Denis Gagnon
With beaten, drapy leathers and transluscent licorice-like jersey, Denis Gagnon creates a ‘biker, art theif’ look. Hundreds of strips of leather are pieced together with obsessive craftsmanship creating radiating lines in dresses and skin tight pants. Back seamed leggings stretched over the front of towering shoes, revealing six inches of lucite heels. Cozy, draping knits contrast with butter-soft leather, sheer jersey and swishy horsehair that are playfully pulled together with wickedly dominant flair.

photos by Christina Pal

As the Toronto fashion industry recovers from the shock of losing part of our most beloved Queen Street to fire, the Preloved team was back at the sewing machines before the ashes had cooled. Forerunners of sustainable style, founder and designer Julia Grieve and Peter Friesen are no strangers to reconstruction; recycling tens of thousands of castoffs into designs distributed in Canada, the US, Europe and Asia. Pristine tailoring reminiscent of 40′s sophistication is tweaked with a distinctly Toronto street edge.

8:30 p.m. The popular-themed Bustle menswear show entertained as pretty-faced male models sauntered down the cash-strewn runway in flashy suits, trompe ‘oeil suspenders, and doubled up buttoned shirts with ‘gambling’ motifs. The looks got a little repetitive and unnecessary, but gave me more time to try to figure out if many of the tailored slacks were simple pj fleece or luxurious boiled wool (my money’s on the latter). Either way, they looked incredibly comfortable and very expensive! Top model Stacey McKenzie finished off the show while everyone applauded – which is apparently what we do when top models take the stage…

9:30 Joeffer Caoc showed a ‘moody’ myriad of textures and complicated draping techniques – but I missed this show as prior commitments called. I headed out in the miserable rain to work on a short film we are creating for [FAT]. The stars of the film, the fabulous designers and bike gang, ‘The Deadly Nightshades’ were real troopers to ride around in the rain in heels and layers of clothing! We have MUCH more filming and a lot of work to do so more on this later!

10:30 As activity at the tent calmed down considerably, at least a dozen Philip Sparks’ replicates, dressed in tapered-leg, grey classic suiting, casually presented his 2008 fall line. The pieces were clearly Philip: well-constructed double-breasted jackets, leather bombers and low V cardigans. For any dapper dude’s well-rounded wardrobe, Philip even offers more casual denim-like jeans and even footwear, available at Town Shoes.

Toronto L’Oreal Fashion Week, March 17-22, 2008
Fall 2008 Collections, Nathan Phillips Square

The boys of fashion week Evan Biddell, Lucien Matis and Zoran Dobric

by Rachel Schwab
In its 6th year, Toronto’s L’Oreal Fashion Week is more popular than ever and the crowds at the massive tent that’s been erected between old City Hall and the skating rink at Nathan Phillips Square proves it! Even those at the invite-only Holt Renfrew event seemed especially crammed in among the exquisitely displayed chained handbag section at the Bloor Street store (maybe it has something to do with all the full-sized TTC billboard ads around the city or the new television commercials). But its all good for the popularity of fashion week and the designers who slave to show.

My ‘fashion’ day started with a 6-minute interview on CBC Radio One’s Here and Now program. We talked a little about Torontostreetfashion.com’s beginning and how mainstream media reacts to fashion bloggers. Then it was off to the Holt Renfrew media cocktail and all its glitz and glory – there were photographers, interviews and video cameras capturing all the stylish looks of the industry’s dress up crew.

Marlene Shiff in Zoran Dobric available at Boutique Le Trou, Natalie Lecomte in Greta Constantine available at Holt Renfrew

From there, my wee entourage made it to the Joe Fresh show (knock-off, inexpensive basics that we really like) which spared no expense as NY hotshots, The Misshapes dj’d and Canadian supermodel Coco Rocha led the beauty brigade down the runway (who makes these decisions anyways??). Of course, the Joe Fresh brand makes more money than anyone else showing – so thank you Mr. Mimran for infusing some Canadian cool into the week. Can’t wait to see what your wife surprises us with at the Pink Tartan show on Thursday.

Earlier in the day my colleagues Liza Zawadzka and photographer Christina Pal made it to the Evan Biddell (Project Runway winner) show with its sustainable slant (“good potential”); the Denis Gagnon show (“the best of the day” (no surprise) and the Nadya Toto show with its contrasting textures. (A stylist afterwards was appalled at the use of crushed velvet…)

Well, tomorrow the designers in from Milan will attempt to show us how its really done, or will they?…can’t wait.

A contestant on the first Project Runway Canada, fashion designer and ex-Queen West merchandiser Kendra Francis presented a light-weight, colorful collection of multi-leveled waistbands, assymetrical necklines and airy draping for her L’Evolution de Franke Spring 2008 line.

The small collection – sort of french chic infused with native feminity – includes metallic liquid-like linen swimsuits; cool, tailored linen suiting and vibrant, silky dresses in tropical hues.

Franke is scheduled to showcase its Fall 2008 line at next weeks’ L’Oreal Fashion Week – stay tuned for an update!

We found a You Tube video of the show here>