The best of the best. Here it goes…
5. Izzy Camilleri
Izzy is best when she’s dark and this season’s foray into the night proved just that. Cropped leather pants, electric-coloured leopard print minis with PVC and a slew of metallic satin sheaths provided the uniform for Camilleri’s after-hours vixen. If the message was come-hither, the clothes suggested not without some handcuffs and a blindfold.
I’ll admit it - I may have been victim to the Halo Effect. The Hudson’s Bay blankets, hot chocolate, and the booming choir added quite the “show” to it all. That said, the cloche hats and banded tulip-hemmed dresses assured me that even if we had all been tactfully diverted, at least we’d look damn good.
2. Comrags
Let’s get the obvious Prada references out into the open: ombre-dyed geo prints, jewel coloured duchesse satin, and stiff, shapeless shifts. Pfew. Moving beyond the potentially blinding nature of such associations, it’s hard to ignore the studied brilliance of Joyce Gunhouse and Judy Cornish. Even if the work heralds the likes of Prada and Marni, the clothes bear a distinctly (North) American sportswear sensibility. And frankly, there’s no condescension in being Prada’s cousin from across the Atlantic.
1. Joeffer Caoc
Electric refinement. For fall 2007, Coac mended the season’s obsession with new-rave colour shock with our continuing fascination with sobriety. Whether the boardroom became the disco or vice versa, there was a sense that these clothes would be both apt - and desirable - in either setting. The one-shouldered neon satin dresses and the intricately fashioned grey cocktail dresses will become your season’s staples.
4. Arthur Mendoca Opting against a runway presentation, Mendoca instead chose to show his fall 2007 collection in a showroom presentation style, models in a tableau vignette, immediately recalling Marc Jacobs’ recent namesake show in New York. And like with Jacobs, there was a definite return to old-school decadence. He showed prim, ruched-necked blouses, boldly-shouldered blazers and, proving why he is the Canadian trend hitter, a sparkly sheath topped with this season’s hottest accessory - le chapeau.
Photos: canada.com

