rather awkward place to highlight on the female figure. (unless you're stick thin...but depending on the shape of your hips, this can be even more painful to look at.)

overall it was a valiant second effort, and we can't wait to see slews of gothy warriors roughing it up around toronto come fall.

oh my god, shoes!

oh kelly... a nicholas kirkwood boutique is just the place where i would turn into a babbling kelly, yelling quite coherently indeed about wanting shoes as i grab clusters of them and hoard them in a corner. the one above is everything i could ever ask for in a shoe: height, gloss, and attitude with an s&m kick. but, the alice dellal fruity pick, a kirkwood art shoe, the julian louis ikat wedge for aldo, and kirkwood's illustrations for a keith haring collaboration all have me slobbering heavily. (well, the japanese-inspired one at the bottom right needs some work...that circle is somewhat off-putting.)

angela's so-called life

weren't we all angela chase? if there was one show that rang true to life (and i was allowed to watch - 90210 was given a firm no) it was this one. i was her. the hair, the style, the yearning, the crush, oh the crush! well maybe not quite the family, and i didn't have a ricky, or a rayanne, or a brian next-door, but the point was that despite the differences and similarities we all may have had to angela, enough truths were there to feel passionately about the characters, enough to make you think that maybe your life meant something to someone, regardless of the pain of being a teen.

having just read two posts on the show makes me want to rent the one, just the one! season and watch all the episodes back-to-back while thinking of my murky bob, my awkward-but-experimental-style, my peculiar fear of speaking (faaaar more awkward than angela ever could have been), and all the unrequited crushes....

another one bites the dust

after the shockandhorror of john galliano's demise, we now have christophe decarnin leaving the house of balmain. he was responsible for revitalising the 66 year old label, which had lost much - if not all - of its lustre. following his hire, balmain was suddenly the label on everyone's lips, and with the styling of emmanuelle alt it seemed as if everyone was trotting about in avant garde rocker looks. alas, he did not make an appearance at the recent paris showing: the chitterchatter led us all to believe that there was more to it than the classic excuse of 'exhaustion.' was it because the fashionistas had grown weary of ripped ts and haute leather jackets offered at astronomical prices? or because alt was to be the new head of vogue? whatever reasons may have contributed, the pressures of being the face of a fashion brand seem to be too much. can we really expect genius from these designers season after season?

keeping up with the...

...kardashians. easily dismissible but not to be ignored, the kardashians have wormed their way into my heart. oh, i know, they are indeed ridiculous, and yet despite disgust early on, i have come to appreciate their openness, their antics, their sass - but this is about their style.

kim is my least favourite - she tends to reach for looks that can look a trifle trashy, or too over the top in a way that she cannot pull off due to her gorgeous face. she has come a long way though, if you compare early episodes of keeping up with more recent ones (oh, i've seen em all. thrice.) in terms of her makeup she's managed to keep the dark eye with the light lip, but move in a direction that's more sophistication and less early 90s dance music.

khloe has the simplest style of the bunch, keeping to plenty of shirt-pant-blazer combos which work well on her large frame (is she not 5'11"?!) since she's offering up such pizzazz with her loud-mouthed personality. not that she doesn't glam it up, for she certainly does, but overall clean lines work best.

kourtney outshines them all. this girl has natural style and is daring in the right way, unlike kim. she's not afraid to accessorize and doesn't look uncomfortable in turbans or tricky-to-pull-off looks. she's also undefinable, and her style runs the gamut from hippy chic to crisp b&w combos. she has a huge fondness for stripes, and surely inspired those other kardashians to hop on board (guaranteed there are stripes in every episode...even that kris is seen donning them.)

overall, while people often connect the trio of sisters with cheesy, overly coordinated looks, they have stepped away from simply acting like show-horses and have developed styles of their own. or have chosen better stylists.