Tank top, Club Monaco. Metallic Top, NADA

Nada Shepherd is a Canadian designer that injects imagination and energy into her designs.  She creates wearable tailored and lady like clothes, ones decorated with lace flounces, sharp shoulders and space like accoutrement and shape . Elegant yet strong, these are clothes one could work in and make a statement in, especially ladies who like wearing leather and long gloves while drinking tea on the Ritz.

EM: Occupation and Position
Fashion designer- president/creative director

EM: Can you tell us a little more about your concept?

We make clothes for women that will take them from day to early evening.

Top NADA, Leggings LNA (Jacflash, Queen St W
Toronto, Canada, (416) 516-8766, www.jacflash.net)

EM: What neighbourhood do you closely identify with? What makes your community unique?
I like Yorkville and Queen and Spadina area. I know they are both very different but what they do have in common is most people in both of these neighbourhoods have a great sense of style. They are quite different from each other yet I find both styles quite exciting and invigorating.

EM: What inspires you?
Inspiration comes in many different forms. I stay motivated by surrounding myself with people who love life.

EM: What is the greatest item you’ve found in a local garage sale?

Sadly I haven’t been to a garage sale in years. I don’t get that many week-ends off.

EM: Where are your favourite local spots to eat?

7 numbers, Cinq 01, Yamato, Freshii, Fresh

Jac and Gill  Dress (Jacflash)

EM: What bands are at the top of your playlist at this very moment?

Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Alice in Chains

EM: What is your favourite bedside read?
Women’s Wear Daily and a good business book.

EM: What is your favourite place to visit when you travel abroad?

Anywhere in Paris.

EM: Lastly, what kind of projects do you have coming up?

I can’t really talk about them yet as they are in the incubation phase, but perhaps I can share this with you in a couple of months.

***
Photograher: Sean Barker (www.seanbarkerstudio.com)

Fashion Editor: Jen Tse (www.judyinc.com/jentse)

Make Up: Susan Ott (www.judyinc.com/susanott)

Model: Kirsten (FORD)

www.nadadesigns.com

Danielle Meder is a talented fashion illustrator as well, as a fine blogger of culture and all things fashionable in the local Toronto scene.  I first met Danielle at a photo shoot Buy Design, a charity dress up “ball” event for Windfall, a award winning initiative that donates new clothing and other basic to social service agencies. Her illustrations of Barbarella, the theme for Windfall 09 were fun, whimsical and simply really darn good.  Please meet Danielle Meder:

EM: Occupation and Position
I’m a fashion illustrator, and I have a moderately popular fashion blog.

EM: Can you tell us a little more about your concept?

Not sure what this means, but I guess what interests me about fashion is the development aspect – so, design, patternmaking, illustration – and beyond that, the business aspect, the social aspect. I like to use fashion as a lense through which I try to understand the world.

EM: What neighborhood do you closely identify with? What makes your
community unique?
I am a Canadian through and through, with a passion for Canadiana and specifically the Canadian Shield landscape of North-Eastern Ontario – trees, rocks, lakes and old worn down mountains, relics of ancient glaciers. In Toronto, I am a downtown girl but not a trendy-neighborhood girl. I like to be able to walk wherever I want, but I selected my studio location based on highest-proximity to downtown/largest square footage/lowest rent. Its hardly a neighborhood – I’m located between high end “loft” condos on one side and low-income housing and homeless shelters on the other.

EM: What inspires you?
Processes inspire me – great tools and equipment, techniques inspire ideas.

EM: What is the greatest item you’ve found in a local garage sale?
I’ve never been to a Garage Sale locally, but I am a frequent thrifter – I think my favourite finds tend to be great vintage denim – I love labels like Lee and Wrangler and Jordache.

EM: Where are your favorite local spots to eat?

I don’t eat out often, but I love shopping at St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, especially very early in the morning, and loading up on bread and cheese and Ontario fruits and veggies.

