I am making a paillette dress out of re-used objects, and I’ll need a lot more plastic for this before I finish.  Which is why I thought I would put a call out there for anyone who wants to donate their useless plastic objects for a fashion design project.  These objects will be cut up into small rectangular paillettes, so the plastic needs to be that fairly flexible, easy-to-snip with scissors kind.  I am particularly looking for coloured plastics, and not clear plastic unless it is coloured.  Laminated paper doesn’t work.  Here’s what works:

• larger plastic containers (especially coloured ones), for instance, ginger ale bottles, yoghurt containers, old shampoo bottles, etc. etc.
• flat plastic cards and objects – i.e. old library cards, event passes, those stupid plastic gift cards for plastic surgeons, those flexible rulers that Telus gives away, scraps of acetate from old art projects, bits of old film, stuff with holograms on it !! etc. etc.

Got old plastic you can part with – especially downtown Toronto people? Or stuff that could easily be sent by mail?  Send me an email and we can figure out a way to get it to the studio.  Thank you!

Every year, Toronto Fashion Incubator runs a competition for the most promising young designers in Canada.  The contestants are run through a series of judging panels over the course of six months, culminating in a runway show at the ELLE show.  This year, sponsor Mattel heated up the competition by putting real money on it, a cash prize – $10,000 – amazing!

Anastasia Lomonova brought the drama with some really lavish dresses.  Anastasia was a classmate of mine for a couple years at Ryerson before taking off to Montreal and launching her label. Lots of texture and style – sometimes piled on, sometimes a lighter touch.  Its so neat to see someone’s style developed so far beyond fashion school.

House of Groves was leather, studs and riding crops, but the crowd really applauded when the full-skirted silhouette (lower right) came out – it seems like after so much tight and short, a great full skirt falling below the knee just feels like a breath of fresh air.

Diepo is lingerie transitioning towards cocktail – sort of night-to-later-that-night.  The runway was white and slick and all of the designers sent their models out in treacherous heels – so that all came to a head with the model on the lower-right – as she walked out her shoes seemed to literally fly off her feet and skid off both sides of the runway – you can see a gentleman picking it up in the background.  I’ve never seen anything like it.

Birds of North America brought the closest thing to colour that we saw that night – dusky navy blue, brown and burgundy.  The style of the dresses was more of the twee stuff that usually comes down New Labels runway in years past as opposed to the dominant theme of tough-sexy stuff we see this year. Maybe this shift in style is reflecting changes in the judging panel this year.  I often wonder, watching New Labels, whether the lengthy, involved judging process is a good thing – it seems to result in a certain homogenization among the contestants – or are our most promising Canadian designers really so alike?  The lack of statement colour on the runway was a bit disappointing – are we afraid of colour?

Paris Li‘s collection showed some sharp tailoring and some pretty sophisticated looks that suggest dressing for success.  Over all, all of the designers showed really chic, wearable designs – and perhaps the similarities make it a bit fairer to judge each designer against the other – but then again, at the end of the show, I couldn’t really think of which designer had really raised the bar. It reminded me a bit of the Press Breakfast at Holt Renfrew recently which was similar in the monotony of hues. When so much about fashion is personality, I wonder why designers don’t try more aggressively to differentiate themselves from one another.  Or are the designer really just catering their wares to the tastes of their curators? Either way, it leaves me with a taste for something more.

Lastly, each designer showed a few LBD looks made especially for their sponsor, Barbie.  These were all fun looks and here at least, all the blackness was part of the brief.

Anastasia Lomonova, House of Groves, Diepo, Birds of North America, Paris Li.

This year’s New Labels winner is Anastasia Lomonova – congratulations!  Thanks so much to Faulhaber and the TFI for inviting me to cover the event.

Joi let me know about this cute little competition sponsored by specialty sock company Little Miss Matched.

The Fan Favorite (this is the popularity contest angle) wins $1000 + socks, and there are five awards for Company Favorites who win $250 + socks.

Joi suggested I should enter, however I was disappointed when I read the OFFICIAL RULES and found it is only open to residents of the United States.  The other disappointment in the rules is that Little Miss Matched is grabby – just by entering (even if you don’t win), you forfeit the copyright to your work without compensation, “in perpetuity, anywhere in the world”. Not cute, I would hesitate to enter even if I was eligible under those terms.  Designers in the states – if you choose to enter, make sure you read and understand the terms and conditions.

