At the last edition of Toronto Alternative Fashion Week in 2006, Philippines-born, Canadian-raised and UK-based designer Jasper Garvida impressed with his frothy collection of exaggerated shawl collar jackets and ruffled skirts collaged together with swatches of colourful and textured fabrics. His look embodied an English exuberance rarely seen this side of the pond and I knew it wouldn’t be last time we drooled over his fashion confections.
On March 19, Garvida was crowed the winner of the third season of Project Catwalk with an audience of Brit style peeps including Kelly Osborne, Ben de Lisi and Zandra Rhodes gushing over his finale collection. It was a chic homage to the sequin with wafer-sized discs, long pailettes and expanses of bedazzled fabrics forming pencil skirts and A-line gowns topped with sparkly pillbox hats.
You can catch the series (and pretend that I didn’t just give the ending away) on Slice starting April 7 at 10 pm.
You can also hunt for fashion’s next big name when Alternative Arts and Fashion Week returns to the Distillery District’s Fermenting Cellar on April 9. This week’s Take 5 feature includes five sure bets for a fashion show good time but FAT is always full of surprises and unexpected discoveries.
Organizer Vanja Vasic approached NOW to produce a MyStyle themed fashion show for the event this year. The presentation on April 10 will highlight the weekly characters our street photographer Mary Zondanos captures on her travels throughout Toronto.
The MyStyle column is the most contentious part of the style section and I have no doubt that many people will watch the show wondering “how the hell did she get chosen?” just as they do when they read it in the paper. Street style websites around the world led by domains like Facehunter and The Sartorialist have conditioned us to expect flawlessly fashionable editors, hipsters and waifs from spontaneous sidewalk shots. We definitely don’t follow those criteria.
MyStyle is about your style whether it’s built around your favourite ratty Chuck Taylors, the red vinyl fetish jacket you picked up at the One of a Kind show, a great vintage frock or some designer accessory that would actually earn a snap of approval from more label snooty shutterbugs.
It’s a tough job in the winter but with the weather warming up, Mary will finally get to peek beneath your parkas. You’d think a cold climate like ours would breed expert chilly chic but we never look better than when we burst out of our woolies into spring.
P.S. H&M has just announced that Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo is their next designer collaborator. The collection arrives in the fall.
P.P.S. Canadian Cult label Merch is holding a sample sale tommorow through Sunday (April 4 to 6) at 176 John, Suite 501. Samples are sized two to six.
