Toronto Fashion Week Spring '08
Highlights of the L'Oréal Toronto Spring 2008 Collections
Top trends and outstanding shows from L'Oréal Toronto Fashion Week, Spring 2008 edition
L’Oréal Toronto Fashion Week’s Spring 2008 collections were shown October 22 to 26, 2007 under giant white tents at Nathan Phillips Square. Metallic excess and multicoloured exuberance were the keynotes – sometimes in the same outfit! The most-shown garment was the flirty bubble or balloon minidress with a natural waist, especially in iridescent silk of shimmering silken blue, gold, steel, peach or silver.
At the other end of the scale, safari chic was everywhere, with button-tabbed closures on shoulders and cuffs, and button-flap pockets galore. Possibly the second signature item was the flowing trouser, whether in a sensible, easy-care black (Tilley Endurables) or as harem pants (Nada). A distinct vein of psychedelia also ran through the proceedings, with shapes inspired by Carnaby Street and a palette from the place where Madras plaid meeets Haight-Ashbury.
Here’s a rundown on five outstanding presentations:
Bustle
A live trumpet fanfare opened a horseracing-themed presentation from Shawn Hewson and Ruth Promislow, menswear designers who specialize in tongue-in-cheek chic. The garments seemed to radiate a pale sunlit warmth, with their palette of the palest grey-blues, plus botanical prints in brown, pale canary yellow and white, a horsey print in yellow or emerald green, and some navy pinstripe craziness. Loving details (piping at the edge of lapels, rounded yokes at jacket backs) and a seeming persistent fascination with the territory covered by the likes of British author P.G. Wodehouse (tuxedos, waiters’ uniforms and public-school jackets) lift the collection out of the ordinary and into the realm of the truly original. Click on the picture of models Andrew Stetson and Milan Kourzil (below) to see both outfits.
Jayn Simpson
Djano Reinhardt’s "Swing de Paris" opened a simply sophisticated and decidedly ladylike show of waist-fitted dresses, jackets, blouses and trousers. Most desirable items? A classic white satin coat with a half-belt back and black piping on lapel, collar and cuffs; a white strapless balloon dress with a wide black bow belt (pictured below), and, for everyday, a tuxedo-inspired ensemble of white blouse with three-quarter, cuffed sleeves under a fitted vest and worn with elegantly flared black pinstripe trousers.
Damzels in This Dress & Play Dead Cult
The Damzels (Kelly Freeman and Rory Lindo) relaunched their recently-dormant dress line with a high-energy show of mainly red, black and white pieces channeling beach babe Annette Funicello, early Barbie and a Japanese paper-design aesthetic. The girliness of the work ('50s-style bows, ruffles, lace, décolleté and floral prints) was undercut by the boodthirsty colour scheme – inevitably suggesting slasher pics, black widows and Tim Burton. Play Dead Cult took these suggestions even further with actually blood-spattered jean jackets and bondage-inspired garments.
David Dixon
Newport, Rhode Island was the inspiration for a collection that was staged with white, sail-like structures on the catwalk. The white of sun on beach sand and the blue of sea and sky suffused the collection with a delicate beauty. The first few dresses, in brilliant white cotton bedecked with laser-cut flowers (pictured below) were a knockout. Black glazed linen and robin's-egg blue organza were among the other fabrics used by this master of classic femininity in a show of outfits that would make any woman’s mouth water.
Paul Hardy
Sadly, many dedicated fashionistas failed to show up in time for this late-afternoon collection of gorgeous creations layered with tiers of pleats, resplendent in sparkly rhinestones or trembling with black featherlike tatters. Each of Hardy’s luscious party frocks seemed more seductive than the last; like the floaty apricot silk cocktail number with raw-edged ruffles tied up with a decorative bow; or the transparent aubergine wrap over the pale-beige full-length gown; or the olive satin cowl-neck dress with the plunging back, short, tight skirt and basket-weave belt, or the one-shoulder gold cocktail frock with the clouds of fabric at neck and hem (the signature image for this article).
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