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The Goods

Scene Stealers

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THE SCENE: Popular website The Coveteur hosts a party with Holt Renfrew

Liz Cabral’s puffy sleeves (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Nothing unites the rich—and even richer still—better than self-adulation at Holt Renfrew, so it was no shock to see Toronto’s swishiest milling about the second-floor shoe department for Holts’ “You Got Coveteur’d” event, celebrating the website from Erin Kleinberg, Stephanie Mark and Jake Rosenberg, which looks into the closets of fashion’s hottest plates. Some of the ladies present had already been profiled, including Flare’s Liz Cabral, who wore enormous lime-green sleeves befitting an ’80s prom dress, and Suzanne Rogers, who was subdued in a taupe, lacy number. Check out the scene at Holt Renfrew in a gallery after the jump.

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The Goods

Hot List

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Hot List: Emerging designer John Hillifer sits at the top of his class

Toronto’s hardest working fashion student (Image: Dario Ruberto)

We saw John Hillifer showcase his wares at Mass Exodus in a show curated by Flare magazine’s Liz Cabral, and his unfinished edges and floppy shapes put his collection among the best of the bunch. But this isn’t the first time Hillifer has been in the fashion spotlight, since he worked with the women’s wear team at Danier to develop his winning jacket design from the Danier Design Challenge, assisted Danier’s lead menswear designer and interned with local dandy Philip Sparks. Hillifer hails from Vancouver Island, but his home at the moment is Toronto, and he’ll be graduating from Ryerson’s School of Fashion this year. We’re impressed that someone so green has shown so much initiative to gain bona fide work experience, and frankly, we wish other young people would follow suit. Success through hard work? What a concept.

Hot List, our compendium of Toronto stylemakers to watch, appears regularly on The Goods. See the full collection as we check in with more of Toronto’s hottest.

The Goods

Hot List

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Jano Badovinac, a rugged Toronto model who isn’t afraid to sort through our trash

Jano Badovinac is more than just a model (Image: Jaclyn Locke)

We mentioned we were starting a Hot List at The Goods, and today’s entry is the rugged and sometimes-bearded, sometimes-mustachioed industrial designer–cum-model Jano Badovinac. Badovinac is everywhere because he has his hands in everything, from “upcycling” old phone books (he has started a gun-in-a-Bible trick project for glue guns titled “Encygluepedia”), to part-time modelling and being the creative director and managing partner at Fugitive Glue. Find out more about this week’s need-to-know gentleman and a gallery of his work after the jump.

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The Goods

Toronto Fashion Week

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The Scene: top 12 looks on day three of LG Fashion Week (and a sneak peek at Robin Kay’s trailer)

A modern-day scarecrow (Image: Stefania Yarhi)

At fashion week events, there are the it girls and the showgirls, and then there are the girls who look fantastic even when they’re not in the spotlight. We look at some of the men and women who fight for our attention, and those who couldn’t care less. See our full roundup of looks in the gallery below.

The Goods

Toronto Fashion Week

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IZMA’s decadence deflects any notion of cautious spending at LG Fashion Week

Disco furball (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

At Izzy Camilleri and Adrian Mainella’s IZMA show last night, beyond the bevy of local celebs—Tara Spencer-Nairn and Gabrielle Miller of Corner Gas; soulstresses Divine Brown and Jully Black; and designers Jeremy Laing, Joe Mimran and Philip Sparks—we saw a sign that the recession was over more definitive than any economist could give: a floor-length fur evening gown. See this and the other pieces in the collection below.

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The Goods

The Find

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The Find: the perfect spring trench for the coolest girls

We know there’s still snow on the ground, but spring, believe it or not, is upon us, and we can’t wait to test out this knee-length Philip Sparks trench, available at Delphic. From the front, it is as classic as The Bell Jar and a breakup, but the goods are in the back. We love how the pleated flounce fans out in a peekaboo fashion. One of the best aspects: Sparks’s tailor-made clothes are all Canadian. Burberry who? $650.

Delphic, 706 Queen Street West, 416-603-3334

The Goods

Rogue Fashion Week

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Philip Sparks’s Canadiana wows—again—as Rogue Fashion Week kicks off

Philip’s walk to the bar was well lit (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Philip Sparks kicked off Rogue Fashion Week last night at the Burroughes Building with a fall/winter collection of classic duffle coats, military parkas and hand-knit Fair Isle sweaters. We’re told the men’s and women’s collections are inspired by—and, puzzlingly, meant to celebrate—Canadian winter. One audience member grumbled sarcastically that the fall plaid was “groundbreaking,” but we enjoyed it, seeing the triple-ply shirting and flannel-lined denim as reinventions, not tired standards. Read on for full photo coverage of the men’s and women’s collections and a rundown of the scene at Burroughes.

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The Goods

Rogue Fashion Week

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PHOTO GALLERY: see Philip Sparks’s fall/winter 2011 collection

Janelle Monáe, is that you? (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Philip Sparks kicked off Rogue Fashion Week’s first off-site show at Queen West’s Burroughes Building last night. Check out our complete coverage in today’s inaugural gallery of plaid, prints and classic Canadiana. Check out our full write up on the scene, the sights and what we think of Toronto’s gleeful Philip Sparks.

The Goods

Rogue Fashion Week

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The six buzziest rogue fashion week shows

Coco Rocha for Greta Constantine S/S 2011 (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Going rogue seems to be a designer’s raison d’être when the ad-clad walls of LG Fashion Week seem a bit too restrictive. Showing off-site may be more expensive for designers (well, there isn’t a premium on water), but Toronto’s fashion-inclined flock to these out-of-the-way warehouses and brickworks because the CNE can be depressing and equally out of the way. There’s usually free-flowing bubbly to be consumed at the off-site shows as well, which beats a marked-up beer and gratis sampling of watery espresso. Enter 2011’s class of rogue designers—check out the list below.

