Iconic fashion designer Coco Chanel once said: “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” Chanel was right, even when it comes to Edmonton. Designers are changing the way we see fashion in our city.
Some are jewellers, some are high-concept clothing creators. Some work in striking silhouettes and clean lines, while others work with current and forecasted trends and translate them to the Edmonton market. They pull ideas from our city’s streets to augment our daily lives. For our spring fashion issue, we asked five local fashion designers to show us what’s happening by bringing their favourite designs to the pages of Avenue.
Photography by Pedersen
Consulting by Janis Galloway of Publicity Room
Makeup by Jasmine Ming-Wai Ma
Model Madeline Au from Mode Models
Nicole Campre is best known to Edmontonians as the entrepreneur behind the ever-expanding Workhall clothing retailer and fashion line. She has been featured in Vogue Britain, Vogue Italia, Fashion Magazine Canada, Flare Magazine Canada, Georgie, Rise Magazine, Alberta Venture and Avenue, and was named a 2016 Designer to Watch by Western Living. But where Workhall was developed with a team of designers (which includes Campre), the coming launch of the fashion entrepreneur’s 2016 fall/winter Nicole Campre line proves that the designer truly is one to observe. The Mi Anh Jacket is inspired by Campre’s friend and employee in Ho Chi Minh City, Pha Mi Anh. She encouraged Campre to pursue her own collection.
“This design is one of my most favorite of the collection as it embodies all the elements of my work and motivation – people. The floral silk brocade combined with the fused wool is a powerful, yet understated element,” says Campre
LUXX Ready to Wear
For Derek Jagodzinsky of LUXX Ready to Wear, bold patterns and colours are not merely derived from a keen fashion sense. The University of Alberta design graduate and former intern under New York designer (and former Edmontonian) Michael Kaye has designed under his LUXX line since 2010. While previous collections were professional yet chic styles for women, Jagodzinsky’s most recent collection, Aboriginal-Pop, draws influence from his heritage as a member of the Whitefish Lake First Nation.
“My culture is a big part of my identity and strongly influences my designs. I’ve taken traditional imagery and detailing, and blended them into modern shapes, garments and silhouettes, which really come to life on the runway,” says the designer. While still holding true to the professional and chic aesthetic, the bold take on the designer’s heritage makes for an original statement piece.
Amor Carandang and Chris Provins – partners in both life and design – leapt onto the Edmonton fashion design scene in 2014 with Hunt Amor, now considered one of Alberta’s most recognized custom jewellery brands. Where Hunt Amor once boasted a large collection of delicate body chains, rings, necklaces, earrings and hand-cut brass V-earrings, the label has since expanded to include its Kindred line – high-end jewellery crafted in elegant gold.
“We’re super excited to be designing with people who we get to connect with and mix our skills through materials, processes and technology – that really excites us,” says Carandang of the new line, featured above. “The pieces represent the work we’re creating with the people we’re proud to know.”
Since she won the Mercedes-Benz StartUp competition at World Mastercard Fashion week, Malorie Urbanovitch has been the one to watch in Edmonton’s growing pool of fashion designers. Working as a full-time designer for the last three years, Urbanovitch has created apparel that has circulated in Edmonton through a tight network of artisan craft fairs and retailers such as Habitat Etc., but her crowning achievement to date was the introduction of her line to the Simons location in West Edmonton Mall.
There, the elevated simplicity, whimsy and quirkiness of her designs are made available in forms like the black linen coat and scribble earrings (pictured above) from her 2016 spring collection. Given the popularity of her work, it’s no surprise that Urbanovitch’s fall 2016-2017 line will be spreading to Simons locations in Toronto as well.
Alisha Schick, the creative force behind Suka Clothing, first began drawing and designing her collections in high school, but it was with the launch of Suka Clothing in 2011 that she found her voice in Edmonton’s fashion world.
While Schick’s previous collections provide many Edmontonians with a much-needed edge to their wardrobe choices, her new spring/summer surf-punk-inspired collection – featuring items such as the shark attack T-shirt and moto leather skirt featured above – is bringing the fashion rebellion to Calgarians as well. Her line recently expanded from Edmonton’s Bamboo Ballroom to the retailer’s new location in Calgary, where she hopes this season’s line will find a new audience.
“This season, we took the effortless lifestyle of the California coast and mixed it with subcultural influences that included the moto jacket detailing signature of punk-rock bands and DIY punk detailing and deconstruction in California cotton-inspired tees,” says Schick. “We love the casual details and silhouette. It makes the biggest statement about this season’s theme.