Brandon R. Dwyer infuses spice into glam evening looks for Basch label

Brandon R. Dwyer infused a little spice into an edited collection of luxurious evening looks in his spring/summer collection featured Thursday night at Toronto's LG Fashion Week.

Save for a few menswear-inspired pieces, like a cropped satin tuxedo blazer, the collection from the former "Project Runway Canada" competitor largely stuck to delivering an array of more feminine, romantic pieces.

Chiffon and satin dresses boasted delicate detailing like gathering drawstring sleeves, shoulder ruffles and tiered pleating.

But the designer didn't shy away from adding edgy elements, like fringe on a jersey vest teamed with a hot pink mini or mocha-hued feathers adorning the bodice of a ruffled-hem gown.

Tunic and wrap dresses as well as wrap-style and boat-neck tops fashioned from jersey evoked a more cosy, relaxed feel.

Peach and aqua hues added pops of colour, notably on graphic print tank dresses, amid the largely black and white colour palette.

'Project Runway Canada' alum Jessica Biffi to close out Ottawa Fashion Week

"Project Runway Canada" alum Jessica Biffi will close out festivities at the upcoming Ottawa Fashion Week featuring spring/summer 2011 collections.

The Guelph, Ont.-born designer will cap off the event in the country's capital, which will be held Oct. 29-31 at the National Gallery of Canada.

Ottawa-based designer Emilia Torabi will open Fashion Week. Cynthia D’Amours, the designer behind Golden Fish Swimwear, and trained architect-turned-designer Rachel Sin are among those slated to show collections.

This will mark the fourth season of Ottawa Fashion Week which started off featuring fall/winter collections for the 2009 season.

Biffi was a finalist on the second season of the design competition series "Project Runway Canada." She has gone on to show her designs at Fashion Week in Toronto, launched the jewelry line Covet by Biffi, and created plus-size capsule collections through a partnership with Addition Elle and MXM.

She will branch out into menswear for the first time in her spring/summer 2011 collection which offers her version of the nautical theme with pastels and stretch jerseys in looks for men and women.

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Online:

Ottawa Fashion Week:www.ottawafashionweek.ca

Sunny Fong's VAWK show burns up the runway

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When your name's Sunny, you're not exactly channeling the North Pole.

Your inner compass veers more naturally towards hotter climes, for instance Spain and Africa, equatorial countries that Toronto's Sunny Fong says inspired him in designing his latest line for VAWK, the label he reignited last year after a five year hiatus.

Accordingly, the clothes the Project Runway Canada winner presented inside the Art Gallery of Ontario's Walker Court on Monday afternoon as part of his 2011 spring/summer women's wear collection were hot, hot, hot.

Think leather minis so high on the thigh you got a nosebleed just looking at them, and diaphanous cheetah print gowns so revealing they needed to be caged.

The colour palette was part Sahara Desert, part Barcelona at night, with creams, sand browns and black and white predominating.

Textures ranged from the hardness of a croc leather bolero to the gauzy softness of chiffon pantaloons.

Toro Safari, as Fong waggishly called his staged presentation, also featured tight-fitting embossed leather vests that emphasized the bosom with darts and scalloped stitching.

They looked not unlike the breastplates the mythic Amazons wore as armour into battle.

Female empowerment was definitely a theme, here.

The models were not the undernourished, underage waifs typically seen at fashion shows.

Instead, Fong sent women of varying shapes, sizes and ages down a makeshift runway that undulated in imitation of the Frank Gehry staircase overhead.

The underlying message was that his clothes are wearable and accessible to a large swath of the Canadian female population.

Highlights included a nude so-called Zebra dress slashed and layered on the bias to create a series of floating metaphorical stripes that lent the garment a vintage feel, and a laser-cut grey-blue leather mini, what Fong called his Silver Afro Dress, that sexily defined the breasts and the waist using solid pieces of leather sewn to enhance the female shape.

That look was so hot it was smoking.

Project Runway Canada: Season 2

Project Runway Canada: Season 1

Evan Biddell: drama king

Moody, brilliant, and notoriously arrogant, Toronto fashion renegade Evan Biddell calls himself the bastard child of Jeremy Scott and Balenciaga. Maybe he can’t sell clothes, but he’s genius at selling himself

Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison.

“They were all 27 when they were like, Ugh, this is over,” says Evan Biddell, also 27. “They kinda get to that point and they were like, OK, this is what I’ve done, this is what I’ve put out to the world? Um, is my message really worth it?”

Unshaven head in his hands, questions writ big on his brow, Biddell is being a drama king. If you recognized his mug immediately, you know he does that well. He’s not literally seeking admission to the 27 Club. But he is, in the high-school play we call LG Fashion Week, a rock star. Albeit, recently, something of a crushed one.

Biddell shot to micro-fame in 2007, after winning season one of Project Runway Canada. Around 400,000 viewers tuned in to see an unschooled kid from Saskatoon beat Ryerson fashion grad Lucian Matis (who also went on to design and show at LGFW for several seasons) for the $100,000 prize. He’d been, he says himself, “a little brat” on the show; to this day, only one of his ex-competitors, Kendra Francis, is “cool with” him. Even in the un-“reality” world, he gets mixed reactions. Tell a Toronto fashion type you’re writing a cover story on Biddell, and she’ll roll her eyes. Then she’ll say, “See you at the show!”