EM: What bands are at the top of your playlist at this very moment?
Lately I’ve been listening to MSTRKRFT, Philosopher Kings tracks from the nineties, truth be told, a lot of top-40 stuff from the nineties, Wallflowers – remember Jacob Dylan’s band?, the new Moby album, April Wine, Dolly Parton, Katy Perry, The Tragically Hip, Slave to the SQUAREwave, Sebastian Tellier, and other randoms.

EM: What is your favorite bedside read?
I love going to the library and always have a few fashion-related books on the go. I also love collecting older magazines – people just throw them away. Its fun to pick up a Harpers Bazaar from the nineties, or a Vogue from 2003, and get transported to the recent past – in fashion we forget the recent past very quickly, so revisiting it can be a novelty.

EM: What is your favorite place to visit when you travel abroad?
I’ve never travelled very far abroad – only as far as NYC, which is definitely one of my favourite places. My wishlist of travel destinations is all travel cities – Paris, London, Berlin, Amsterdam are at the top of the list – but I would also love to visit California, Texas, Hawaii, Tokyo and Hong Kong some day. I’m awfully provincial right now.

EM: Lastly, what kind of projects do you have coming up?
I am currently taking on my first teaching gig which is a big challenge – I think I’m learning a lot more than my students at this point but that’s par for the course whenever you try something new. I’m also doing more watercolour painting which is a fascinating and difficult art that has a lot to do with preparation and a light touch. I usually try to come up with a project to go along with Fashion Week in Toronto, so I’m trying to figure out what my angle is this season. And I am planning something very different and special for 2010 – a vast art project that poses the question – “if you could design anything you wanted, what would you design?”.

http://finalfashion.ca/

Being an eighties kid, I can still remember sitting by the radio and “taping” my favorite songs instead of actually going out and buying the tape or cd.  Now some can say that was a outright stealing of songs but I was a child and preferred spending pocket change on sour keys and marshmallow strawberries.

Flash forward twenty years later and everyone is downloading and committing music piracy.   With the advent of the internet and mediums such as youtube and torrents one wonders how the music industry and perhaps, the entertainment industry will adapt and survive.

Lucky for us,  Nicolle Weeks and Stefen Peters of Goldsmith College has taken to the streets of London and interviewed many an expert, aka the creator of Last FM,  Professors and British musicians Shuffle, on this onslaught of the technological on the music industry.  Funny, witty and informative I’m almost tempted to twitter about it ( note: I do not twitter. My mild a.d.d is contained to facebooking and iming, thank you).

Take a look at  www.brokenrecordseries.com

EM Occupation and Position

Designer and owner of Thieves by sonja den elzen

EM: Can you tell us a little more about your concept?

Thieves is a contemporary designer line that uses sustainable fabrics.  [It has a] subtle edgy timelessness that celebrates and individuals strength and style.

EM: What neighborhood do you closely identify with? What makes your community unique?

Well, currently I have a boutique in the west queen west area of Toronto. The area is a coming up area with lots of art galleries, a couple of boutique hotels and small bars and restaurants. I guess what makes it unique is that it is still so close to the time when it was an area on the fringe with only artist galleries. the community is still such a mixed group of people, from artists, to young professionals, to people from the mental hospital down the street and street people, to young hipsters and tourists, its great. Still a little bit of everything so there is lots of character and the vibe is in motion and evolving all the time.

EM: How is it designing in a Canadian context/market?

Its interesting, Canada often needs confirmation from the international market before giving props to one of their own, wether it be in art, fashion or music, but this is slowly changing. Its nice to surprise people with what can come out of Canada. As well, in Toronto it is such a multi cultural community that it makes it only natural for people to have a broader sense of different people and cultures, and I think this gives Canadians an opportunity to be unique and broad ranging in their design.

EM: What inspires you?

Big question….a certain something that is in anything that appeals to my own sense of appreciation. Nature, organic systems, different cultures, friends, communities, music, architecture, cement, raw space, organic minimalism, organic texture, movement.

