Images from David Dixon’s show by George Pimentel
As a general rule, I hate pre-show videos at Fashion Week. Everyone leans forward in their seats to see them – inevitably resulting in almost no one being able to see them – and they tend to be dull, self-indulgent, and a little bit too long. David Dixon proved a surprising exception to the rule when he screened the BBC comedy sketch “Women: Know Your Limits!” It was entertaining, witty, and a whole lot sassy. It was the best part of his show.
Blaring empowerment anthems like “I Am Woman” and “Run the World (Girls)” mixed with clips of Hillary Clinton’s famous “women’s rights are human rights” speech from the 1995 UN Conference on Women made it clear that Dixon was going for a feminist theme, but what he ended up with was more ‘feminine.’
Sure, it was pretty. There were sparkly sleeves, big faux baubles, and appliqué flowers on gowns. It was also appropriate and ladylike. But haven’t women had enough of pretty and ladylike? For all the effort that went into mixing the soundtrack, the collection completely missed Dixon’s supposed point.
And no, you don’t get feminist points for putting power suits on a runway in 2013.
It was only a couple years back that Dixon was pushing a series of Barbie-inspired collections (yes, for grown women), so I suppose his failure to properly grasp and embody the concept of female power shouldn’t be so surprising.
Translating an inspiration or concept onto the runway (or even having an inspiration) is something a lot of designers seem to struggle with at Toronto Fashion Week. Every year, without fail, there are multiple designers who claim to be inspired by cities, seasons, and colours in their show notes. But “Paris” is not a concept.
One of the only designers this week to successfully translate ideas into physical garments was Sid Neigum. Perhaps that’s because he refuses to sell out his visions in hopes of making it big with ‘pretty’ things in the mass market. (He claims to only make enough money from each collection to fund the next season.) Neigum’s show notes say his F/W 2013 speaks to an “optimistic post-apocalypse” and “nods at his childhood in rural Western Canada.”
Images from Sid Neigum’s show by George PimentelThe collection was full of smart juxtaposition. Sharp suiting and outwear with military-inspired cuts created a dark, sterilized vibe while floral prints, mossy greens, and soft draping harkened back to life’s natural pleasures. Speaking to Sid after the show, he explained that, in this post-apocalyptic world, fashion might be only reminder of beauty that once was.
Many were surprised to see prints in a Sid Neigum collection, but no one was surprised he did them so well. At first glance, I actually thought the inverted florals were little mushroom clouds from an atomic bomb. I don’t think this was intentional, but it was chilling. When I speak with Sid, I often get the impression that his designs’ ultimate darkness shocks even him. (“I don’t know, maybe I just have a dark soul,” he joked backstage.)
With Samurai-esque topknots and modernized mandarin dresses, the collection also had a strong East Asian influence– something we’ve seen from Neigum before. Perhaps an astute political nod to global power shifts? It’s looking less and less likely that our half of the world would be the one to survive a nuclear showdown.
Neigum consistently puts on one of the strongest shows of Toronto Fashion Week and, I think, with this collection, he has finally removed himself from the ‘emerging designer’ category and cemented himself as a returning designer– no small feat in Toronto. The same could be said of Chloe Comme Parris. The question now is whether The Collections will be able to evolve quickly enough to aptly support designers who are no longer underdogs. Perhaps a graduation is in order?
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Sabrina Maddeaux is Toronto Standard’s managing editor. Follow her on Twitter at @sabrinamaddeaux.
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