Toronto’s Arts & Fashion Week (FAT) isn’t about ‘wearable’ design. Almost everything at FAT is over-the-top, outrageous, and not for the faint of heart (or your mother). What appeared on the runway often left me so slack-jawed  that I forgot to take pictures, or even make notes– then there were the looks that can’t be unseen. Here are five FAT moments so outrageous that I didn’t need notes to remember them.

1. Marie Antoinette Descontructed

Somewhere, Lindsay Lohan is thrilled to hear that heart-shaped nipple pasties are finally a thing. OCAD graduate and Asphyxia designer Alexandra De Francesco showed decontructed gowns, corsets, lace, and underwire skeletons that made for quite the macabre runway presentation. To create her medieval-dominatrix aesthetic, De Francesco used ‘everything but the kitchen sink,’ including materials like live and preserved flowers, skeleton leaves, age-old lace and beadwork, recycled fur and leathers, mesh and wire, hand-spun water soluble threads, hand-dyed and silkscreened fabrics, raw silks, and organza. The show’s finale saw two women emerge from the audience to slice up one of the models’ gowns.

2. No Curve Unexamined

If there’s ever a time to turn down fries with that (Ed note: there isn’t– especially if there are cheese curds involved), House of Etiquette let us know it’s right now. With a collection of practically painted-on latex pieces (pencil skirts, thigh highs, and bodysuits), the label made sure no curve was overlooked. Designers Ashley Davies and Matt Smart are a perfect match when it comes to body-altering garments; Ashley was a lingerie designer while Matthew has a mixed background in design and engineering. Together they construct and build collections that completely transform the body.

3. No Orgy is Complete Without Conch Shells

In their fourth collaboration with FAT, Shilo Morton (of The Bored Collective) and Katherine Piro, a multidisciplinary performance artist, presented a performance that was supposed to manifest the transformation from virgin to seductress, mermaid to siren, weakness to power– all alongside four males wearing conch shells as cups. Piro played the role of an unaware mermaid shackled by her own chastity, represented by a heavy tail. Restricted in movement, she dragged herself through a gauntlet of male desire to emerge as savy seductress in control of her own sexuality and power. Pilo writhed and wiggled her way over and around the men until she finally broke free and stood tall over them in triumph.

4. Cinched Corsets That Left NOTHING To The Imagination

The final dress (a completely see-through number save for a few black stripes) at Cinched Tight Corsets caused me to turn to my seatmate and say “Is that her…? Am I looking at a… ? I wonder if she can feel a breeze?” Not only did the look remind lady onlookers to book their next wax appointment, the runway show bestowed an incredible vibe of confidence upon the room. Designer Anne-Marie Smith said her designs range from “elegant to fetish, playful to burlesque.”  Her corsets were lovely, and the colours deep and brilliant, but unfortunately no one could stop talking about the pink vagina in the room.

5. Glow In The Dark Dresses

 Photos courtesy of Vasko Photography

OK, so this isn’t as outrageous as it’s just friggin cool, but I couldn’t leave Lokum’s performance off my list. Geneviève Favre Petroff, a swiss visual and performance artist, composer, and singer, showed her day-glo creations on the last day of FAT  in a performance inspired by the city of Istanbul, a place she says is “divided by modernity and tradition.” Petroff chose 1960s-style mini dresses that referenced sexual freedom and used a visual design that reflected the 1980s entertainment era. The dresses consisted of 124 lokum cubes (Turkish delight) of increasing size, which lit up and were synchronized with the music.

Special Mention: Skittles Hair

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Bianca Teixeira writes about style for Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter at @BeeLauraTee.

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