While the world anxiously speculates about a dire economy,
and Judd Apatow’s posse smugly appears on the cover of Vanity
Fair wearing nothing but undershirts and barrels, Nova Scotian
fashion designers continue their creative business as usual.
This weekend, at the second Atlantic Fashion Week, nine of those
designers, plus a group of talented NSCAD students, will be presenting
their Fall 2009 collections.
Anna Gilkerson, founder and designer for deux fm, has already made a
name for her label by proving that environmentally sound fabrics like
bamboo can be constructed into beautiful, feminine clothing that begs
to be touched. Oh, and it’s wrinkle-resistant, too.
“I think we’re going to be rebranding a little bit more towards
resort and spring-summer wear,” she says. Her bikinis were big hits at
the last AFW, and with her customers. In the past, Gilkerson’s created
classic-cut string bikinis out of recycled denim, lined with soft soy
jersey. “I’ll be doing a lot more swimwear, a lot more t-shirts with
prints and special dying and recycled stuff. I just find that line of
our clothing is selling a lot better than just our ready-to-wear.”
It’s tough for Gilkerson to do a huge collection when she’s
competing with big designers who have access to more fabrics, simply
because of their size, and also because she only sources from Canadian
suppliers. “It’s hard because we’re small—and we don’t want to get
huge, huge, huge—to get fabrics that are different every season. We
have to think outside of the box. I can do that with swimwear and cute
sundresses.”
Generally, she keeps her production down to 30 styles, 80 to 100
pieces maximum. Gilkerson has local development and pattern-making
help, but fabrics are difficult, although she has worked with
Stanfields, the underwear king, on some previous lines. “I want to do
local and I want to be ethical. The bigger you get, the less control
you have over some of those issues. But it does push you to be creative
with what you do have.”
For her fall AFW collection on Saturday, Gilkerson is showing a lot
of fun knit-jersey dresses, natural silk items and work attire that is
comfortable, because in 2009 people “want to feel safe and cozy.”
Inspired by the American election, look for plenty of blues and reds,
plus cream and black. There’s an Asian influence with big, bold prints
and also trompe-l’oeil printed tops. She’s introducing knitwear,
three sweaters manufactured by a women’s co-op in Lima, Peru.
“They approached us…it’s a bunch of women; mothers with women who
have children that want to be home with them, so they do hand-knitting.
It’s a small business of 20 to 30 women knitters. Some of them work
with the manufacturers, others knit at home. We used baby
alpaca—alpaca’s a lot better on the environment—they don’t have to
treat the wools so much. The colours are really low toxic and
beautiful, saturated.”
Earlier this year on a trip to Hong Kong, designer Kim Munson met
with the head of that country’s apparel association to see if there was
a possibility of selling her Halifax fashion line, Orphanage, in local
retail stores. She’s been in contact with a couple of retailers, but
says she finds shipping too expensive. “It can cost $400 to send a box
and so my pricing has to be high, and they mark down like crazy there
anyway, so I’m finding it hard to get into their price point. It may
happen but not for this season. We’re still in talks.”
Munson jokes about Orphanage fall collection, which hits the catwalk
on Friday, as being so local it has a “12-block radius.” She does all
her own sewing and pattern drafting, and sources her fabrics from the
usual haunts—Value Village, Frenchie’s or donation—and then
deconstructs them into new fashion that doubles as conversation
pieces.
For the first time, Munson is transforming old leather coats and
bags into hot leather spats and leather sleeves that go right from the
shoulder to the first knuckle. It’s also the first time that she’s
designed corporate wear. There’s the Jackie shirt, created from men’s
button-down shirts, a winter coat, skirts and a dress made of suit
coats.
If you don’t have an AIG-sized bonus kicking around, that’s OK. Both
of these talented designers will be selling their clothing at a sale on
Sunday at Vibe Salon and Spa.
Atlantic Fashion Week showcases, Friday and Saturday
at the Olympic Centre, Hunter and Cunard, 8pm, $20, atlanticfashionweek.com. See
Shoptalk (page 15) and look for continuing AFW coverage this weekend at
thecoast.ca.
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This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2009.