All of a sudden the race is on. A palpitation-inducing jazz
beat provided by St. Germain’s album Tourist echoes off the
squash-court-sized ceilings of Argyle Fine Art. With nervous giggles,
seven amateur fashion designers rush to their stations, marked by
modestly wrapped supplies on white pedestals. Each must make the
perfect little black dress using only the materials provided: one
extra-large black t-shirt, needles, thread, fabric scissors, paper and
a pencil. They have one hour to complete this task in the gallery’s
first-ever fashion competition: Off the Cuff.
At her station upstairs, Heather Rappard kicks off her cerulean blue
pumps and shoos her friends away: “Guys, I really need to concentrate!”
Downstairs, Alison Seary frees herself from the draped silver chains
around her neck and sizes up her model.
Moments earlier, Brandt Eisner surprised the seven hopefuls with
their first weekly challenge. Next Sunday, the first designer will be
eliminated. “Once the week is up everyone’s going to meet back here,
there will be a mini-runway show and the judges will judge and somebody
will be eliminated,” Eisner told the crowd. The local designer and
photographer—known for his recycled fashions—had reason to be
nervous: One week ago, the lists of competing designers, photographers,
sponsors and prizes had yet to be finalized.
“We have to iron out all the kinks,” Eisner said on a June afternoon
in the gallery. “This is the first time I’ve organized something quite
like this. The template is basically the TV show.”
But so far, Eisner’s event paired Project Runway and Halifax
fashion without a loose stitch. Seven young designers—most who are
current NSCAD students or recent grads—will design duds on four
teasingly vague themes: discarded design, source inspiration,
transformation and music meets fashion. After the August 2 elimination,
the final contestants will be given a month to design four more pieces
for their collection that will be shown on a runway in the middle of
the Historic Properties courtyard on September 13.
Eisner’s pet project is the latest benchmark in the Halifax fashion
scene, which has been gaining momentum since Atlantic Fashion Week
debuted last fall. Revolving around a recycled and low-budget theme,
Off the Cuff is proving that Halifax’s first generation of on-the-map
wearable art has sustainable roots: “The whole myth is that you can’t
create without having a certain amount of funds, whereas the opposite
is true; it forces you to create better with a lack of funds.”
So when the seven models of varying builds strut before the judges
an hour later, it’s easy to imagine young Halifax women (or men)
wearing versions of these versatile LBDs on a Spring Garden runway.
After deliberation drowned out by “Fashionable People” booming over
the PA, the judges pick their favourites based on creativity, technical
merit, presentation and fulfillment of task: Ashkay Tyagi’s flattering
tunic with subtle pleating, Seary’s classic cinched cut with a knotted
neck detail and Rappard’s asymmetrical creation with a bubble hem.
The Coast’s own Sue Carter Flinn stepped in as a guest judge without
batting a lash when designer and NSCAD professor Gary Markle had to
leave. She and Biscuit owner Wendy Friedman and Turbine owner/designer
Lisa Drader-Murphy (who is providing the winner with professional
studio time), picked the finalists for their attention to detail. But
there can be only one frontrunner: Rappard shrieks as the judges point
to her model.
Next Sunday the seven designers will return to show the results of a
new challenge: create a wearable cocktail dress made from discarded
technologies. “I have nothing against using glue guns or whatever it
takes,” Eisner says. “But the idea is, ‘How can you take these everyday
materials and make them look like a million bucks?'”
Off the Cuff competitions July 12, 19, 26 and August
2 at Argyle Fine Art, 1869 Upper Water, 1pm, free, 425-9456. Grand
finale September 13 at Historic Properties.
Related Stories
Off the Cuff rocks out and dresses local musicians
Video: Off the Cuff finale
This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2009.
Great article, looking forward to the rest!
Louanna Murphy owns this competition. Her win at this year’s Wearable Art Show proved she is in a league of her own and will be hard to topple in this competition.