L'Oréal Toronto Fashion Week Fall Winter 2008 - Day One

I have two words for fashion fans so far: raglan sleeves. Also jodhpurs; please tell me they're not the new capris! Also, it seems that grey is the new black. And brown. And navy. And red. And... you get the idea.

This newest (15th) edition of L'Oréal Toronto Fashion Week (or FashionWeek, as it seems to be given in some of the press materials), is already off to a bang; fashionistas already have six shows under their stylish belts.

At 2 p.m. Evan Biddell led off the batting order with a pretty impressive collection in shades from white to black, plus dull olive, fuschia and midnight blue. Biddell, winner of Project Runway Canada, ran his own independent design shop in B.C. for several years before appearing on the TV show. This may account for his assured, confident and technically proficient presentation. Many of his skirts, dresses and tops were made in a luxurious shiny silk, but not very heavily ornamented. A recurring garment was an eight-gored skirt with narrow horizontal tucks in the centre four gores. Numerous outfits were finished off with a wide wrapped silk sash with necktie points. He also produced an array of very nice coats, ranging from bolero jackets to floor-length creations in a soft wool.

Max Chernitsov is Moscow Fashion Week's contribution to the festivities. He brought men's and women's day clothes that prove – among other things – that cyberpunk lives. They ranged from fairly classic raglan-sleeve turtlenecks with moderately wide sleeves and very long cuffs to a pair of brief briefs with a shining gold "rocket" (hem-hem) motif that made even Jeanne Beker blush. Also lots of skintight stirrup leggings. (Can anyone tell me whether the unibrow makeup on the models was his idea of a pardoy of North American stereotypes of Russians???)

The work of B.C.'s Mellinda-Mae Harlington was wearable to the max. It featured coats and jackets in the evening's favoured palette, from pale grey to black. Very stylish pieces indeed that could be favourites worn for years, especially a three-button coat with wrap collar, turned-up two-button cuffs and wide button-flap detailing at the shoulders. Also nice: a simple round-neck, long-sleeved dress in finely-striped grey jersey.

Stating that she was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, Nadya Toto of Montreal brought a collection with lots of detail and hand embellishment. Many pieces seemed to be knit of a very slubby wool with a loose weave that gave a great drape with an astrakhan texture: mostly black, but one senational, simple long dress in crimson with an interesting triangular point detail at the upper arm made by a fold in the fabric. There was a sensational belted knee-length dress with long sleeves, a modest cowl neck and a bubble-skirt bottom that launched from a series of triangular pieces around the hem. There was one off-the-shoulder full-length gown with a bike-glove ending to the sleeves and a fitted top and a skirt beginning at a dropped waist that was made of tiers of grey lace tied with ribbons into five horizontal puffs, and another that was a romantic cloud of leg-revealing dark emerald.

At 6 p.m., Montrealer Denis Gagnon wowed the crowd with a very William Gibsonesque future-Goth presentation featuring some of the most luxuriantly supple leather you'll ever be privileged to stroke. Standout pieces included a flowing jersey cape-coat with an edging of snap-studded leather; the weight of the edging gave it bounce as well as flow. Hems were insistently diagonal. Both trousers and jacket sleeves were constructed of narrow bands of leather painstakingly joined in pieces of medieval simplicity of line and austerity of decoration but excitingly fresh shapes.

The day was rounded out by the Holt's media cocktail, graced by the presence of such luminaries as Elio Fiorucci and Monika Schnarre. It was followed by the Joe Fresh show: exhuberant as always.