Grab of the Week: a pair of designer eyeglasses that adjusts to your face

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Last week, famous industrial designer and architect Ron Arad paid a visit to Toronto. He was here to launch his newest project, Pq Eyewear, which is now available here exclusively at one of the city’s top designer eyewear shops, Karir Eyewear.

Despite this being Arad’s first foray into eyewear, his innovative creations put most designs to shame. Aside from their appearance (which veer more towards works of art), the A-Frame wire structures allow for the glasses to adjust to each individual’s face.

There’s no doubt that design nerds across the city will be scrambling to get their hands on a pair.

White City frames by Pq Eyewear, $795. Available Karir Eyewear

First Draught: Rodenbach Classic, an easy-drinking introduction to sour beer

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Following last week’s post about Brasserie des Rocs Grand Cru, there was a remarkable unity to the feedback I received. It all seemed to align around the common theme of, “If you think that grand cru beer is good, then you should definitely try Rodenbach Grand Cru.”

As luck would have it, I was reading those messages while on the way to the media announcement for the Canadian launch of Rodenbach Classic on draught.

It’s the entry-level version (rather than the grand cru) of Rodenbach’s Flemish sour ale that is now available, but this is definitely still a beer worth trying. In Rodenbach’s case, the grand cru designation means that each bottle has about two-thirds oak-aged sour beer balanced with young beer. With the Classic, it’s only a quarter of the older stuff. That means that this beer is only slightly sour, and if the Panil from two weeks ago sounded like it would be a little much for you, take this gentler introduction to sour beer.

Flanders Red is an alternate name for the style, and that makes sense after holding a glass to the light and noticing that the edges of the otherwise medium-brown beer fade to auburn. The aroma of sweet raisins and stewed cherries becomes apparent as the frothy, off-white head dissipates. The first taste is of subtle sourness that continues through to a sweet-tart finish. As the beer warms, the sour edge picks up a bit, but so does the balancing malty sweetness.

Lightly sour Flemish ales are some of the easiest beers to pair successfully with food. Salads and sandwiches seem like overly general suggestions, but this pairing will work in many cases. The beer’s fine tartness will match the acidity in dressings and condiments; it will contrast with meat and cheese and it will lift fat and salt from the palate between bites. When warmer weather eventually arrives, this Rodenbach will also serve well as a patio sipper on its own.

Rodenbach Classic can be found at Bier Markt locations across Toronto and other venues such as Bar Hop, Volo and Castro’s Lounge.

Rodenbach Classic Sour Flemish Ale, available at various bars

In addition to covering beer, new restaurants and food trucks for Post City, David Ort writes about food and drink for several Toronto publications including Spotlight Toronto and his own site, Food With Legs. For more of his thoughts on food, beer and life in general, follow him on Twitter.

The Toronto Fashion Week Diaries: Laura Siegel, Klaxon Howl, David Dixon, Duy, Sid Neigum

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Day two got off to a rousing start with the NYC-based Laura Siegel. Her showings have enchanted in the past, and this season was no different. She opted for a more traditional setup, with a single model posing on a riser before rotating backstage. (Last year, her static presentation was far less successful.)

Working with artisans once again, Siegel showcased highly layered looks in a palette that morphed from rusty reds to earthy greens. The mash-up of block prints, tie-dye techniques and hand embroidery lent everything a tribal, nomadic feel that exuded warmth and a sense of security. An all-green look was exceptional: an embroidered leather jacket and drop-waist pants were anchored by a chunky knit scarf, really showcasing the designer’s aesthetic.

Klaxon Howl’s Matt Robinson managed to envelop his entire collection with dark appeal from the very start: a lone guitarist set the scene, strumming dissonantly while spotlights pinpointed various models in the dimly lit room. It was great staging — though it made seeing the clothes a little bit tricky. In an opening video, Robinson explained that his label is “anti-fashion,” and that he’s not about reinventing the status quo each season: his job is to build menswear staples using high-quality fabrics alongside cuts that will stand the test of time. A bearded fellow, with a Zach Galifianakis air to him, opened the show in a black beanie, a boxy camel-coloured jacket and relaxed-fit pants, exemplifying the designer’s vision. Favourite pieces included a military-inspired jacket with leather detailing at the cuffs, and a chocolate brown and black varsity jacket with patch pockets.

Next up was David Dixon. What is there to say about the designer? Obviously he has his fair share of impassioned customers, seeing as he’s been in the Canadian fashion scene for a gaggle of years. Generally, however, his collections tend to underwhelm in a slightly overwhelming manner, and this time his gaudy tendencies once again reared their heads with an insistence on sequined sleeves, skirts brimming with petals and bodices that brought to mind a fanned-out serviette. In some instances, however, Dixon’s way with cloth has to be admired; the cuts on the shift dresses were impeccably done, and they created some rather interesting lines. A royal blue number with miniature peplums, if you will, over the hips, was a standout. One question: where was Suzanne Rogers?

