Swide Magazine by Dolce&Gabbana

Toronto Alternative Arts & Fashion Week was held during April 26-29, 2011 in Toronto, Canada to showcase the fine works created by different artists and fashion designers.

During the event, there were more than 40 brands showcasing their F/W 2011 collections and today, I am going to show you the 13 shows that have caught my eyes. Swide readers, get ready to meet some talented emerging fashion designers!

 

Anastasia Lomonova

Anastasia Lomonova is a Montreal based fashion designer in Canada and she has won the Toronto Fashion Incubator's New Labels in May 2010. For this season, Anastasia explores the simplest forms of construction and basic materials. The lines are very clean, reminiscent of geometric paper cut-outs or juxtaposition of shapes frequently found in architecture. Knots and folds are key elements carried through-out the collection recalling primary methods of assembling a garment.

  Belinda Visag

Mexican fashion designer Belinda Visag creates the F/W 2011 collection with the mood inspired by the natural environment. Decadent ruffled blouses, innocent Peter Pan collars and romantic skirts are what you are expected to see on the runway and the splash of sunflower yellow and burnt orange blends so well with the dark color palette. Of course, how can you not like the embellishments on the clothes?

 Breeyn McCarney

Breeyn McCarney loves old-fashioned craftsmanship; utilizing embroidery, knitting, leathercraft, and beading to embellish her garments. This year, McCarney has collaborated with Christopher Lewis, a Toronto-based creative technologist to create the “Paper Dolls” collection. Each dress demonstrates hours of painstaking hand-cut patterns achieved with xacto-knives and Christopher Lewis enhances the dresses with LED lights.

 DeMoyo

DeMOYO is a contemporary womenswear brand designed by Pai Chideya. The clothes have a futuristic edge, a strong focus on detailed tailoring, color and bold silhouettes, yet still maintaining accessibility to women. Prowess is the theme for this season and it is a collection which encourages women to wear high quality and edgy clothes that push the fashion envelope, but without losing their true selves.

 Heidi Ackerman

Heidi Ackerman is no stranger to the FAT community and for this season, she presents a capsule collection in collaboration with industrial designer, Lindsay Sinclair. Inspiration for the collection is taken from the concept of “future memories” and our longing for both the future and the past. A type of futuristic camouflage is created with their bent wood accessories and printed textiles through which the viewer is able to imagine what this future/past looks like.

 ica watermelon by Julia Knuepfer

ica watermelon was founded in 2009 by Berlin based designer Julia Knüpfer. The brand combines the concept of sustainability and high fashion. Traditional handicraft (especially handmade knitting and crochet) is a consistent feature of the collections. The new collection “soft bonds” for Fall/Winter 2010/2011 is already nominated and brings up the issue of our subjective experience of independence and connectedness.

 Martin Lim

The label MARTIN LIM is driven by two dedicated fashion designers Danielle Martin and Pao Lim and both of them have been awarded by the MA Fashion at the Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London. For their collection, the duo always love to mix references from modern art movements and the elegance of the twenties, such as Art Deco and Russian Suprematism.

 Rachel Sin

Rachel Sin’s sculptural and streamline designs are an extension of her experience as an intern architect.  An attention to unexpected details, like a cut-out back in what appears to be a classic black dress or ruching at the sides of a jersey top, is what makes her collection unique. For this Fall/Winter 2011 season, Rachel presents the MODEL OFF DUTY collection which it is a little more subdued, with the feminine silhouette as the main feature, accented by sensual details.  Ruth Weil

Designer Hillary Sampliner named this brand after her late grandmother and the theme for this season is CAGED. It is a collection about deconstructing the nature of corsetry and binding in the 1600’s to 1800’s in Europe. Hand-painted silks inspired by the color palette and curvilinear grid patterns in stained glass ceilings are what make this line an original collection of wearable art.

 Saint Hollywood by Uta Bekaia

Uta Bekaia is the designer of Saint Hollywood, which is a new haute couture brand based in New York City. A clothing, costume and accessories company originally based off the theater show of the same name, the strong aesthetic of the project is what inspired the fashion line, a vision in which the label dares to bring a unique perspective to the collection with vibrant colors and daring designs. The clothes in this collection are dramatic, artistic and theatrical.

 Starkers Corsetry

Toronto-based Starkers! Corsetry has gained a devoted following, both locally and internationally, due to corsetiere Dianna DiNoble's meticulous attention to detail and modern take on historical designs. This year, DiNoble is exploring traditional masculine fabrics, with the curvy silhouette of a corset, combining wools and leathers to provide an ultra-feminine, bold look, highlighted with silk and a touch of vintage glamour.

 Worth. by David C. Wigley

David Wigley uses bamboo jersey, organic cotton jersey, Tencel, felted wool, silk, leather and Swarovski crystal for his brand. The fall winter 2011/12 collection is inspired by the film The Black Swan and a feeling of duality and transformation. The silhouettes of the skeletal structure in the mens harness and the back of the women’s gown resemble the muscles of the back and from that David comes up with the idea of the repeating x-rayed skull pattern.

 ZANETE AUZINA

Zanete Auzina is a fashion designer from Latvia and this brand’s philosophy is based on synthesis of color, texture and forms thus presenting the code to combine artistic fantasy with modern and practical application. For this F/W 2011 collection, she pays attention on the tonal colors and silhouette options. The collection is very elegant and all the pieces are very well constructed.

 

Credit: Steve Alkok, Digital Fabrik

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TAGS: fat swide 2011 dolce&gabbana dolce & gabbana d&g d & g online luxury magazine marcus kan photography a la mode à la mode anastasia lomonova belinda visag breeyn mccarney demoyo heidi ackerman ica watermelon martin lim rachel sin ruth weil saint hollywood uta bekaia starkers corsetry worth david wigley zanete auzina