There is a youthquake happening in fashion.
The lucky ducks covering the Spring 2010 fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris have been giddy about the glut of new names (Altuzarra, Mark Fast, Lindsay Lohan – maybe not so smitten with that last one…) making style waves.
So I’ve had to kick myself a few times for scanning Toronto’s Fashion Week schedule and wondering, “Who the heck are all of these people?” Where are the Joeffer Caoc and Comrags shows that guarantee a front row good time?
New, in fashion, is necessary though and while writing our designer cheat sheet last week, my interest in names like Lizares and Katrina Tuttle was piqued.
The first emerging label out of the gate for Spring 2010 was Greta Constantine‘s menswear line Ezra. Designers Stephen Wong and Kirk Pickersgill showed it alongside their women’s collection (pictured above) last Thursday during what IWantIGot‘s Anita Clarke called Toronto Extended Fashion Week (Philip Sparks, Jessica Jensen and the Toronto Fashion Incubator all held pre-LG Fashion Week events too).
It was an over-the-top presentation in a massive car dealership garage where women in billowing jersey and men sporting studded briefs stalked a 140 foot runway.
Today’s first show at the AGO, for Project Runway Canada winner Sunny Fong’s Vawk line, promises to be equally epic and not just because it’s open to the public (doors open at 3:30) and streaming live, a la McQueen, online. Fong proved last season that he is able to be simultaneously theatrical and cutting edge. I’m curious to see how he successfully straddles the worlds of runway and reality with spring’s Polynesian and tattoo themes.
Fashion Week’s biggest new is, of course, its fresh location at King and Shaw. The Fashion Design Council of Canada has built a campus of sponsor-stuffed tents around the former car dealership that still stands on the lot.
I snuck in for a peek on Thursday and while the city will miss the buzz of Fashion Week being front and centre in Nathan Phillips Square, the new set up is slick and spacious. Twelve rows of bleachers with a capacity of 1000 tower over the catwalk where both L’Oreal and the Stratford Festival will present tonight’s opening shows.
Follow our first night of Fashion Week tweets @NOWLifeStyle.
