by: Editor

As we have written here before, Marie Saint Pierre is a top Canadian fashion designer. Her styles (all made in Canada) are innovative and edgy enough to stand out in the crowded high fashion arena. I like that she stands true to her own vision while incorporating some of the more daring fashion trends into her designs.

Below is the preview of her spring collection and some selected standout pieces.

Outerwear (left): The coat styles offer a variation of the spring’s top coat, the trench. Both are cut higher on the body and the first coat also offers some shoulder detailing. Often what separates a tailored design piece from a mass market is the level of detailing and tailoring in the individual clothing. Designer fashions are often not produced in the same quantity or for that matter offshore, so the crafting and sewing process is more tightly controlled for quality.

Daytime/ work wear options (to the right) come in the form of high waisted dress with short jacket and pant suit with layering and detailing. I look for versatility and wearability in my choices that offer real style alternatives with some innovative fashion flair or the “umph” factor. Both of the outfits can be worn with different pieces that you might have already in your closet. For example pair the pant suit jacket with black pants or skirt. Wear the dress with a longer gray, black or white jacket or cardigan belted at the waist for a professional work wear look.

Evening wear (above): The asymmetrical bottom, off the shoulder look cut of dress number 1 picks up on all the top fashion trends in evening wear at the moment. Top French designers such as Lanvin, Yves St.Laurent and even Chanel all showed a variation on the theme. I also love the gold sleeves. It provides the immediate “WOW” factor. The ruched fabric of outfits (2,3,4) are Marie Saint Pierre’s signature look. It looks great and offers the additional value of being a great travel dress. It does not wrinkle!

See more other innovative designs by Marie Saint Pierre here.

Montreal designers, Second Clothing have created a pair of jeans that are made for real lifestyles of busy women. What’s that you ask? A pair of jeans that fit and wear like a yoga pant.

Aptly the pants are called: Yoga Jeans. According to Second Clothing , they have created these form fitting, yet comfortable pants from 98% brushed cotton and 3% elastane. The cuts and styles are supposed to hold, shape and lengthen the body. They come in high to low rise and have bootcut, straight leg and skinny jeans and they are being praised as “miracle jeans” by women of all shapes and ages because they flatter all types of curves.

Sounds good to us, definitely worth a fitting. You never know, but it might even help break our LouLou Lemon yoga pants weekend wear habit!

Spend one icy winter in Montreal (proclaimed as Canada’s most stylish city) and you know that your coats, bags and boots better be as sturdy and long lasting on the inside as they are pretty, sexy and fashionable on the outside. Otherwise you will be one hot looking Frozen Mess. To save you from that sorry state, enter Montreal fashion design shop: Rudsak.

Starting in 1994 as a family business, Evik Asatoorian created a brand in Rudsak that is timeless in its efforts and designs. Fur lined jackets, hefty bags and smart shoes and boots in a variety of colors and styles for men and women fill the Rudsak collection. The designs are meant for serious winter but we found some pieces to be as gorgeous as anything coming from the New York, Paris or Milan runways. The over the knee high heeled and motorcycle boots are HOT enough to freeze for.

Thankfully for us, Evik Asatoorian believes in designing fashion for long lasting quality:

“You buy at volume stores for moments, but durability and styling don’t change overnight for us. Trust me: Tomorrow, you’re not going to say you don’t want our bag anymore.” Elle Canada 

With 11 locations across North America now, Rudsak has become one of the most recognized Canadian outerwear designers. Probably because like a fine wine, a piece from Rudsak will only get better with age.

On this hot day in Old Montreal, the lemonade was cold and the style was easy. It was all shorts, t-shirts, summer dresses and sandals, sandals, sandals and of course a wedding, Montreal style!

 

Montreal-based menswear designer Philippe Dubuc has been a Canadian fashion powerhouse since the launch of his first collection in 1993. Internationally acclaimed and known for his impeccably tailored modern suits, Dubuc is the first Canadian to show his menswear collections at Paris Fashion Week, and counts David Bowie among his clientele.

Dubuc studied at College Marie-Victorin before working his way up in the fashion industry throughout the ’80s and ’90s in various roles: designer, patternmaker and production manager. He launched his label D.U.B.U.C. Mode de Vie (Design Us Beautiful Urban Clothes) in 1993, and has been lauded for his metropolitan trendsetting designs ever since.

Dubuc is a five-time recipient of the Matinee Fashion Foundation grant to leading Canadian designers, won the Canadian Wool Bureau’s Innovator prize in 1996, and has been twice named Canadian Designer of the Year at the Griffe d’Or Fashion Awards.

Dubuc’s Fall 2009 collection, a “comeback” showing at Montreal Fashion Week following a 3-year Fashion Week hiatus and a design stint with the European line Sarah Pacini, was met with critical acclaim. His clothing exhibited rich juxtaposition: the hard and the soft, the raw and the refined. Even with ’50s-inspired tailoring, his signature urban sensibility was hard to miss:

“I am in constant evolution with modernism and urban contrasts.”

All eyes will remain on this Canadian menswear visionary as he continues to spotlight Quebecois creativity and excellence with his collections. His designs are available nationwide.

In the downtown core your shopping mecca runs apx. from Bishop to Peel and St.Catherine to Sherbrooke streets. On Crescent street , you will find antiques and lots of outdoor cafes.  Shopping on St.Catherine is about name brands such as Aldo, Urban Outfitters,Le Chateau.

Worth checking out is a boutique called BEDO on the corner of De La Montagne and St.Catherine Streets for affordable trendy styles and visiting the Grande Dame of high end department stores Ogilvy’s ( across the street).Then just walk up De La Montagne for really nice designer finds such as Chacok , Marie St.Pierre and Masska boutiques. Your high end designer shops are situated on Sherbrooke street , with the best found from Holt Renfrew at Crescent and all along Sherbrooke to Peel st. Make sure to check out San Remo for funky European Styles.

Also when at Sherbrooke and Crescent make sure to pop into the free Yoko Ono and John Lennon exhibit at The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.