Lace, silk & corsets – Dreamy formal at EFW

Last Friday night I went to the Magnolia-Shefelt-Anna Talbot show which was a great grouping of formal and boudoir-ish designs by ladies from right here at home.

Photo credits: Peter Holst for Pure Magnolia, Peter Jensen for Anna Talbot, and Shefelt
Big thank you to Anna Talbot for the leads on the photos.

PURE MAGNOLIA

I’m a huge fan of Patty Nayel‘s designs, which range from traditional to edgy. I loved the blue-laced and the dark purple silk bodices, which were much more dramatic than the traditional white.

Bridesmaid’s dress

There were also some really low-cut, strapless necklines, which only models could probably sport. But I’d never go for that style anyway.

Cocktail-style dress

SHEFELT

Shefelt is the brainchild of a designer named Hamideh who is a friend of a friend. I don’t really know how to describe her line – but the vision of the collection was definitely there. There was one ghostly soundtrack that kept playing over and over again while the models walked excruciatingly slow to it. Then the track changed to something more upbeat, but they weren’t walking any faster. So that kind of threw me off. But you weren’t bored by any of it.

Some of the models came out with masks, echoing the ghostly ambiance.

Formal dress

Dress
(I would totally wear this as a wedding dress outdoors in a field)

It sucked that I couldn’t see most of the bottom halves of the dresses, because what I saw on top was completely different than anything I’ve ever seen. Upon visiting the Shefelt website, I’ve learned that her primary technique is felting: “Felt refers to a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing woollen fibres and that is the main medium for my designs.” So Shefelt refers both to the technique and the emotion that the collections convey. Nice!

Though there were not nearly enough pieces to see, there were lots of things going on in each piece – ruching of different materials form wool to silk; corset work; torn fabric for a touch of imperfection; wisps of soft fabric that reminded me of pussy willows; and extremely intricate sewing.

The standout piece for me was this one collar.

And one of the models came out with a black feathered outfit and did a bird dance thing at the end.

It’s hard to see this line selling in Vancouver because it’s so different from the lines that people buy here, but if Shefelt can attract the same crowd that are fans of Jeff Garner, I could see it working.

ANNA TALBOT

Emily Carr University grad Anna Talbot has a bright future ahead of her. Unlike the first two lines, her work was very simple, soft, airy, and incorporated some interesting photography and typography work I’ve never seen before aside from t-shirt printing. I only knew after receiving the photos that the models were not wearing shoes. And very minimal hair and makeup as well – very fitting for this collection.

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How & why to reuse in fashion – EFW03 Seminar

It came and it went. October 5-7 marked the 3rd installment of Eco Fashion Week in Vancouver. I didn’t get media access this year, and with a busy work and VIFF schedule, I knew that going to all the shows I wanted to see would prove too difficult and costly. However, there are some changes with EFW this time around, which definitely made it worth checking out.

First, the venue. EFW was held at Storyeum, which I don’t even know is really called Storyeum anymore, because the Water St. space was completely evacuated. But where was once drywall was a well-lit, spacious hub conducive to vendor booths, private lounge and bar areas, and then a sweet runway space out back. Second, they added “The Window” – which invited the public to see and buy from eco-friendly vendors – both local and international. That was my one criticism from the previous events, which were great productions but never really invited the public to interact with eco-friendly artisans. When I went to the trade show last year, the designers kept asking me if I was a buyer. But I would have bought some stuff there right on the spot if I was able to!

With just a reservation, I was able to attend Friday afternoon’s seminar with President Myriam Laroche, who needed only 45 minutes to get her point across.

Myriam Laroche

She started off by meeting the dozen or so folks of us to get a feel for whether we were industry folk or not and to make the whole presentation more interactive. I wasn’t really coming as a blogger, just someone who wanted to learn – straight from the horse’s mouth - what we, as general consumers, could do to better the earth with our fashion choices.

Myriam’s story is really interesting. She’s been in the fashion biz for 17 years, and converted to being a vintage shopper after learning some of the alarming stats:

- Each year in the US alone, 20 billion ibs. of textiles are thrown into landfills
- Textiles take up more space than any other type of waste.
- The average person tosses 68 ibs. of clothes a year.
- It takes 256 gallons of water to make one t-shirt, and 987 gallons of water for one pair of jeans (very similar to the amount needed to make 1 ib. of beef)
- Cotton growing accounts for 25% of pesticide use for farming
- 99% of clothes are compost-able (we just need the systems to be able to compost them).
- Dyes are also harmful to our water system.

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EFW Closing show: Prophetik

EFW’s closing show featuring Prophetik was a sell-out, forcing this middle child to stand for lack of getting there early (I was feeling sick during dinner but I braved it) and getting a seat. But enough of my whining.

With a dimly lit candelabra off to the side, a royal chair in the centre of the runway entrance, and the “Artist Wonderment” image on screen, I knew we were going to be transported.  As soon as the lights dropped and these movie-type Foreword slides came out, all signs of sickness were gone.

(click to enlarge)

Pretty powerful stuff, if you really got to read it and contemplate.

Thomas Ian Nicholas came out to perform. Why does that name sound familiar, you ask? Because Thomas is the one and only former child actor from Rookie of the Year, who my best friend had a major crush on in the 5th grade. He also went on to star in American Pie and its sequels.

I know, this has nothing to do with Prophetik. But I found it pretty funny and cool that he was a musician. Check out his opening performance:

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