There were many wonders, in every sense of the word, at Montreal Fashion Week, which wrapped Thursday night with a blaze of colour in a trend show orchestrated by the ever-stylish stylist and designer known as Yso.
Now, with the plastic covering the catwalk at Bonsecours Market in the recycling bin, and the hundreds of spectators out of their harems, sequins and five-inch stack heels -or basic blacks, here are some questions, answers and bits of colour from the frontlines (not the blue, red and coral variety), but about phenoms like the lioness model, the mini-blogger and the billionaire.
Why?
The early question that emerged as Montreal Fashion Week opened, showing collections for next spring and summer, was a profound why.
The easy answer to the industry question is that the shows are held to create buzz, round up buyers from out of town and support an industry -and various levels of government pitched in $340,000 for this 19th edition organized by Sensation Mode and much more in long-term projects -that has had its manufacturing base decimated and is facing fierce international competition.
I met a buyer from London, Melanie Trevett, who also writes for Britain's fashion trade magazine Drapers, and heard about a German buyer scooping up lines.
Trevett praised Montreal style, saying it was her secret source for great fashion. She loved Helmer's couture collection and bought the entire Barila line for her shop, she said. And she filled a suitcase with Denis Gagnon's line for Bedo, just for herself.
"It was commercial, it was inspiring, it was flirty, it was fun yet sophisticated,'' she said of the line by Sabrina Barila with her sister Claudia, the former model and wife of Cirque de Soleil billionaire Guy Laliberte. "For me, it covers all the market. And the quality is second to none."
That's the storybook quote on any fashion story, one those government officials want to hear.
But the "why" question seems to fall on deaf ears when mediocre or very bad clothes go down a runway. It's fine and well to give young lines a chance, but what about the reputation of Montreal Fashion Week, and hence, Montreal style? Any out-of-town buyers or media will not be impressed.
Wonders
The why question moves to wonder on many levels. There is the wonder of the fashion kind, as in Denis Gagnon -who celebrated his 10th anniversary in business with a cocktail party -Oh, how the Hungaria bubbly flowed! Gagnon will show his spring line and a retrospective at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on Oct. 18. That's quite remarkable: his exhibition falls between the Yves Saint Laurent show there two years ago and next summer's Jean Paul Gaultier retrospective.
There is the wonder of Helmer, spending 120 hours-plus on a glass-couture outfit with Jean-Marie Giguere, cutting and polishing glass tubes, smoothing down broken bottles attached to a bolero and painting the still-dangerous edges gold.
His over-the-top underwater theme included net hats, giant waves of blue tulle, chiming glass tubes, and a pretty sea creature fabric in pink, all evoking the ocean. Some of it was wearable, but the show was an exercise in art and craft. Beauty? Some, for sure, as when a white lace-trimmed ruffle dress had mauve sea anemone appliques. But, overall, the craft overwhelmed the clothes.
Marie Saint Pierre is in her way our own wonder, keeping it simple this season and opening the week with a stripped-down installation at her atelier. The clothes, in tune with today's minimalist current, were also stripped down, with none of the ruffled pleats for which she is known but with the stark architectural cuts that are also her signature, embellished with a swirled or disc applique here and there.
Who?
The designers who show at fashion week tend to target a young clientele, and there are good reasons for that, one of which is the price point: younger people who spend less don't demand the finest quality fabric, and many designers can't afford to buy it or order enough quantity from the top European mills. Also, there is an emerging niche market: call it green, ethical or localista. These young consumers may shun international cheap-chic emporiums, even if it costs a bit more, for what they consider the right and ecological way to shop.
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