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The Goods

Good Stuff Cheap

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Sales roundup: $35 off at Over the Rainbow, 50 per cent off Ray Bans, Beckerman sample sale

FASHION AND BEAUTY

BECKERMAN AND ANDREA BRUECKNER SAMPLE SALE
We hear the Beckerman clothing at this sample will be going for less than wholesale prices. Also on offer are handbags from Andrea Brueckner. A kick-off party on December 3 is open to all. Dec. 3 4:30–10:30, Dec 4 12–6. 174 Spadina Ave., Unit 103, beckermans.com.

DANDI MAESTRE
Accessory designer Dandi Maestre has a knack for bold, statement-making jewellery (antler necklace, anyone?). While she sells on-line, we’re heading to this pre-holiday pop-up shop to ogle the goods in person. From $40. Until Dec. 22. 386 Huron St., dandimaestre.com.

JESSICA JENSEN
The handbag and leather goods designer is opening a temporary shop for the holiday season with up to 70 per cent off her accessories. Until Dec. 12. 972 Queen St. W., shopjessicajensen.com.

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The Goods

Good Stuff Cheap

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Sales roundup: Canadian designer sample sale, Photorama, Aquilano.Rimondi trunk show

FASHION AND BEAUTY

ASHLEY ROWE
The young Toronto designer is holding a trunk show this Saturday with pieces from her fall collection. Shoppers will get a free splatter-painted tee with their purchase. Nov. 27. 12–2. RAC Boutique, 124 Cumberland St., ashleyrowe.com.

BEAN SPROUT
Parents can stock up on winter boots, snowsuits and coats for the kids from such brands as Geox, Rip Zone and Kenneth Cole; everything is at least 20 per cent off. 565 Mount Pleasant Rd., 416-932-3727, beansprout.ca.

CANOPY BLUE
For one night, all merchandise in the womenswear boutique is 25 per cent off. Ten dollars from every purchase will go to Blessing in a Backpack, a local charity that provides in-school meals for children. Champagne and nibbles sweeten the deal. RSVP to 416-483-2583. Nov. 26. 2582 Yonge St.

ESPRIT
At this warehouse sale, clothing and accessories for men and women are up to 80 per cent off regular price. View the sales flyer here. Nov. 24, 6–9 p.m.; Nov. 25 and 26, 9–9; Nov. 27 and 28, 9–6. Queen Elizabeth Building, 190 Princes Blvd.

FGI SAMPLE SALE
The Fashion Group International of Toronto is holding a sale with some of Toronto’s most well-known designers: David Dixon, Philip Sparks, Nada and more. Nov. 25 and 26. 107. 579 Richmond St. W., Ste. 200.

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The Goods

From the Print Edition

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Four shoe styles that make the man

Footwear is the ultimate form of self-expression among the schoolboy set. From the classic oxford to the dandiest of deck shoes, we offer four options to ground any outfit in sartorial splendour

arrow to the leftTHE COUNTRY CLUBBER
Sperry tri-colour Topsider, $99.
Get Outside, 437 Queen St. W., 416-593-5598.

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The Goods

Trend Alert

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Is blue lipstick and eyeshadow a trend?

Jacflash owner Jaclyn Genovese, FDCC president Robin Kay, stylist Dwayne Kennedy and publicist Kate Mullin (Images: Stefania Yarhi)

We couldn’t help but notice that Toronto has turned a little blue lately (and we don’t mean the Anyone But Ford contingent). First, models at Philip Sparks’s fashion presentation sported icy eyeshadow harking back to the leg warmer and shoulder pad days of the 1980s. (In Saturday’s Globe, Maggie Wrobel touted indigo shades.) And then at Amanda Lew Kee’s show on Friday, models wore baby blue lipstick—a look we also noticed on the designer’s supporters, including Robin Kay.

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The Goods

Rogue Fashion Week

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See Philip Sparks’s spring collection and his new women’s line

(Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Philip Sparks showed his spring-summer 2011 collection to a packed house at the Burroughes Building at Queen and Bathurst last night (see the slide show of the collection here). Known for his menswear, Sparks debuted his first line of women’s apparel, his response to the hordes of fashionable ladies who have long coveted Sparks’s line of boots, shoes and smartly cut trousers and vests. Preppy was the name of the game—we can see any of these looks on a yacht or at the country club—in blue plaids and buffalo checks. We loved a flouncy navy skirt and the khaki coloured Mac jacket with indigo grosgrain trim. As the evening came to a close and guests lingered over bubbly, models stuffed piles of the free Cromwell and Cruthers shaving oil samples into their bags. It is fashion week, after all. A guy’s got to look his best. Begin slide show >>

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The Goods

Toronto Fashion Week

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Toronto Fashion Week Photos: Evan Biddell’s Kingdom collection

(Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Last night, Evan Biddell launched two weeks of fashion shows and industry events in Toronto with a show held at a factory on Wilson Avenue (check out the photos in our slide show below). The clothes, which played with proportion (armour was an inspiration), will be on display during LG fashion week, which begins on Monday.

Also showing this week, ahead of the official schedule, are Philip Sparks (he’ll be debuting his women’s line tonight), Nada, Dimitrichris, Joeffer Caoc, Ashley Rowe and Greta Constantine.

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