Last year, the oh-so-charming Duy Nguyen snapped up the Mercedes-Benz StartUp prize; this season marks the debut collection of Duy under their direction. Citing Arctic nature as inspiration, the designer sent out a series of looks modeled after the icy landscape of the north. A maxi dustcoat in cream and black created a dramatic silhouette, while an icy blue trapeze coat — worn over a white plastified denim dress — was highly covetable. The approach to eveningwear was effortless: a chunky knit sweater topped with a scarf was worn with a long skirt crafted out of tiered lace. Stunning.

Sid Neigum brought the day to a close. Having recently won the TFI New Labels competition, Neigum is one of the country’s most exciting young designers. For fall, he turned to traditional uniforms, breaking them down into his post-apocalyptic vision. As a cellist wearing an extended samurai knot set the scene at the head of the runway, models marched out in what we’ve come to expect: layered garments with asymmetrical hemlines and dramatic proportions. The second half of the show was more stimulating, with a succession of prints shown. A black-and-white checkered print made way for a floral, which juxtaposed the negative with the original image. This new direction for Neigum worked well: the final looks — done in a print that felt like a deviously warped take on Monet’s water lilies — were the most tantalizing and will hopefully make their way onto many a back come fall.

Next up: Matis by Lucian Matis and Joe Fresh

Five must-see movies from the Canadian Film Fest

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As the major film festival circuit nears, Canadian Film Fest begins at The Royal this week, offering up the best films the nation has produced this year. Dramas, comedies, documentaries and films that mesh genres are on display, with many entries making their world premieres. Here are our best bets.

The Storm Within — March 20

This French language entry — alternately titled Rouge Sang — offers a tension-filled historic vengeance story. The female victim-turned-aggressor genre is redone here, set in 1799, with a quintet of British soldiers as the unwelcome male predators. The film is more disciplined than most in the genre, and it builds to an exciting finish.

Please Kill Mr. Know It all — March 21

This quirky and hyperbolic comedy stars Brampton native Lara Jean Chorostecki as an anonymous advice columnist who quickly loses control of her life. With massive success dishing out tips to the world, her alter ego, Mr. Know It All, needs a face. Searching the streets for the right look, she attributes a handsome man to the column, not yet realizing he is an assassin who is none too pleased to be recognized. Hijinks ensue.

The Disappeared — March 22

A simple, powerful drama, The Disappeared is instantly uncomfortable, and tense throughout. A group of fishermen lose their vessel and take to a pair of lifeboats, where they try to survive starvation, dehydration and each other. Directed by East Coast novelist Shandi Mitchell, and starring Newfoundland native Shawn Doyle, The Disappeared is chilling and effective.

The Scene: an Exploration of Music in Toronto — March 23

A bit of musical documentary fare during a week that celebrates Canadian music as well as film, The Scene is an enjoyable film for any music fan living in Toronto. Bands young and old offer up their notions of Toronto as a music city in a film that will make you want to see a show right away.

Mr. Viral — March 23

Jefferson Brown gets two starring roles this festival as he plays both the leading man in Mr. Know It All and the titular ad exec in Mr.Viral. A dark, sinister comedy about cutthroat people and impressionable youngsters, Alex Boothby’s entry is both funny and uncomfortable, and it features a great performance by Montreal-born actress Alex Appel.

Canadian Film Fest, The Royal, March 20-23

Drink This: The Drake Hotel’s Sons and Daughters

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With sudden gusts of wind and swirling snow, Toronto is back in winter’s clutches. Fortunately, this week marks A Taste of Iceland in Toronto, a festival running from March 21–24 that celebrates all things pertaining to the Nordic land: folklore, Vikings, volcanoes and, yes, Icelandic cuisine.

Over at The Drake Hotel, those looking to indulge in a beverage inspired by the country can sip on the Sons and Daughters cocktail ($9). The drink’s moniker is inspired by Iceland’s patronymic naming tradition, in which a person’s last name is based on their father’s first name, and is given the suffix –son or –dottir depending on whether they are their father’s son or daughter.

Conjured up by mixologist Aaron Gaulke, the tipple pairs Reyka vodka (from Iceland) with aquavit (a Scandinavian liquor), lemon juice, caraway seeds, muddled thyme and housemade sea-buckthorn syrup. The only thing missing is a hot spring from which to sip it.

The Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. W., 416-531-5042

For more must-try Toronto cocktails, check out our Pinterest page

Toronto’s gourmet Mac attack

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Iceberg lettuce, white sesame seed buns and Thousand Island dressing: these ingredients were once relegated to the annals of fast food. No longer. Across Toronto, serious restaurants are paying tribute to the tasty (but terrible) McDonald’s. Why? When it tastes this good, who cares? Below, four elevated takes on Mickey D’s.

Bloody good (pictured above)

At the newly resurrected Hoof Café (which serves brunch as a “permanent pop-up” out of Hoof Raw Bar), chef Amancio dos Santos does a take on the Egg McMuffin with a nose-to-tail twist (in true Hoof fashion). He fries an egg inside a mould, on a flat top, so that it retains the characteristic shape one would see in a McDonald’s sandwich. It’s joined with a patty of Spanish-style blood sausage (poached and seared) and an arugula salad dressed with mayo and grainy Dijon mustard. The vessel is a standard English muffin from the grocery store.
$6. Hoof Café at Hoof Raw Bar, 926 Dundas St. W., 647-346-9356

Raw power

When chef Matthew Sullivan began playing around with recipes for a steak tartare at Leslieville’s Skin+Bones restaurant, his intention was to simply create an umami-heavy appetizer. But as he tasted the dish-in-progress, he noticed it had a similar flavour profile to a Big Mac, so he played it up. In its current form, the tangy tartare is half sirloin and half beef heart, finely chopped and mixed with shallot, garlic, cucumber, mustard, Tabasco and other spices. It’s accompanied by iceberg lettuce, Monforte Toscano cheese, fermented cucumbers and house-made milk-bread crostini.
$13. Skin+Bones, 980 Queen St. E., 416-524-5209

Size doesn’t matter

Queen and Bathurst’s 416 Snack Bar has never been afraid to take trashy food and elevate it. On Sundays, chef Rory McGouran serves up a miniature, delicious, two-bite version of the Big Mac. A patty made from blade steak — seasoned with a touch of salt and pepper — is seared on a flat top grill, then finished in the oven with a slice of medium cheddar from the Cheese Boutique. It goes into a house-made slider bun (made from enriched white flour, of course) along with iceberg lettuce, diced white onion and pickles. The kicker is a slather of store-bought Thousand Island dressing.
$4. 416 Snack Bar, 181 Bathurst St., 416-364-9320

Playing chicken

Queen West’s newly opened Happy Child offers a menu that’s rampant with throwbacks to fast-food culture (including a mean Kentucky-fried Cornish hen and a very satisfying interpretation of the Whopper). For a unique take on the McChicken, owner-chef Fan Zhang uses sweetbreads in the place of poultry. He poaches them, dredges them with flour and deep-fries them. The sweetbreads are then placed on a white sesame seed bun from Silverstein’s Bakery, along with a lemony mayonnaise and some iceberg lettuce.
$8. Happy Child, 1168 Queen St. W., 647-748-1599

The Toronto Fashion Week Diaries: Izzy Camilleri, Chloé Comme Parris, Pink Tartan, Bustle

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12:14 pm

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Last week, The ShOws acted as a palate teaser for the fashion crowd, with Monday marking the debut of the official World MasterCard Fashion Week. Usually a comparatively low-key day, this season was an exception, with collections from Izzy Camilleri, Chloé Comme Parris, Pink Tartan and Bustle shown back to back.

Throughout the day, we saw editorial faces like Bernadette Morra, Lisa Tant and Tiyana Grulovic appear in the front row alongside Canuck celebs such as Jully Black, the ever-ebullient Stacey McKenzie (who donned a dress with a slit up-to-there), and Ainsley Kerr in a Chloé Comme Parris dress from this season.

The first show of the day marked Izzy Camilleri’s return to the runway. A doyenne of Toronto fashion scene, Camilleri showcased a new ready-to-wear line, MIZ, which featured a series of ’60s-inspired looks specifically aimed at boomer ladies. A suitably silver-haired woman opened the show, enrobed in a head-to-toe houndstooth look topped with a black coat with a hefty silver fox collar. More fur pieces continued to accent looks — like a mixed animal print blouse with a faux-fur collar — though unfortunately the collection as a whole lacked pop, and the houndstooth and animal prints felt like safe fallbacks for middle-aged women. We expected a bit more swagger from the designer who landed one of her furs in The Devil Wears Prada.

Chloé Comme Parris is always a big draw of the week, with Chloe and Parris Gordon relentlessly promoting a pronounced cool-girl vibe through their designs. For fall, the sisters unfolded a collection with all the classic CCP trappings: a glam-grunge aesthetic, delicately illustrative prints, piercing culture-inspired hardware and a great soundtrack to boot. Over the strains of Kurt Cobain, models trounced out in various covetable looks: a menswear-inspired blouse fit with Jugendstil-like sketches; a grey knit dress with a lattice of chains; a hunter green leather perfecto with etched motifs running down the sleeves. Jewellery accents included charm-adorned necklaces and others done in a delicate chain-link. Overall, the collection hit all of the right notes and, come fall, is bound to spring up in plenty of editorial spreads.