After posting about the Trash Fusion contest yesterday, I got to pondering what I would do if I entered, and I did come up with an idea, albeit an idea which is somewhat simple and labour-intensive to execute – a swingy, tent silhouette paillette dress, where the paillettes are hand-cut from plastic containers.  It might be knitted together so it will swing around in a dynamic way when the model walks.

What would you do if the assignment was to create a dress from recycled materials?  If you have a great idea, and you happen to live in Ontario, you should submit your idea to Trash Fusion.

Trash Fusion is a competition open to all creative contenders in Ontario – the challenge is to submit an illustration and description of an idea of a dress made from recycled materials or reclaimed trash by March 18th 2010.  Finalists will then be chosen to create their designs physically.  The trash outfits will be displayed in three fashion shows around Ontario, and three winners will be chosen for a cash prize among other benefits.

Sponsor of the site – and prom dress empire – Fashion Crimes is seeking prom dress design submissions from creative high school students in Toronto.  The winning designer will have the opportunity to participate in the creation of their dress with the design team at the Fashion Crimes studio, and every entrant will be entered in a draw to win a prom dress. Spread the word to your fashion-loving teenage friends – entries are due on January 28, 2010.

I challenged photoshoppers with game to have a little fun with my paper dolls for a chance to win a book.  Here’s what they came up with:

Congratulations to Elisa!  I loved the outfit which is chic, and how you mixed up three different designers, and how you credited the designers using a background. Thank you for entering, you win a book.

Jessica created this look inspired by her intern, Kate.  I love how it looks like Kate and mixes up three different designers, including Jessica herself – ! Thank you for entering Jessica, you win a PDF.

Sumidha J made a talking dolly, who is a dedicated follower of fashion, and incorporated a background and complimentary outfit. Funny and cute. Thank you for entering Sumidha, you win a PDF.

Andrea mashed up a number of pieces from different designers and customized them into her own outfit, which is above and beyond!  She mixed it up by chopping the bottom off of a Jessica Biffi onesie, and a t-shirt cut from a full length gown by Brandon Dwyer, dyed blue. Thank you for entering Andrea, you win a PDF.

Monica also had fun mixing it up even more.  I laughed out loud.  Thank you for entering Monica, you win a PDF.

Fifteen third year students at the Ryerson School of Fashion have been hard at work on their leather jacket entries for the Danier Design Challenge, and now we get to have a peek.

The youtube video format for viewing the entries can be annoying, but not without some humourous moments (Judy goes out on the town at 0:59!) and a bit of insight into what kind of music fashion kids like.

Chelsea McLean takes me on a trip down memory lane – that is the old fashion lab and the halls of Rye High. I can’t help but be charmed by her sincere enthusiasm for her jacket.

I was disappointed that some of the jackets from the second phase didn’t make it into the third – especially Valerie Crisp’s subtler effort – however some of the more unconvincing muslin presentations surprised me in the final execution, especially Pamela Card‘s very assured looking jacket.

Pamela also showed her illustration which I quite liked.  It looks like it has a water-stain on it which in a way, works as a compositional element.  I wonder if that was deliberate.  I might try that out on my own.

The jacket I was most anticipating was John Hillifer‘s. It turned out very well from what I can see… which is not much given a self-conscious “dark industrial” video production and a fussy shirt that competes with the collar.  Just show me the jacket, Hillifer!

I wish that there was a gallery of well-lit colour photographs of all the entries, but it is interesting to check through the videos if you have a little time.  You can vote for your favourites here.

So you want to win a paper doll book?  I’m going to extend the deadline to Monday December 21st.

Using the JPGs available here, I want you to dress a doll; use Photoshop or another program to help you do it.  The challenge is to use a model from one designer and clothing and accessories from at least two other designers.  The best mashed-up outfit wins a book.

But that’s not all; I’d like to see you have some fun with it.  So I’ll also give away a few full-size PDFs to entries I think are particularly funny, or wicked, or silly, or clever.  Bonus points for adding backgrounds and speech bubbles.  Go for it – start chopping.  To qualify, post your entry on your blog or facebook profile or twitter account with a link to this post.  Good luck!

I posted a while ago about the CSPA unmasked art competition, and though at first I wasn’t sure if I had an idea for it, one came to me – an idea involving fingerpainting!  So I had to try it out.

I just wrote about my own struggles with skin problems this year, so what came to mind when I thought about unmasking was cosmetic masks.  I’m not sure if this is what the CSPA has in mind for a mask design.  Luckily they accept multiple entries so maybe if I get another brainwave I’ll give it another shot.