EM: What is the greatest piece of item you found at a garage sale/flea market?

We found a beautiful white antique jam cupboard for the shop.

EM: Where are your favorite local spots to eat?

The Beaver has great panini’s and Addis Abbabas has delicious Ethiopian food.

EM: What bands are at the top of your playlist at this very moment?

Little Dragon, and Fever Ray, Medicine Man radio always has a great world music show every week as well, Wolves by Dead Prez, mix in a little hip hop, a little jazz and a little blues, so a really good mixture that rotates depending on the mood.

EM: What is your favorite bedside read?

Zaki Ibrahims “song computer girl” probably answers that question best right now
http://www.myspace.com/zakiibrahim

EM: What is your favorite place to visit when you travel abroad?

In European and North American countries it would have to be the major cities, in developing world countries it would have to be small villages in the mountains and by the oceans. [There are] too many places to see still to narrow it down to a favorite!  So far I enjoy the beaches of Goa, the mountains of Kodaikanal, the style and cafes of Paris, the streets and social culture of barcelona, the exciting energy of New York, and the surfing in Santa Teresa in Costa Rica.

EM: Lastly, what kind of projects do you have coming up?
Well, right now [I am] focusing on getting the spring 2010 collection out. There are some exciting collaborative projects with a friend in New York in the works for later in 2010…….but that is all I can say right now.

***
www.thieves.ca

Picture Me is a documentary by co directors and ex couple Sara Ziff and Ole Schell about the complexities and superficial facade of the modeling world.  But unlike the kazillion of documentaries out there about fashion Picture me is unique because its formed from a grossly personal standpoint.  Organically shot by Schell while dating Ziff during her rise in the fashion world.  As a recent NYU graduate, he compiled years of footage while following her around and documented the world of casting calls, shows, photo shoots and interviews with top models. Picture me offers a voyeuristic glimpse of the backstage, often showing the less than pristine realities of the fashion biz.

Here is a link to an interview from Dazed Online and the trailer for the documentary that premiered at Gen Art festival:  http://www.dazeddigital.com/Fashion/article/4168/1/Picture_Me?utm_source=_link&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_term=Picture+Me

Hung Vanngo is a Canadian Make up artist living in New York City represented by the Wall group.  Moving from Vietnam at a young age to Calgary he began his career in Toronto before moving to NYC.  Hung has shot with world renowned photographers such as Greg Kadel, Alexi Lubomirski and Ellen Von Unwerth as well as the famous faces of Helena Christensen, Chloe Sevigny, Renee Zellweger.  His work has been seen in Allure, Interview, Numero, V, Vogue and amongst many more.  Full of funny tidbits about the industry, Hung is a charming, exuberant personality and it was a pleasure to get the chance to ask him a few questions.

EM: Occupation and Position?

Make up Artist

EM: Can you tell us a little more about your concept behind make up?

I’m known for creating beautiful skin and for my use of colour.

EM: What neighborhood do you closely identify with? What makes your community unique?

Well, I love the energy of New York.  It’s not like anywhere else.  Right now I live in Chelsea but my favourite area is the West Village.  It’s smaller with lots of little shops, restaurants and boutiques.  It’s a chic spot.

EM: What inspires you?

Everything inspires me… art, love, life, music, books, history.  But before everything else it’s the face before you that inspires.  It is the model, the girl in the chair that you draw from.  You work on it and bring out pure beauty.

EM: Where are your favorite local spots to eat?

I love Asian food and spicy food.

Grand  Schezuan on 24th and 9th

Room Service, this thai restaurant

Thaison, Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown

Cuban Cafe

EM: Who would you interview?

I would love to interview Johnny Depp.  I think he’s an amazing actor, very good looking and mysterious.  I’m curious about the man behind the mystery because you never really see him in the public eye.  Although he’s in a new movie every year you don’t hear much about him.

