Vancouver Fashion

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Blanche Macdonald Line & Form Review

November 30th, 2009 | Published in Blog

Words by Shona Wercholuk. Photos by Eugenio Flores. Blanche Macdonald 2009

November 24, 2009 marked the annual Blanche Macdonald fashion show, which showcases the graduating students’ work. There were around 50 students each showing 3 of their best designs, so as you can guess, this was not a typical fashion show. The show was just under two hours and showcased a wide array of pieces; from sportswear to couture to what I can only hope was costume design.

Most students managed to somehow incorporate a current trend into their pieces, which was great to see, as it shows they are not only designing but following fashion. A trend I love right now is the blazer and I was surprisingly refreshed with the ones I saw as they were almost all innovative. One blazer that was particularly memorable was one that created a unique trimming using a 3-tiered pattern. I loved this because it took the usually standard trend and made it into something completely different. I really admire this concept of taking something basic and turning it into something beautiful. Another student managed to do this in an absolutely stunning manner by taking seemingly plain household items and turning them into radiant designs for the runway. In one of her designs she turned a tablecloth into a fascinating couture mini dress (pictured above).

I also really appreciated the fact that students were thinking about whom their target buyers would be: Vancouverites. Many pieces were made of what seemed to be organic materials, which is something that is very important to many local consumers. I also noticed waterproof materials being used, something that is absolutely essential for anyone living in this city.

As much as I found some students to have new and innovative designs, I found more to be too ambitious. Many were attempting to create couture but surpassed this and took their designs to a level of being tacky. One student attempted to create drawbridge pants but rather they seemed to be futuristic clown pants with completely random pieces of fabric. Another student was, what I can only assume, trying to brand her clothing with paw prints. This made her designs, that had potential, come off as gaudy. In both these examples I felt the student was trying to be fashion savvy but the designs just came across as inadequate and in some cases careless.

Overall, this show was able to create a completely new fashion show experience. I found that the wide array of designs was great, whether they were fabulous and fashion conscious or sub par and too ambitious.