TORONTO — While winter-weary Canadians are desperate to welcome warmer weather, homegrown fashion designers are already longing for the cooler seasons ahead.
At Toronto’s World MasterCard Fashion Week, the country’s emerging and established talents presented their visions for dressing Canadians next fall and winter, from the gym to the office and after-hours.
Here’s a sampling of five notable trends from the runway:
FUR REAL
From trim collars and cropped tops to full-scale fur coats and hats, the luxurious material reaffirmed its status as a perennial cold-weather favourite.
Beyond black, white and neutral shades, designers didn’t shy away from cranking up the colour.
Farley Chatto, Mikhael Kale and Malorie Urbanovitch were among those adding bold infusions of red, green and blue to the furs featured on their respective runways.
FALL INTO SPRING
Softer shades typically tied to the spring season will be colouring fall-winter styles later this year.
While black remains the undisputed champ as a go-to hue for designers, regardless of the season, many brightened their collections with pale pink, blue and lavender shades, as well as more vivid jewel tones.
Kale, Hayley Elsaesser, and Sunny Fong’s VAWK label heartily embraced colour in their collections.
PUMP UP THE VOLUME
Turn it up to 11. Many designers had fun amping up the shapes and silhouettes of their creations with dramatic use of draping and sculpture.
Susan Langdon, executive director of the Toronto Fashion Incubator, pointed to Sid Neigum’s inventive use of modular origami and Kale’s intricate beading and embroidery as prime examples of texture and visual interest.
Rudsak also dialled up the volume with its cocoon-like funnel collars and fur-trimmed hoods.
PATTERNS WITH POP
Many designers were clearly in a festive mood with whimsical party-worthy patterns.
Narces brought a fun, flirty feel to formal wear with red-lip prints dotted on short-sleeved dresses.
Elsaesser also delivered an audacious mix of inventive graphic prints, spanning from snakes to leopards to cowboy hats on 8-balls.
SPORTY SPICE
The athleisure trend is still very much in the fashion game.
The presence of activewear brand Lole at Fashion Week showed that athletic apparel has widespread appeal beyond workout gear.
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Nepton also displayed her signature sporty chic with vintage-style track suits and leather-panelled leggings.
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