Vancouver Fashion Week: Runway Reviews Part 4
April 14th, 2009 | Published in Event Report
Words by Maria. All photos by Yvonne Chew.
The fourth and final day of Vancouver Fashion Week featured “Street Wear” Canadian designers. The likes of Gully Klassics, local brands KILLA and To the Nines, and Ottawa’s Undone Clothing strutted their stuff on the runway. Drew William, another Vancouver-based designer, was also present, but he opted for a video presentation of his collection rather than a runway show. The short video was an interesting way of showing at VFW, where the music, images, and flow of the video were used to represent the line’s essence. Very well put together, the presentation was enjoyed by many. However, some would have preferred to see the pieces physically, especially since they looked to have quite the innovative and modern twist on menswear, without being pretentious or vague. Perhaps a combination of both would have made an ideal show.
Read on for coverage on four more designers who finished off VFW with style.
To the Nines
T-shirts, bandannas, and the occasional sweatshirt made their way onto the runway during the To the Nines show at VFW. Owen Covert and Nikolai Hobruecker are the culprits behind it all, with the essence of their collection lying in the graphics printed on their tops. Covert and Hobruecker’s prints exude a bold attitude, with influences residing in music and sports—a perfect combination for all the young’uns in Vancouver. Going from vintage pin-up girls to the Virgin Mary, To the Nines has a raw sense of humour that is refreshing to see in casual clothing.
Gully Klassics
Gully Klassics, designed by Samuel Opoku from Ontario, is a street wear line that prides itself in being elegant and casual at the same time. Catering to both a male and female clientele, Opoku’s designs have that “gangsta rapper” flavour complete with the unicoloured track suits that are way too baggy to even get any running done in them and the massive amount of branding wherever there’s too much blank space. Knit mini dresses and denim jumpsuits made up most of the women’s collection with jersey “clubbing” tops to add some colour to the mix. A line definitely fit for all those rapper-wannabes out there.
Undone Clothing
Undone Clothing takes its name quite literally with hems left raw in various tops, dresses, and bottoms (purposefully). Very basic designs were given a little something extra by designer Rubin Kooner with the addition of ribbons, tucks, and ties. Comfort was a definite theme in Kooner’s collection, which would make it a favourite among Vancouverites. However, several of the designs lacked originality and would have a hard time standing out in the crowd. The jersey off-the-shoulder tee and the sweatpants are definitely things we’ve seen before.
KILLA
KILLA definitely helped end VFW F/W ’09 with a bang. Models strutted, flipped, and danced down the runway, performing break dancing moves at its end. The show was nearly stolen away by these pirouetting b-boys (especially after they decided to take their shirts off), but KILLA’s designs managed to outperform them. KILLA combines style with function featuring a keypad on sleeves that allows the wearer to control his or her iPod or cell phone with ease. The combination of a black and white palette with one of the three primary colours (plus green) really livened the collection–and the fit and styling was impeccable to say the least. All this put together with killer graphics and subtle branding makes for a casual clothing collection destined to be in many, many of the coolest closets.
