Toronto Fashion Week Day 1 - Chloe comme Parris, Pink Tartan and a few drinks

Now that it's all over, I can finally sit down and write about my Toronto Fashion Week F/W 2013 adventures! Even though I'm still working on runway recaps and so on I've decided to put some time aside for the blog. Yay blogging!

Here goes nothing...

Day 1 of Toronto's World MasterCard Fashion week opened up with yet another amazing collection by Chloe comme Parris. The Gordon sisters sent a 90s-grunge inspired line down their fall 2013 runway and yet again I wanted to own every single piece of it. Every little detail, down to the punk-rock braids in the models' hair, was perfect. If for some reason you have no idea what I'm talking about and you have yet to set your eyes on the beauty that is the Chloe comme Parris fall line, please do so now. KayThanksBye.

The Gordon Sister
Photos: Elayne Millar

After the CCP show, I took to my front row seat and enjoyed Kimberley Newport-Mimran's Pink Tartan collection. Interested in 1950's bombshell housewives? Good! Check out the article I wrote for the Post. Here are some photos I took backstage.

pale nails for Pink Tartan F/W 2013 

Big dark eyebrows. Don't got 'em? Sucks to be you.
(KARMA! the kids who made fun of mine in elementary school can SUCK IT NOW HA!)

When Day 1 came to an end, I headed over to the Holts Opening Night Party on the third floor of the Bloor and Bay Street flagship store. At first, I didn't want to go. I thought I'd be out of place. I was wrong! Hint: if you're ever invited to cocktail party hosted by a billion dollar department store like Holts just GO! Yes, the crowd was slightly older (the Toronto fashion industry's main people..UM HI!) but EVERYTHING WAS FREE.

Being social in a leopard high-low dress
photo: shedoesthecity

Older people have money. Young noobies like myself don't. So? Get in on the free food, drinks and networking opportunities! The Holts Opening Night Party was so fun and I made a ton of new friends while stuffing my face with pastries, oysters, mini grilled cheeses, and free cocktails!

Afterwards, I headed over to yet another fashion party at the Mercer to dance around to A$AP Rocky, the celebrity DJ of the night, and continued to get my drink on with some of the biggest names in fashion press. GREAT NIGHT. (don't be jealous).

A print piece, finally. Momma's proud!

MY WORK WAS ACTUALLY PUBLISHED IN PRINT THIS WEEEEK!

There. I got it all out. I'll stop yelling now. IT'S JUST SO EXCITING! After years of writing articles for student papers and magazines, and magazine websites, I finally got an feature story published in an actual national newspaper. One of my favourite university profs once told me that your first print piece should be something you treasure and that it's totally not a loser thing to frame it and put it up on your wall as inspiration. I might just do that. I'd need to find a big frame though. It's kind of a full page spread (bahahhahahh!!!).

Prep a Porter, a designer rundown by Elayne Teixeira-Millar
published in the Tuesday March 19 2013 edition of the National Post.

If you had the pleasure of stumbling upon my article in Tuesday's edition of the National Post you may ignore the remainder of this post. For everyone else, please give my designer cheat sheet a read. It's a rundown of what shows to look out for at Toronto Fashion Week and I'm pretty proud of it.

I had originally wanted to post this announcement with a Spring 2013 trend recap but since I'm drowning in Fall 2013 stuff (fashion calendars are so annoying...it's almost spring and they have me studying turtle necks, leather pants and wool coats..) I just simply don't have the time. Maybe next week?

The online edition, for those who think papers are dead.
nationalpost.com

TFW S/S12 Day 3: Pink Tartan - hot day out at sea

The Pink Tartan S/S 2012 show was one of Fashion Week's most anticipated and I snuck into the front row! (the only perk of being a volunteer). The collection featured a nautical theme, with creme and navy striped tube dresses, navy mesh tops paired with satin cigarette pants (a look that was also shown in red and in black), and white trench coats.

nautical tube dress

navy satin cigarette pants

bright RED satin cigarette pants with mesh top

white trench dress

There were great 60's- inspired silhouettes- shift dresses and a-line skirts - in hot colours like red and bright orange. My favourite piece of the collection was the red satin shift dress with the exposed gold zipper down the back. It's simple but elegant and the colour was gorgeous. Too bad my crappy blackberry made it look pink....

red mesh top paired with high-waisted satin a-line skirt

bright orange satin a-line dress with white leather high-waisted belt

gorgeous red satin shift with exposed gold zipper along back (also shown in bright orange and black)

Backstage at Toronto Fashion Week- Spring Summer 2012

In late September I applied for a volunteer position at Toronto Fashion Week. I thought it would be a great way to get myself into the Canadian fashion scene and find something worthwhile to write about for this blog. I was hired as a backstage hand and dresser. Even though I was bossed around by almost everyone, I had the opportunity to see, touch, photograph, and analyze some of Fashion Week's most important lines. On my first shift, day 3 of FW, I dressed models for Korhani Home, snuck into the Pink Tartan show, and dressed models for Joe Fresh. It was a great experience. I have so much to stay about the lines and I have really crappy Blackberry photos of my favourite pieces. So stay tuned, they should be up as soon as I figure out how to do so.

Korhani models- 80's rocker and Malibu beach inspired designs