Daniel's Fashion Week - Day 1

Robin Kay, FDCC President and Barb Atkin, Holt Renfrew Fashion Director at the Holt Renfrew Media Party

Monday, October 20 - Nathan Phillips Square (photos to follow)

So for the first season in ages, I decided to simply enjoy fashion week and set off today for only one show, Katya Revenko. The main tent this season is gorgeous and guarded by life sized glistening black lions (surely to keep out the riff raff if the ticket price doesn’t). The space was beautifully lit, oddly smoky, and even more dramatic than last season.

The first person I encountered was Marlene Shiff dressed alarmingly in WHITE. “I’ve had an epiphany” she enigmatically explained of her turn away from the dark side of style.

Outside just before Katya’s show was a ribbon cutting ceremony with Robin Kay looking ravishing and fresh in a fur stole and velvet hat slicing through a red ribbon and opening fashion week officially. I’m not sure if the ribbon was needed or if a bottle of champagne smashed over the front of something like launching a ship would have been more appropriate, but I’m all for adding some ceremony to any occasion.

Inside the new smaller second runway room, dubbed The Studio, there was a brief seat scramble as somehow Barb Atkin (Fashion director at Holt Renfrew) got overlooked in assigned seating. She handled the faux pas gracefully and with a smile while the longer she stood gave me a better chance to gawk at her vintage Denis Gagnon sliced leather coat. (It looked like thousands of leather ribbons sewn together to make a knee length trench coat.)

Katya’s show was beautiful and ethereal. Models dressed like Greek goddesses on vacation in Cannes floated slowly down a dry ice fogged white runway to a haunting soundtrack of Signor Ross and ghostly chanting. Immediately after the show, Robin slipped on one of the floaty satin trench coats just off the runway and everyone flocked to feel it.

After some brief schmoozing time with Ariel Garten, Susie Love, Philip Sparks and of course Miss Robin Kay, this fashion week go-er casually sauntered off. Maybe I’ll return today, maybe tomorrow, I am determined to enjoy fashion week for the first time in whatever fashion and schedule I see fit. I’ll keep ya posted.


Katya Revenko and model (photo Christina Pal)