EM: What bands are at the top of your playlist at this very moment?

A lot of Michael Jackson
Amadou and Mariam, it’s more like world music
Amanda Lear
Chair Lift
Grace Jones
Lady GaGa
Nina Simone
Patsy Cline
Kate Bush

I love music.

EM: What is your favorite bedside read?

Magazines.  I don’t read novels but more about people and biographies.  I also do alot of research online.

EM: What is your favorite place to visit when you travel abroad?

I went to Tokyo for the first time recently.  It’s the most amazing place.  You really do feel like you’re in a different world.

***

http://www.hungvanngo.com/–

Photography: Konrad Junikiewicz
Fashion Editor: Jen Tse

Mink Pink White Fringed Vest  (Jacflash)

Black Dress by Religion  (Deluxe Boutique)

Belt (Liberty Wardrobe)

Bracelet Stylist’s own

Religion Black Sweater (Deluxe Boutique)

Vintage Brooch (Available at www.cabaretvintage.com)

Henrik Vibshov Copenhagen Body Suit (Available at Delphic, 706 Queen Street, Toronto)

GSUS Shorts

Buddhist Punk Top (Deluxe Boutique)

Horace Dress (http://www.shopcarteblanche.ca)

H&M Denim Vest

Bracelet Stylist’s own

Make up: Amy Beth Duclos (Judy Inc)
Hair: Earl Simpson (Plutino Group)
Model: Laura (Next Models)

***
A special thanks to Daniela at Chasse Garde.

When I was fourteen I went to Lollapalooza and Sonic Youth was headlining the show. Covered in mud and crowd surfing (ugh) I was inspired by the band’s music, presence and obviously, style. Style.com interviews Kim Gordan from Sonic Youth and she talks about disco ball studded Marc Jacob outfits, striped tee shirt dresses and Chloë Sevigny naked.  Love.

Marie Saint Pierre is the doyen of Montreal avante garde fashion.  Playing with textures,ruffles, ribbons, ruching and layering she creates wearable art.  For her fall collection she simplified the detailing and focused on voluminous shapes and tulip skirts with a forties tailoring.  Puffed sleeves abound and spiky tuffs and ruffles cascades the front of two jersey dresses, big scarves coocoon around necks or swing out in an oversized bow and a coat’s front swings  out beautifully in a bell like voluminous draped shape.  This is a memorable, sophisticated and beautiful collection for Marie Saint Pierre.   I spoke to her the other week and this is what she said…

EM: Occupation and Position

FASHION DESIGNER PRESIDENT MARIE SAINT PIERRE DESIGN INC.

EM: Can you tell us a little more about Marie Saint Pierre’s concept?

Marie Saint Pierre’s clothing are about balance between aesthetic and fonction. Movement is at the essence of my collections. I want to make beautiful but also intelligent clothing. All pieces must be as versatile and multi functional as possible.

EM: What neighborhood do you closely identify with? What makes your community unique?

My favorite neighborhood is old Montreal. It is the oldest part of Montreal but it is also by the water and the port where everything began in Montreal. Over the years it has become the place for good restaurant, boutique hotels and lounging places. It is close by where I live so it is an extension of my space. Montreal is unique because it is full of contrasts, yet very young. Ugly next to beauty,extremely cold in the winter versus very hot and humid in the summer, the temperature plays an important role in our lifestyle.

EM: How is it designing in a Canadian context/market?

The canadian market is very small and fragmented, but it is a good place to start a business. Althought, it is almost imperative to export if you want to survive.

EM: What inspires you?

I get inspired but so many things…But in essence it is the way I look at everything that surrounds me that is the most influencial in my work. I have fortunately learn very early in my life that there is infinite possibilities as how you can see something, weather it is static or in movement, seen from the heights or look at from the bottom or the side. These angles are a source of emotions and they change your perceptions. Fabrics are also an important source of inspiration.

