Toronto's Diverse Design Scene
By Jeannette Park
(Photos by Elisa Schwalm-FWD)
TORONTO, Mar 26, 2003/ FWD/ --- Toronto, a Huron word meaning "the meeting place," has flourished into a city of diversity, reflected in its mosaic of distinctive neighborhoods and cultural groups, and exemplified by the eclectic collections its top fashion designers showcased during Toronto Fashion Week.
Each designer maintained a distinctive style and personality, creating looks that evoked a certain portion of the city, including Ula Zukowska, whose pieces echoed the attitude of Toronto's Kensington Market. Known as the Jewish Market in the 1920s, Kensington Market has evolved into a rich multicultural mix packed with goods from Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East, South America and Asia. Mixing and matching sporty styles and traditional kimono influences, the Poland-born designer, inspired by a recent trip to Europe and Tibet, used high collars and hoods to give her jackets an urban edge.
The Damzels in this Dress line, worn by Kate Hudson in "How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days", used English-biased tweeds in olive and shadowy velvets to create mandarin collars and puffed sleeves for its "Agent Air Dress," and Haithem Elkadiki's debut Kaadiki label was influenced by his native home of Libya.
Taking cues from Kensington Market's worldly flavor and long history, Paul Hardy - a devout member of the Morning Star Church - used the story of the fall of Jericho to inspire his Clay collection, littered with "Mad Max" shearling, spider-web bobble hand knits and sack cloth, and completed with primitive moccasin boots from Minnesota's Steger Mukluks. The bohemian-meets-cavewoman look probably wouldn't fly in New York, or Europe for that matter, but seemed to appeal to Canadians looking to keep warm during the country's cold winter months. Hardy is also scheduled to show during Los Angeles Fashion Week, at 4pm on April 2.
Traveling up to Chinatown, Engelbert Gayagoy's minimal use of red lace for his eveningwear show was intended to represent the gateway from notable Italian cities to the beauty of the Orient. Although none of the journalists quite understood what this meant, the collection's emphasis on red silk accessories called to mind Chinatown's wealth of Oriental shops, from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Pink Tartan's sophisticated styling and conservative cuts made for a collection that one Toronto journalist imagined, "Audrey Hepburn at 35 would wear today." Appropriate for the city's financial district and underground city - with its six miles of interconnecting passageways under the streets that feature more than 1,200 retail stores and services - C59 Black Label designer Ranjit Chopra, who showed at the Toronto Fashion Incubator's New Label show, used charcoal wool and black silk georgette to create clean lines for his wrap skirts and turtleneck dresses that would be perfect business attire paired with stiletto pumps.
Canadian darling Jennifer Dares' Layer collection of super-soft jersey turtlenecks with detachable sleeves and feminine skirts; Arthur Mendonca's sleek silk leisure suits with military hooks and tabs; and David Dixon's sumptuous beaded chiffon tops with rabbit fur trim were appropriately both hip and classic enough for Toronto's Queen Street West -- part Soho, part Meatpacking District. As Mendonca told FWD at his Queen Street studio, "I wanted to create a collection that looked like an Upper East Side socialite with some edgy funk." His knee-length tweed coats adorned with black leather belts and fluid satin, ruched cargo pants certainly hit that mark.
Although the Canadian fashion scene has a way to go before it earns the prestige of Paris or enjoys the commercial success of New York, plenty of its designers show great promise. New Label winner Mila Finkelshtein's whimsical creations for her line, "the waiter and the slut," combined teddy blouses with plaid skirts and bolero jackets with bias pants, what she imagines Goldilocks would wear the morning after the three bears "incident." Olivera Savic themed her downtown chic gear around three types of clubs - the polo club, the lounge club and the night club - using plenty of texture, cashmere, denim and cotton stretch. Shelli Oh used an innovative chemically-altered cotton to create skirts and tanks for her line, Harebell, that looked like they were made of fur.
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David Dixon
David Dixon
David Dixon
David Dixon
David Dixon
Janet T. Planet
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