Project Runway Canada Alumni Jessica Biffi shows for the first time at Ottawa Fashion Week

It’s no surprise that since Project Runway Canada’s second season air date, Jessica Biffi has been on the fast track to fashion fame. Runner up, she left the show with her name, and managed to garner a huge following in the process. Launching her first Spring/Summer 2010 collection since the PRC show at Toronto’s LG Fashion Week was the inaugural step she needed to get the ball rolling. Since then, a line of jewellery aptly named “Covet by Biffi” was also launched, alongside her corporate partnership with Addition Elle and MXM where she created plus size capsule collections under her label.
The new 2011 S/S collection is a breath-of-fresh-air take on the nautical theme with pastels and stretch jerseys. The collection caters to both Women and Men, also a first for Biffi who has been waiting to do a men’s collection for quite awhile. "I have always known that menswear would be a part of what I would do with Jessica Biffi. Since the show, my male fans have been asking, and with the Mermaids and Sailor's theme it only felt fitting that I launch menswear now." With tons of room to collect pieces for a man’s wardrobe, the styling leans more toward a European street wear look with great fitting pieces. Cowl neck tops with expert draping, bold pleating, and tailored harem pants with signature Biffi details like strong hardware in her signature gold, are just some of the elements that have fans already lining up to purchase.
The line-up of course is virtual at this point as Biffi gears up to soft launch her new ecommerce website. Women’s wear, Men’s wear, custom pieces and the Covet by Biffi will all be available for purchase online next month at www.jessicabiffi.com. Items are also available for order at the brand new studio and head office at 400 Eastern Ave, Toronto On.
And now, Biffi could not be more excited to close the show at Ottawa’s Fashion week on October 31st at 9pm. In its fourth season, the show takes place in the National Gallery of Canada in downtown Ottawa, and promises to serve as an amazing platform for the runway show. A departure from the regular crowd and hustle of Toronto Fashion Week, the Ottawa Fashion Week board handpick attendants and media, ensuring it is an upscale exclusive affair for the Capitol’s fashion elite. Media from Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa will be in attendance, as well as an abundance of designers showing from all over the nation.

For show attendance to the Ottawa Fashion Week runway show, please email to rsvp@badpr.ca. For more information about the designer please visit www.jessicabiffi.com Thanks to sponsors Town Shoes, product sponsors and OFW.

New talent the draw at this year's Toronto Fashion Week

Toronto’s fashion focussed is suiting up for its bi-annual whirlwind week of Canadian style.
Officially starting on Monday, LG Fashion Week Beauty by L'Oréal Paris will present Spring 2011 Collections at Heritage Court at Exhibition Place.

“There are almost 30 presentations representing more than 60 designers, including talent from British Columbia, Winnipeg, Montréal, Vancouver, Toronto and more,” says Robin Kay, president of the Fashion Design Council of Canada.

“Some are the traditional runway and some will be interactive installments.’

Along with established labels such as Pink Tartan, Bustle and Montréal design favourite Denis Gagnon, a fresh crop of designers is set to debut. According to Kay, the FDCC has been working with a variety of new talent with an eye toward long-term collaboration.

“The Fashion Collective, a hip, new group, has connected the street to the runway,” she says. “From them we’ll see seven new designers: Rita Liefhebber, Amanda Lew Kee, Chloecommeparris, THOMAS, Fortnight, Klaxton Howl and House of Groves — this is a really exciting new element to this season's lineup.”

This is Fashion Week's 12th year; the event is acknowledged as the second-largest fashion week in North America.

“Stepping onto our runway immediately allows firsthand media exposure and, of course, global attention,” says Kay. “Between the media, stylists, buyers and consumers —it’s often a necessary step for designers. Without the runway, the world cannot see a collection come alive.”

In addition to widespread media coverage that includes traditional mediums and online exposure from the country’s premiere fashion publications and bloggers, the shows will be streamed live from lgfashionweek.ca, free of charge.

Also via the website, tickets for a day, the entire week, and for Dare to Wear, the closing-night fundraiser show, are available for purchase by anyone who wants to experience the event in person. Pre-fashion week shows include Ashley Rowe, showing tonight, and Greta Constantine, tomorrow night.



Which designers to look for

In addition to the usual hotly anticipated LG Fashion Week shows, this season's big draw is a slew of new and up-and-coming designers, says fashion stylist Alexis Honce.

She names Amanda Lew Kee as one of her favourites, and LOVAS and Line Knitwear as shows to see.

“I used to style Robin Kay; last season she bought a dress from Duy that was really gorgeous, so I’m excited to see what that designer is doing as well.”

Duy’s show is Friday evening at 5 p.m.

Making an appearance on Wednesday is celeb stylist Phillip Bloch. Offsite shows include VAWK, by designer Sunny Fong, winner of Project Runway Canada Season 2. VAWK presents at the AGO Monday at 1 p.m.

http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/life/article/661778--new-talent-the-draw-at-this-year-s-toronto-fashion-week