For their unisex collection, the brother and sister team Alia & Jamil JUMA, traveled to India, Tibet, Thailand & Shenzhen to research local tapestry work and wildlife.
They infused those elements into their newest prints, making them more dark and moody by distorting and adding gradients of color including midnight blue, burnt corals, olive, tangerine, nude and black.
Go to the JUMA website to see the Fall 2011 collection video >
March 31, 2011
5 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
The Drake Underground, 1150 Queen Street West
The Nightshades, The Make Den Sewing Studio and Tomorrow Never Knows Vintage are very excited to invite you to our spring pop-up shop!
Featuring:
The Deadly Nightshades
The Make Den Recut (Boudoir Inspired Recut)
Tomorrow Never Knows Vintage (vintage & handmade)
Le Petit Beret
Chaton Rouge (repurposed fur)
White Cat (Cycling Caps)
Fierce Deer (Handmade accessories)
PACTfashion
Foe & Dear
Fischer Street
Tweek
This is Small House
Aveda Blowout Bar
* Handbags designed and made by at-risk youth through PACTfashion – a charity which helps create urban peace through life-skills programs like sewing, gardening and cooking.
Fashion designer Philip Sparks showed his Fall 2011 collection at his Burroughes Building studio in Toronto last Monday (March 21, 2011), off-site and before Toronto’s ‘official’ fashion week. As always, attending media, bloggers and stylists only had good things to say about the collection of both men’s and women’s wear – and photos and reviews have been going viral all week.
However, seeing as it is spring – I am most interesting in Phil’s now recognizable current offerings (for Spring 2011 and to the delight of Toronto women, Phil Sparks put out a women’s line for the first-time).
See more great photos of the Philip Sparks Spring 2011 Collection showing via www.nolanbryant.com
Shop Online – http://www.philipsparks.com/shop/
Ottawa Fashion Week
March 18-20, 2011
National Gallery of Canada, 380 Sussex Drive
Canadian fashion designer Illyria Pestich is launching her Fall/Winter 2011 collection of dresses at Ottawa Fashion Week, Sunday, March 20 at 8 p.m.
A graduate of Sheridan’s fashion design program, Illyria seems to do quite well and is available in over a dozen Canadian shops.
Working out of his very own boutique in Burlington, Ontario, 20 year old fashion designer Adrian Wu could be one of the most inspirational youngins we’ve seen in quite a while in this town.
Photos of Wu in some of his many extravagant outfit combinations – photo: Chris Tyrell @ Hoax Couture
He taught himself to sew – and then managed to put together 30 gowns to show in Vancouver Fashion Week! Since, he’s also participated in Ottawa Fashion Week, landed a gig as Much Music’s MOD guest fashion reporter, and been pictured in many of his zany outfit combos all over the web!
He might not know a thing about fit and form – but makes up for it in naive enthusiasm! And at the end of the day, he definitely knows how to be seen; heard and make a name for himself in the industry.
Adrian Wu will be showing his Fall 2012 collection on March 20, 2011 at Ottawa Fashion Week.
Last weekend in Toronto “venture capitalists” (read vultures) flocked to the Hyatt for the Ontario mining convention – the largest in the world. While they discussed how to maximize profits regardless of human rights, conflict or environmental law (“How Not to Be Evil” is not on the agenda – I checked), something quite different happens at the Royal Ontario Museum.
The Crystal is crammed with university students eager to Rock the Runway – a yearly fashion event benefitting War Child Canada, which supports women and children suffering from – what else, war. High impact, micro-credit programs are run by War Child to assist women in Afghanistan with training and business development, and I wonder what fashion designers in Kabul could do with peace, a little money and a lot of talent.
Eco-darling Baby Steinberg recycles some of her smash hits from LG Fashion week, including dresses made from coffee filters and cell phone chargers. There is some new talent too – 18 Waits by Danny Torjman uses economical lines from the Depression, with a cheeky po’boy look. Slim flannel trousers are paired with pigeon-grey jackets and accessorized with bootleg whiskey and antler Bowie knives; classic bad boy, just the way I like it. Another newcomer is Arnaldo Santos, ready for the red carpet with obsessively pleated goddess gowns and a jaw-dropping dove-grey gown with a back drowned in pearls.
The music is surprisingly good – the Young Empires feel like a cross between A Flock of Seagulls and Big Country – old school new wave with a dj-ing guitarist. A minor mishap occurs when a chair collapses, leaving a lady struggling in her heels like a fish on a hook. Lucky for her she is seated near a gentleman who instantly takes the situation in hand, gives her his own chair, and moves discreetly to the back of the room to stand with the rest of the cherished relics in the museum.
The event is suitably situated in the old armoury, and the walls are painted with murals of the crusades. Red crossed knights battle with Ottoman Muslims on horseback. It’s all very gallant, but war is never as pretty as the monuments, murals and news made to whitewash the mess. Let’s leave war and the vultures who create it where they belong – in the museum. Cheers to the hundreds of undergraduates who are working to make this dream a reality.
Event photos by Lynne McCoombes
I would think these floral print ties and bowties from Toronto designer Pomp & Ceremony would look adorable – and so refreshing on any guy! Ok, I admit maybe it’s a little much for some dudes, but nevertheless, it’s still fearless fashion!
Available in Toronto at Model Citizen, 279 Augusta Ave., Kensington Market and Freedom Clothing
In her short career as a Toronto fashion designer, Amanda Lew Kee has already put on a Toronto Fashion Week show and managed to whip up a little following of fashionista fans. Could be because her graduating year collection at Ryerson School of Fashion last year was a showing of in-your-face sexy stilettos, studs and sultry leather. Or because she drew attention at her Toronto LG Fashion Week show with blue-lipped models, garbed in a near-opposite spring/summer 2011 line of pale pastels and blanched beiges.
For Spring Summer 2011, Amanda Lee Kew simple tunics, maxi dresses and panelled tights – all in a muted palette like the shades of sheer hose – are brought to elegant life with texture and form. Flowing chiffons, iridescent fringe and metal details adorn simplicity, making it likely that we’ll be seeing more of Lew Kee in Toronto for some time.
Available in Toronto at JACFLASH, 1036 Queen Street West.
