The Top 5 Trends Seen At World MasterCard Fashion Week

After his daily “The Good, The Bad + The Meh” reviews (check out Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4) from World MasterCard Fashion Week, Vv Magazine’s Fashion Editor Philip Mak gives his overall review of the shows and top five favourite trends…

Hey World MasterCard Fashion Week, 1976 called and they want their outfits back. I kid — mostly. Running last week, the autumn/winter 2015 presentation at David Pecaut Square was largely influenced by the decade of disco, with flared trousers, earthy tones, and playful details of leather fringe.

Beyond the 70s, the other big trend at World MasterCard Fashion Week was fur. Like, the whole petting zoo. Furrier Farley Chatto sent a highly non-vegan collection down the runway, inspired by the full luxurious fur coats of Tzar Nicholas II and his court. Another big trend this year, as seen on the catwalks of Pink Tartan, Mackage, and Rudsak, was fur sleeves on jackets. The Wild North’s presentation on Friday was all sorts of strange and furry, with an odd pre-show video that seemed like a crossbreed of a David Attenborough wolf special and an episode of Game of Thrones. Models then walked the runway in parkas, floral leggings as pants, and fur bikini tops (think Kim Kardashian’s infamous “furkini”). Just when things couldn’t get weirder, an animal rights activist stormed the runway. Oh, the drama!

As always, Toronto fashion week is gown town. (Gownton Abbey?) David Dixon and Mikael D presented ornate red carpet dreams of lace, jewels, leather, and dramatic uses of contrast. Other big trends from World MasterCard Fashion Week included an abundance of leather and culottes (see Hilary MacMillan’s show for examples), various shades of winter off-white, and large knits (see Melissa Nepton and Malorie Urbanovitch).

Menswear aficionados were lucky this season. Jaan Choxi presented a stunning debut collection of traditional menswear, featuring beautifully tailored skinny suits and luxe leather jackets. The long hair, aviators 70s-inspired styling was also on-point. 3.Paradis, a last-minute sub-in for Parloque’s 111 collection, presented a menswear show with a more street style flare. Think Alexander Wang if he lived in Montreal (“Alexandre Wang, peut-etre?“). Looks were seemingly inspired by a dystopian future where people need to wear oxygen masks and shorts over leggings.

While we’re on the topic of trends, I would like to note how this highlights an uncomfortable aspect of fashion weeks in general: namely their static nature and raison d’etre as an exhibition of the next season’s wares. As David Dixon noted in our recent interview, until the past decade you’d see a show at fashion week and six months later you’d find the clothing in stores and across editorial spreads. Social media has changed this, with overall market trends giving way to more individual expressions of taste – or whatever the Kardashian sisters decide to Instagram that day. All of this to say, who knows if the 70s look will still be “in Vogue” (literally and figuratively) six months from now?

With online outlets like Style.com publishing catwalk photos the next day, fashion weeks have not only lost their retail bearings but also their print editorial sway. Beyond this, a presentation at World MasterCard Fashion Week is wildly expensive (beginning at around a minimum of $12,000 for a show) with questionable returns on investment. If you don’t work in fashion, I invite you to take a look at the World MasterCard Fashion Week designer roster for this season and see if you recognize more than five on the list. The big household names are gone. While Joe Fresh and Target are clusterf*cks in their own right, they attract invaluable attention and profile to the event from the general public. Our fashion community and economy will not grow or thrive solely doing events that are only internally relevant.

Couple this with dwindling or non-existent government funding for emerging designers and the result is they either leave us for larger platforms (a la Christopher Bates), quit the industry, or stay and do something akin to the Subway Canada x Vawk collaboration from day two. Sunny Fong, a former Project Runway Canada winner, collaborated with the fast food giant for a five-piece collection that felt incredibly awkward and out of place. Hopefully corporate collaborations of this nature are not the new sandwich… er… flavour of the week.

Rumour has it that the event as a whole is holding on to existence by the skin of its teeth. With relatively recent closures of the Ottawa and Montreal fashion weeks, it’s not an unbelievable statement. The question is now: How does World MasterCard Fashion Week continue to stay relevant and profitable? There isn’t an easy answer though the direction we are moving in is troubling.

In case I haven’t scared off, here are the top 5 trends from World MasterCard Fashion Week.

Click here to view gallery.

What were some of your favourite trends showcased at WMCFW? Let Vv Magazine know in the comments below or tweet us @ViewTheVibe.