CALLA-fornia Girls: Calla Haynes Spring '14

Surfer girl central at the CALLA Spring '14 show. This pic by me, the rest by Michael Ho.

It's a super busy week in Toronto as the fashion crowd gears up for the start of World Mastercard Fashion Week. To kick it off for the past several seasons, Paola Fullerton and her team have hosted the shOws, a pre-Fashion Week mash-up of some of the world's top designers, from Tanya Taylor and Steven Tai to Jeremy Laing (more on that later). On Wed night, I hit up the shOws to catch Bellavance and one of my absolute fav Canadian designers, Calla Haynes who showed us her chic surfer girl line-up for Spring '14. This girl is so dope. 

Calla is a young Toronto-born designer living in Paris (lucky) and though her textiles, colours and silhouettes look super fun and playful on the surface, they're incredibly complex underneath. To give you an idea, the black floral print in the first slide below is meant to recreate the floral print on a Shonan surfboard - complete with fiberglass scratches and blue surf wax. A fringed neon skirt is made of strips of paper. Meanwhile, her modern custom tweeds are created by the very same French fabric mill that produces the famed jackets at Chanel.

Loved the clothes, love Calla, and though it's really hard to recreate the vibe of a live show, take a listen to the track below for a sense of how it all went down. I thought they were saying 'bubblebath'. Like I said, she's dope.

Thanks for inviting me, Brill! I'll have loads more pics from Fashion Week in the coming weeks so keep checking back. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Gobble, gobble.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
   
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
   
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
   
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
   
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
   
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
   

 

Fashion Week heats up with the shOws

Ashley Bilodeau (Montreal-based super-styliste), and I rock our nerd glasses for a faux Flare cover, courtesy of digital photobooth mavericks Photostar.

Last night, I made my way to Toronto's Ritz-Carlton (ooh la la!) for the shOws.  I was stoked to get the invite since up until this year, I didn't quite make the cut.  I'm not bitter...I just didn't.  Toronto's LG Fashion Week doesn't officially start until next week, but over the past several years, certain designers have chosen to showcase their collections in more intimate settings pre-Fashion-Week.  Thus, Rogue Fashion Week was born.

FASHION Magazine's Fashion Director, Susie Sheffman, in her fun printed frock and steel-toed booties - all the better to kick the competition to the curb with, my dears.

A pretty party-goer, all layered up for fall with florals and leather.  In the background:  tea and coffee.  No champagne?  :( 

Fashionably early to the front row.  xoxSNP, where art thou?

An extra-terrestrial treat from Thomas Tait's S/S 2012 Collection

Digital print mistress, Calla Haynes' collection was breezy and beautiful in cool sorbet shades

James Conran, Joseph Wilson (founder of Photostar) and supermodel Coco Rocha have fun with Photostar

Up last night:  The Spring 2012 collections from Canadian expats Thomas Tait and Calla Haynes, and the World Premiere of Coco Rocha and husband James Conran's documentary, 'Letters to Haiti.'   

For Thomas Tait, the future looks bright.  Formerly (Fall-merly?) known for his moody blacks, Tait's spring collection was clean and ultra-modern with clinical-looking Balenciaga-esque cocoon shapes softened by minty greens and pretty pinks.  Feet were clad with mom-on-drop-off-duty runners, eyes covered in downward-slanting iridescent glasses.  I totally didn't understand the stark white runners (I never will) but loved the expert tailoring and the monochromatic palette - far from boring and far out of my league.

Toronto-born, Paris-based Calla Haynes' collection was a breezy treat.  The collection was full of Calla's signature pretty digital prints, inspired by Parisian spring blossoms, and though one stylist remarked to me after the show that florals are so 'last spring, this fall', are flowers really ever out of style?  I've seen them every spring as far as I can remember but in Calla's hands, the blooms seemed finer, prettier, softer than the others. Her light-as-air fabrics floated over the runway, the pretty pastels like a trip to Hotel Gelato and the bouffant-haired, bright-lipped models were straight out of a '60s St. Tropez Vogue shoot.  They made me feel short and fat, and I'm 5'9".

Coco Rocha's World Premiere of 'Letters to Haiti' rounded out the night.  Documenting Coco and fellow supermodel Behati Prinsloo's post-earthquake trip to Haiti, the short film showcased the plight of the children affected by the devastation.   Props to Coco for helping raise awareness for the continuing need for relief efforts in Haiti.   See the trailer below and find out more about how you can help at LakayPAM.org

Thanks to Brill Communications for helping me go 'rogue' and can't wait more great fun tonight!

xo