EM: What is the greatest item you’ve found in a local garage sale?

God I did get so many things out garage sales or simply in someones garbage, but the greatest item I have in my country house is a huge chandeler ( 6 feet high by 6 feet circomference) that was found by my father at the end of a road when a church decided to do some renovations and threw away this amazing piece.

EM: Where are your favorite local spots to eat?

These days I go to the restaurant LE LOCAL in old Montreal. I like the food, the sevice and the casuelness of it.

EM: What bands are at the top of your playlist at this very moment?

I listen to french music right now, it goes in phases, but I am also found of my old lounge compilation from Thievery Corporation.

EM: What is your favorite bedside read?

I READ KIDS BOOK, bedtime is with my kids and i is dedicated to them since I am very busy.

EM: What is your favorite place to visit when you travel abroad?

I love travelling and I really do not have a favorite place, each city or destination brings something different. But if I must point out one place that I look for when I travel is a champagne bar…

EM: Lastly, what kind of projects do you have coming up?

I am at a point in my carrer where I have to focus on the next ten years and decide what is going to be the next steps, there is a lot of opportunity for us to devellop new markets and expand our notoriety, maybe opening some flag stores in cities like New York, LA, Moscow, Shangai or Paris.

http://www.mariesaintpierre.com/

EM: Occupation and Position
Designer for Women Fashion and also, now accessories Bag Designer

EM: Can you tell us a little more about DENIS GAGNON’s concept?

Well, when I make each collection I use one technique such as pleating.  For the accesories line we wanted to make a old bag, a bag like Louis Vuitton where we would have many pieces of material within one bag and there would be alot of stiching inside. We wanted everything in black, everything in black since it is for fall. Spring will be a season of colour.  We want it to appeal to men too, like a men’s bag with a uniquenes, not so much a feminine taste.

EM: What inspires you?

I get inspired by women, by men. By fashion, since fashion loves fashion.  For the bag line I wanted to create modern bags, comfortable and mobile.  I wanted it to be usable, to be basically three bags in one and to have versatility.  We also used alot of zippers.

EM: What neighborhood do you closely identify with? What makes your community unique?

I currently live in La Plateau. It is Montreal that I love.  It is the people.  There is alot of culture here; there are Italian people, Greek people, Jewish people.  There isn’t a classism here and it’s a quiet city.  It’s nice to live in a not so expensive city, a little cheaper with a good night life.  I came here from Northern quebec, about 6 hours away from car and I have lived here for 27 years.  I want to live here until I die.

EM: What bands are at the top of your playlist at this very moment?
All classics. I listen a lot to Klaus Nomi, Trisomique 21 and some Depeche Mode.
But if I would have to choose only one, is to Grace Jones that goes my heart

EM:What is your favorite find from a vintage market/ garage sale?

Good shoes.

EM: What is your favorite bedside read?

I don’t have time to read, so I look at gorgeous images.  I like the Vogue
Paris, Numéro, ID, and all that Jazz.

EM: Favorite Restaurants?

L’Express Restaurant on St. Denis and many more.  Good french, parisan food.

EM: What is your favorite place to visit when you travel abroad?

Paris. It’s classic.  I have friends who live there and I love to visit places where I know the people so it is not so touristy and things are faster, easier, and more interesting. My old partner now lives in Paris and works for Rick Owens. I love big cities; Barcelona too.

EM: Lastly, what kind of projects do you have coming up?

I am currently in production for the fall/winter collection.  I also start designing the new collection in two weeks. I want everything to be well done so I have to be there all the time.

***
http://www.denisgagnon.ca/

These days fashion is divided into two camps. There are the high fashion houses of Chanel and Dior that exists within its own fast paced and rigorous fashion world of editors, media and designers all vying to designate the next trend and sell its artistic creations.

