Pretty pretty things

Erdem's new SS12.
photo by Caroline at Purple 

Good excuse

Canadian artist Terence Koh with lady Gaga and the infamous defaced Birkin Purple Diary

I was busy defacing all my designer bags...not really. I was just working on something pretty big for the past 2 weeks, it involves Canada + Fashion. That is my good excuse for not posting for so long... the big reveal will come soon.

I will just say for now that this is Canada's year in fashion. Mark my words.

On the not so latest news:

Already mentioned it, but must say it again Erdem wins the British Fashion Concil/Vogue award: "the biggest sum ever awarded to a fashion designer" in that country. Flower Dressing: Why Erdem is a winner. The Times

CALLA in the New Designer Alert Hintmag

Rad Hourani writes about his one and favorite color: Black is the New Black. T Magazine

Erdem FW 10/11

Erdem as seen by Paris partner in crime, the lovely Caroline Gaimari.

The First Lady loves Erdem

Sarah Brown in Erdem

The first lady of Britain wore Erdem to LFW's official opening, and from what I found out she is very much a fan.

Fashion Fit for a First lady TheDailyMail
Rise of the Erdem woman The Telegraph
Erdem We Go Vogue.UK

The Canadians in London - LFW Preview

Dimitri Chiparus sculptures; the inspiration for Mark Fast's FW10/11 show

3 simple questions for Mark Fast:

What is the inspiration for this season?

The sculptures of Dimitri Chiparus.

On being Canadian: proud of it?

Yes, yes!

Mark even has a Canadian PR team on top of is UK agency which handles all other requests (Thanks Tatiana for your help on this one!)

And does he keep int touch the Canadian designers in London (Erdem, Todd Lynn and Jean-Pierre Braganza)?

Friendly with all of them.

Todd Lynn FW10/11 Live Stream

I have been saying that if last runway season was the Twitter revolution then this season is the Live Stream one. A great number of shows in NYFW have already been streamed live, most notoriously Alexander Wang appearing on Times Square. Todd Lynn becomes part of the social media trend by having his Live Video Stream on the 21st of Sunday at 2:15 pm. In Canada it means you have to be up at 8:15am!

Erdem FW10/11 invitation

It's looking 70s romantic, if the image on invite printed by Smythson is any indication. And of course let's not forget that Erdem was named one of London's hot ticket this season by the Telegraph.

Erdem: One of London's hot tickets

Ashley Olsen in Erdem at a the Grammy's after party

The Telegraph's guide to fashion week in NYC, London, Milan and Paris names Erdem as one of the hot tickets in London including him in a "cooler-than-thou collections" group.

Canadian Winter Coats

Erdem

Jeremy Laing

Todd Lynn

Pink Tartan

Smythe

Lida Baday

Comrags

Harricana par Mariouche

Krane

Klaxon Howl

Fur traders dressed in the original Canadian Trapper look

No Canadian fashion story would be complete without talking about the Hudson's Bay Company, the oldest commercial company in North America and one of the oldest in the world, the Canadian department store had its roots in fur trading in the 17th century.

Last year The Bay under their HBC label was in charge of the this year's Canadian team uniforms for theWinter Olympics in Vancouver, as well as the luxurious redesign of The St Regis Room, considered one of the country's first designer destinations which carries exclusively collections like Balmain and Givenchy, as well as a great range of younger designer like Erdem and Calla. (I was of course obliged to include these names).

To celebrate the launch of their newest product range -the Hudson's Bay Company Collection- The Bay commissioned a series of Canadian designers to do one of a kind coats featuring the iconic HBC point blanket.

Todd Lynn, Jeremy Laing and Erdem were in the mix that included well established Canadian household names like Pink Tartan, Smythe, Lida Baday, Comrags, Harricana par Mariouche, Krane and Klaxon Howl.

via: Glamour and Glitter

Canadian School of Fashion Chart

Click Image to enlarge

The Canadians in Fashion Now

New York

Jeremy Laing

Rad Hourani

London

Erdem

Mark Fast

Todd Lynn

Paris

Calla Haynes

Nicolas Andreas Taralis

Here are the young designers of Canadian origin that are in the world of fashion. They do not belong to a school of design but are certainly building their brands internationally around the same time (excluding Lynn and Taralis whom have been around for a while). I would like to know if I am wrong -do not know a lot about Canadian fashion design in the 60s or 70s- but I think this is the first time designers from this country are having a moment in fashion internationally in such large numbers. Canada constantly has a moment with models, but with designers this would be it.