The intimate studio space at World MasterCard Fashion Week was the ideal setting for Cara Cheung’s spring/summer 2014 collection, with the designers sculptured looks begging for closer examination.
While asymmetric skirts and jackets commanded attention, cutout patterns and sheer layers bolstered the sultry collection. Highlights of the show included the designer’s take on eveningwear; an ultra-feminine vision coloured in white, black and chartreuse, with a favourite found in a bedazzled black and chartreuse skirt. And should the shorter skirts we preferred not suit your tastes, the collection also offers stunning variations on separates in the form of fitted, floor-grazing dresses that toy brilliantly with transparency.
Separates in the collection were showed pre-party ready on the runway, paired with blazers, jackets and vests, always matched according to a clean monochromatic colour palette. Not a collection for the timid, Cheung’s crop tops and body-hugging dresses have been imagined with the downtown femme fatale in mind.
Eager to watch the show with a guest we could image in Cheung’s designs, we invited the beautiful Georgina Reilly of CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries (catch the series Mondays at 8PM/8:30NT) to join us in the front row. When Reilly leaned in to share all the pieces she would wear (her favourite being a skirt and top covered with a sheer black geometric pattern overlay), as she watched the models make their way down the runway, we knew we had invited the right person.
For those use to seeing Reilly as Dr. Emily Grace on Murdoch Mysteries — outfitted in a Victorian wardrobe and neck deep in intrigue with scalpel in hand — it might be difficult to imagine the actress in modern attire, but rest assured, Reilly knows how to wear current trends.
One of Canada’s must-watch young talents, Reilly is anything but new to the scene. Having first stepped into the spotlight back in 2008 via her role in Bruce McDonald’s cult classic Pontypool, Reilly has appeared on television shows including The L.A. Complex, and shorts such as her most recent project Body Slam (2013), which sees her reunited with Pontpool co-star, veteran Canadian actor Stephen McHattie.
Despite being used to having a camera present, modelling is not something Reilly is eager to try out. As she shares during our portrait shoot, standing in front of a camera, posing while you have your photo taken is quite a bit different than acting in front of one. While runway modelling may not be for the actress, runway fashion certainly is. Below, Reilly takes our Fashion Week questionnaire and talks trends and Cara Cheung‘s latest collection
RATE THE IMPORTANT OF FASHION IN YOUR LIFE. (10 BEING FOOD.)
I would say 9. I really like fashion and I really like looking at what’s coming out and what the trends are, but I am not as hardcore as a 10 to be like, “I’m gotta have that thing if it’s like the thing.” If I like it…I will get it. I like clothes…and how I express myself is with my clothes too, so a 9.
BASED ON WHAT YOU’VE SEEN TONIGHT, WHAT DO YOU PREDICT TO BE THE BIGGEST TREND TO HIT THE STREETS NEXT SEASON?
There was a lot of black and white for spring, which was kind of cool cause it was a spring show, right? And cutouts. I like how the cutouts in little dresses are still in, and I like how the crop top and high wasted skirt combo is still happening. So that seems to be going strong.
DO YOU THINK YOU’LL INCORPORATE THIS TREND INTO YOUR OWN WAREDROBE?
Yeah, I like how the crop top and high wasted skirt match and are the same color. I want to find more pieces like that. A lot of the stuff that was there tonight I would totally wear.
ARE YOU MORE A TREND PERSON OR A STAPLES PERSON?
I would say I am a combination. I like staples mixed with trends, so like my comfy sweats, but I will mix it with like a big necklace or like a nice skirt. So I would say I am 40% staples and 60% trend.
WHAT IS THE MOST EXTRAVAGANT PIECE IN YOUR CLOSET?
My Betsy Johnson dress is probably my most extravagant, and then obviously my wedding ring cause it’s from Tiffany’s.
WHAT IS THE COZIEST PIECE IN YOUR CLOSET?
The onesie my friend bought me — I have a full red onie…it’s not really convenient.
IF YOU COULD TAKE ONE PIECE FROM THE RUNWAY HOME WITH YOU, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
It was the one that had the black overlay that was see-through with like a pattern.
WHAT CELEBRITY, DEAD OR ALIVE, WOULD YOU HAVE LIKED TO HAVE WATCHED THE SHOW WITH TONIGHT?
Rachel McAdams. She is a good Canadian chick, and she is just someone I admire work wise anyway. So any opportunity I could have to hang and pick her brain, I would be very happy to.
WHAT SONG WOULD YOU CHOOSE AS THE RUNWAY SOUNDTRACK TO THIS COLLECTION?
Anything by M83 cause the electronic sound would work well with those clothes.
WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON TO IMPRESS AT FASHION WEEK?
Nobody because I think the cool thing about fashion week is a bunch of people coming together with new ideas and their own style. I think what’s cool about it is you look around and lots of people are just doing their own thing and obviously just bringing that new idea out there, and your like, “Oh that’s cool, I wonder if I would ever wear that.” I think it’s just about having confidence in your own style cause I see things on other people that I really admire, but they wouldn’t really work on me because that’s them and that’s what I like about their whole thing that they have got going on. I think its about what you feel best in, and it’s the confidence in clothing I think that makes it successful. When someone is wearing something or you see people wear a trend just to wear a trend, it doesn’t have the same….what’s that quote? It’s not the dress, but the woman wearing it.
WHAT WAS THE SINGLE ELEMENT ABOUT THIS FASHION WEEK EXPERIENCE THAT IMPRESSED YOU MOST, ON OR OFF THE RUNWAY?
The work that goes into these collections from these designers. They are putting something new out there, but it obviously has to be something that’s also — for me anyway — it has to be something new with their own touch on it, but also wearable. It has to be real to people so they will buy and wear. And just all the work and the detail, I have worked with Sarah Stevenson before, and I have seen how much she goes through to put all her prints on her clothes and all this stuff — she works really hard. I never really knew about that until I came to Fashion Week more and actually learned about what it takes.