On the spectrum, there is its grittier, wilder progeny, street fashion with its various spin offs as seen in skate brands such as Stussy or its live incarnation of the youngish hipster wearing outlandish clothes, and in its most extreme case, the anti fashion,  Street fashion has mostly eschewed the fashion world, preferring to set out upon its own path.  We see this in the early ages, where teddy boys would wear Edwardian period jackets and Seville suits and Marlon Brando and James Dean catapulted the humble undershirt, leather jacket and Levis denim to iconic levels.  In the eighties, we saw the collaboration of Jean Paul Gaultier hypersexualizing the blazer and the corset on Madonna. And most recently,  there are the young brat pack socialites of  Pixie Geldof and Alice Dellal posing on red carpets with their nouveau take on trash denim, plaid, ripped fishnets and half shaved heads. The offspring of the famous have something to say too; Chloe Sevigny and Lou Doillon are socialites turned designers and are style icons of this post modern age.  In all cases music, cinema and street culture has definitely shaped the consciousness of daily wear past what is on the runway.

But with the rise of the internet there is a greater access to information and fashion is even more organically developed and can now develop outside those rigorous mandates of category.  The lines between high fashion and low now blend.  We see high end designers such as Comme Des Garcon, Matthew Williamson and Issey Miyake designing for H&M and Target.  A piece of high fashion is readily available to the mass market at prices everyone can afford with its unique cuts, colours and mindset.  The democratization of fashion has begun; high fashion is not just a blip on the radar of the common people but is worn by you, me and everyone.  Most importantly, it is the availability of choices and we can now more than ever choose for ourselves the way we want to present ourselves to the world regardless of the traditional boundaries of class, socio-economic status.  We have choices beyond the Gap (but even the Gap is being re invented by Patrick Robinson into a 1968 hippie bell bottomed and ripped extravaganza) without dipping too much into the piggy bank.

Yes, fashion may be just clothes when taken literally but the very act of dressing denotes who you are, your preferences, and ultimately, your imagination, creativity and individuality in the face of the increasing homogenization of the world.

There are now the Christopher Kanes, Gareth Pughs and Alexander Wangs of the young designer scene who drape model mannequins in distressed denim, gothic romanticism / modern abstraction and 80s silhouette, a sleeker and steeper priced rendition of what the kids were wearing a “season” ago on street corners in cities.   So the age old story continues, high fashion takes inspiration from the streets and commercial stores knock off designer goods.

Yet, in this electronic age there is a platform for designers that can exist between these two worlds, straddle between them and tout its own individualistic ideas. A brand that may epitomize this is APC, a denim line that developed from its humble origins in Paris and is renowned for its slim, stark silhouette and simple lines of quality.  Jean Touitou never follows trends but creates basics that tout its aesthetic agenda; there isn’t a trend look where a new collection is created in opposition to the past as a revolt or details and shapes are changed because of a shift in stylistic agendas.  No, with APC its vision is unwavering and its choices are made more independently than not, of the fashion world.

With the proliferation of new designers popping up all over the world there are a myriad of designs to choose from, from all price points, and perspectives.   There are recent graduates such as Julia Blum, who impressed judges with her thesis romantic lingerie collection, ardor at Parsons (lucky girl, she got blogged on style.com).  Others are more seasoned such as Jeremy Laing, a Canadian designer who designs layered architectural tailored silouettes with textured details that are abstract yet light who now shows at New York fashion week.  Or Opening Ceremony, a japanese inspired kooky, off the wall cute line, that grew from an in store small collection of basics, to the full scale collection it is today, selling in stores such as Barneys.  Noted also are the Northern European lines of minimalist dandyism of J Lindeberg and hand crafted asymetrical avante garde of  Fifth Street Avenue Shoe Repair.  For almost every subjective taste and clientele there is a design catering to that niche.  If there isn’t I suggest one should try to design their own.

While fashion itself, has become increasingly commercial and mainstream in some ways in others it is more exciting than ever.   In other words, dress up or dress down we can now adorn ourselves in anyway we can.

Photo provided by www.torontostar.com