NOW picks 10 HOT designers to Watch

In this week's edition of Life & Style, NOW Magazine's Andrew Sardone highlights 10 hot designers to keep your eyes on as L'Oreal Fashion Week and Toronto Alternative Fashion Week near.

1. Fourth-year Ryerson fashion student Irene Stickney (pictured) hasn’t waited till graduation to throw herself into the style scene. Between design crits and studio deadlines, she found time to launch the KnowDressCode design collective, contribute to TorontoStreetFashion and show at Alternative Fashion Week.

2. Nada Shepherd has been designing since 2001, but it was her spring 2008 mermaid-inspired Fashion Week debut last October that turned the industry on to her talent.

3. Evan Biddell could easily ride the fashion reality TV train into obscurity like so many Project Runwayers and Next Top Modellers before him. But behind all his audience-baiting bravado is enough talent to propel him from boob-tube star to bona fide designer.

4. Hanging on Paper People Clothing’s rack of Toronto Alternative Arts & Fashion Week samples is a pink-and-purple sundress that kicks designer Jennifer Fukushima’s take on reworked vintage up a whole lot of notches. Its body is cut from layers of lacy old curtains and appliquéd with delicate doily patches at its hem. A looped strand of bells hung from its waist is a whimsical finishing touch.

5. It’s one thing to find a perfect pair of shoes to slip a model into for a magazine shoot, but it’s a whole other story tracking down a hot set of heels that hold a page on their own. Accessories designer Abel Munoz’s day job as deputy art and beauty editor at FQ and SIR magazines guarantees each piece of his collection of men’s and women’s footwear and bags is feature-worthy.

6. Greaves Design
7. Janet Hill
8. Burnt Offering
9. Evan and Dean
10. Miss Rowe

(click to link to NOW for more on each designer)