Thursday, March 19, 2009

Fashion Week: The Year of Plus Size?

Well, I know that this was supposed to be up a few days ago, but better late than never, right friends?

Okay, Toronto Fashion Week, it's here and it's in your face! You really can't miss the big white tents staked out at Nathan Phillips Square, there's even a red carpet to go with them. Stylish. As Fashion Week celebrates its tenth year, somebody else who was celebrating a big birthday opened the show: BARBIE. Well, okay, not the real Barbie, I'm sure she was just too busy to attend (being 50 and all), but David Dixon's new line was the opener this year and it was like watching a retrospect of Barbie's trademark fashion walk down the runway (there was even some Ken action in there).



The interesting thing about David Dixon being chosen to open the show this year is that he designs for "real women", meaning that his sizes don't stop at a 10 and he actually thinks about this when he designs. This got me thinking, is there anyone else out there, rocking the plus size fashion scene?

On Tuesday night the Alli team was invited by Linda Lundstrom and Eleventh Floor Apparel to attend her show (her first showing at fashion week since the 80's she says). I was surprised at how Linda has been able to overcome all the troubles she has had in the past few years and produce a really interesting line.

The collection was a great comeback for Linda, you can really tell that she has the time to just design again. The collection was full of amazing basic pieces that I can tell will be very popular come this fall. The big news is that she has relaunched her signature LaParka, in a big way. The show ended with JUST the parka (the theory around here is that the model may have forgotten her undergarments). But hey, it's a great way to end the show: a huge billowy parka with some stunning colourful detailing on the back. Very impressive Linda, I can say that I'm very happy to be working under the same roof as you at Eleventh Floor Apparel.



The last thing I want to say about Linda Lundstrom is that her line DOES cater to the bigger ladies out there. The line is available in sizes up to a 20 (it may have been hard to see this from the size of her models, but such is life in the fashion industry).

ANOTHER event that was all over the press this year happened last night, they revealed the winner of Canada's Next Plus Size Model. This is such a great step in the right direction, it's just too bad that I was hard pressed to find anyone showing at fashion week who would actually use the plus size models that were in the competition. So, who won? Brittney Fisher, a 24 year old waitress from Vernon, BC.




I could go on and on about how I'm really torn over this, but I think that I shall save it for another day and end this post here. I'll be back tomorrow with my favorites from the week. Stay tuned!

3 comments:

  1. i knew there was more to you than meets the eye! go you! and btw... that "cape" in the middle of your post is PHENOMENAL!!! DO WANT!!!!

    <3

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  2. Hehehe, that "cape" is what us Canuks call a LaParka designed by Linda Lundstrom. They were really popular in the 1980s and then stopped being relevant. Now she's back, with new, updated designs that are pretty rad.

    Side note:::: that model is only wearing a black mesh unitard underneath, NOTHING else. Scandalous.

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  3. Check out fabulous plus size clothing Australia. There are new designs and fantastic choices for you.

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