Last Night of Fashion Week!

I am so glad I got to hit up the last night of Fashion Week. After being swamped with schoolwork/work I missed all the runway shows during the week, including Zoran Dobric’s show on Tuesday, which would have been a huge highlight for me – considering my love for the proper tailoring of a boatneck dress. When I strolled into the runway tent twenty minutes before the start of Evan Biddel’s show, I don’t really think I knew what I was in for, and oddly enough, the stun didn’t come from Biddel – the Friday show I was keenest to see.

Biddel’s late 70′s/early 80′s aesthetic was still totally intact in his Fall 2009 offerings, with small double-breasted zippered jackets a la CBGB 1978, skinny jeans and flowing dresses in loud futuristic-psychedelic prints, and a couple of angular shapes – one neon-citron minidress standing out. His love of the hood was still present, as some models wore minihoods that seemed more like futuristic head-stockings, all with their bangs inflated and hair slicked back; neon makeup making their faces look both mechanical and zombie-like. It wasn’t bad. I could have seen myself wearing a couple of the minidresses, and the jackets were super fun, but his collection was somewhat disposable. I really didn’t like some of his fabric choices – he made a couple of flowing black dresses in some sort of heavy lycra-polyester that looked horribly cheap under runway lights. I appreciated the movement and sparkle, but he could have done the same designs in a stiffer fabric to highlight his skill for tailoring, creating a much stronger statement with his evening offerings. Some of the Jackets seemed to be made out of leather, but others were in an odd iridescent fabric that reminded me of this cheap curtain I used to cover my pet bird’s cage at night when I was a kid. It was kinda like 80′s throwback in the mundane archetypal way. Irony couldn’t even save the fabrics.

Despite the average offerings from Evan Biddel, the last runway show of the week totally blew my mind, as Lucian Matis offered a breathtaking collection for Fall 2009. I can hardly begin to explain the layers of detail in his beautiful collection. Thematically influenced by the forest, the first model strolled out, thin and doe-like, with a large nest of hair holding a pair of antlers. The make-up was minimal, jewelry extremely large and predominatly wood/shell; cuing the natural colour palette of muted blues, greens and browns, which sparkled with Matis’ eye for fine tailoring and detail. The first few dresses were soft and playful, with sheer iridescence and subtle prints. The first coat to come out – an a-line with large sleeves and buttons – was beautifully tailored in a warm, stiff, iridescent maroon silk that sparkled under the lights. I literally gasped when it came out, and I wasn’t the only one to do so. All of his coats were just so finely made, gesturing to 40′s glam, 50′s class, and something altogether very right-now-Canadian that – to be honest –  I can’t even really describe. His collection flawlessly and subtly reinvented mid-20th century shapes with flowing European styling in a way that was entirely modern. When his black square-sequined minidress came down the runway, there was a palpable hush in the crowd, as each small glimmering square moved with the body of the model, glinting under the lights of camera flashbulbs. The fine detail put into his sequined dresses is just absolutely obscene. We were all just stunned and riveted; myself and the whole crowd. At the end of the show, Matis was welcomed with a standing ovation; we could tell that this collection was the concentration of a lot of sincere creative energy and innovation. You could tell he loved it. That’s fitting, I guess, to end off on – considering the theme of the week was “LOVE”.

So now I’m here writing this. It’s only 1:30am, and I’m already back at my apartment. I skipped out on Biddel’s after-party at Ultra to come home and work on my Lacan presentation for this upcoming Monday. I kinda feel like a geek. Or a workaholic. Or both. Whatever. The night was still worth it, full of creative passion, and some damn fine dresses from Lucian Matis. I’m really glad I got to catch his show. Now – back to work.

Me with LOVE from Toronto Fashion Week