Last night I enjoyed the 2nd and final night of the shOws at Andrew Richard Designs. The evening began with menswear designer Antonio Azzuolo and wrapped up with crowd favourite Jeremy Laing. I sat with my blogger friends and enjoyed the shOws as well as goodies from P&G Beauty & Grooming, Vitamin Water and Saeco.
First down the runway was Montreal born, Toronto educated and New York based designer Antonio Azzuolo with his Spring 2013 menswear collection. Since fine tuning his skills with Hermes and Ralph Lauren, Azzuolo has refined his design aesthetic with an artisanal and sartorial craftsmanship and unexpected whimsy. Known for his meticulously polished tailoring, Azzuolo favored unconstructed suits this season, incorporating wide-leg pants and wrap vests draping well below the jackets for a kimono effect. He scoffed at traditional formalwear by styling his models in Nike shoes.
While I’m not a fan of the kimono style or draped vests, I love Azzuolo’s tailored jackets and button down shirts with pleated plackets. I guess I prefer the more traditional suiting elements! Here are a few of my favourite looks from the SS’13 collection:
The crowd more than doubled by 7pm for the Jeremy Laing show – no surprise for this self-taught fashion genius and the former apprentice to Alexander McQueen! With Canadian fashion royalty lining the front row, Jeremy Laing presented a layered SS’13 collection right where F/W’12 left off.
Utilitarian details like snaps, fasteners and pockets contrasted with the softness of silk, chiffon and cotton in a colour palette that started with white and transitioned slowly to black.
I loved his use of embellishment with metallic baguettes on flak vests, bibs that attached to dresses with matte closures and leather accents on a sexy cutout mini.
The beauty was futuristic with cornrow style side braids and long strands covering nearly nude and stoic faces.
For a spring collection, I must admit that I missed the element of colour, but I did enjoy the metallic graduation, the one standout print and the gauzy fabrics used. Here are some of my favourite Laing SS’13 looks:
Overall, I really enjoyed the shOws this season and the new venue at Andrew Richard Designs is lovely. The most prevalent theme I noticed across all spring collection is hands down the use of geometric cutouts – I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more next week. Stay locked on Dainty Girl as we cover all five days at World MasterCard Fashion Week!
Your site is really looking fabulous Nicole – congrats on the great work!
Thank you so much Marta – means a lot coming from you! Hopefully see you at WMCFW!