Toronto Fashion Week Highlights So Far

Toronto Fashion Week is underway and the styles coming down the runway for Spring & Summer 2014 are absolutely beautiful.  

Pink Tartan Spring/Summer 2014

With the frigid temps we've been treated to the past few days, I have to say I'm already in the mood for Spring. Once the last leaves fall, can we not just fast forward through November, take a small pause at Christmas, then fast forward again straight to April? I just pulled my winter coat and mitts out of storage this morning and it did not put a smile on my face. I never knew a black puffy coat could fill me with such a sense of gloom...

So - on to the fashions (and dreams of warmer weather)...

Pink Tartan showed a very Parisian-inspired, ladylike collection (at times a bit too voluminous for daily life, but still inspired), with lots of whites & neutrals, and some classic black & white pairings with graphic prints and patterns. I'd take pretty much anything from the whole runway show.  I love taking black & white and throwing in pops of vibrant colour, like crimson red or canary yellow.  Such a great look.

Beaufille

Beaufille was also a much buzzed-about collection. Formerly known as Chloé Comme Paris, the two sisters at the helm of this hot Toronto design house are Chloé and Parris Gordon. Loosely translated to mean 'handsome girl', you can appreciate why the collection has a tomboy vibe, embracing both masculine and feminine influences. Sounds perfect for the modern, active woman in today's fashionable urban centres. Their Spring/Summer collection has a lot of whites, blacks and muted neutrals, with many looks evoking a stitched aesthetic that reminded me of goth/punk looks from days long passed. This is definitely a collection most men won't appreciate, but fashionable women who like to be ahead of the curve will flock to it in spades. And as women, we all know that most of the time we dress for our fellow ladies, not for men.

Sid Neigum

Sid Neigum - whose facebook page explains that he is a "Canada-born, New York based experimentalist aiming to develop new silhouettes, shapes, ideas and feelings through fashion design and other mediums" - did not disappoint. 

He truly did bring shapes and silhouettes I've never seen before, especially where footwear was concerned. Absolutely inexplicable footwear. But the dresses were stunning!

To check out more of the collections, visit the Toronto Fashion Week website and enjoy!  In the meantime...bundle up xo