Kimberley Newport-Mimran’s collections for Pink Tartan are another hot ticket, and thankfully her show wasn’t penciled into the same night as Joe Fresh. The show drew Jorn Weisbrodt, Suzanne Boyd (in a sizable fur vest) and a bevy of ladies dolled up in Pink Tartan gear. Joe Mimran grinned and greeted his way down the front row, settling down as the show began.

For fall, it was all about fur. Fur collars, fur stoles, full-fledged fur coats, frocks edged in fur and even a fur skirt. Fur was everywhere. Fur aside, Newport-Mimran was up to her old tricks, referencing the ’60s while still keeping silhouettes modern and fresh. The only misstep was the hair: the models were fit with mussed-up blonde bobs, which were a wee bit too shiny to pass as real locks, detracting slightly from the garb. Highlights for fall included a Barbie-pink sheath topped with a baby-pink fur collar, a stunning royal-blue fur coat and, in the non-fur realm, the various garments done in a floral print, which appeared to have been touched by a pointillist brush. Yet another success story for Kim.

The atmosphere at Bustle seemed slightly more subdued than usual. Ruth Promislow and Shawn Hewson’s runway saw lampposts front a shot of Big Ben, preparing attendees for a show filled with Londontown references. As per usual, the menswear collection encouraged gents to boldly embrace pattern-play. Favourites included a head-to-toe Benday dot look, featuring a two-tone blazer over a dotted shirt and pants. Model Myles Sexton — usually found draped in sheer black, erm, asset-enhancing garb — looked relatively demure in a floral-print button-down paired with relaxed-fitting pants. Hewson’s runway appearance exemplified the duo’s thoughts on mixing and matching patterns, marking the end to another fun and lighthearted collection.

Tomorrow: Laura Siegel and Sid Neigum

Concert Review: Rihanna at the Air Canada Centre

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Performers don’t need to possess a singular identity. But, as I learned during the first of Rihanna’s two shows at the ACC, you can’t be entirely lacking in identity, either. By the end of Monday night’s delayed-by-an-hour performance, I knew less about her as an artist than I did going in.

Her make-the-audience-wait routine, a move she also pulled one night earlier in Montreal, screamed diva, but her lack of stage presence suggested anything but that. Were it not for a bright spotlight, RiRi may well have blended right in with her non-descript array of dancers. Any personality she displayed was, by and large, limited to her ample and colourful wardrobe.

Perhaps her lack of verve stemmed from some severely limited onstage movement. Swagger? Sure, she had plenty. But any true dancing was essentially limited to some hip-swinging during “We Found Love” and her overtly sexual gyrations, particularly during “Rockstar 101” (if anyone was still wondering, her girl-next-door identity has long since vanished).

Don’t call Rihanna a songstress, either. Perhaps it’s unfair to critique her voice so soon after her much-publicized battle with laryngitis, but her limited vocal range was consistent with a rushed, half-hearted performance that never truly felt all-out.

Sure, her energy seemed to pick up towards the end of the set as she launched into a string of crowd favourites, including “Hate That I Love You,” “We Found Love” and “Don’t Stop The Music.” But it felt all too brief and fleeting, with just hints of a crescendo emerging by the time her two-song encore (“Stay” and “Diamonds,” for those who care) kicked in.

All in all, after coming on an hour late with nary an apology for her adoring, forgiving fans, it turned out that Rihanna wasn’t really worth the wait.

Toronto Style Radar: The Spoke Club, Target, Mint Boutique, Dare to Wear, Oscar de la Renta

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Every Tuesday, we round up the best events from the city’s fashion scene. In this edition: Target opens 17 new stores in Ontario, a runway show at The Spoke Club, fashion for a cause and more.

Fashion in the Digital World

Where: Hard Rock Cafe, 2nd floor, 279 Yonge St.
When: March 19
Details: The world has gone digital, and so has fashion. Join Grayson Miller of StyleDemocracy for a night of rubbing elbows and expanding networks. Vendors will be there to promote their businesses, and there will be Q&As with members of Fashion Forward, Peacock Parade, Fashion Society and more.

Target Takes Toronto

Where: Various locations
When: March 19
Details: After the successful opening of Ontario’s first locations in March, U.S. retail giant Target opened 17 new stores today, including two here in Toronto (with a third slated for later this month).

Fashion Obsession

Where: The Spoke Club, 600 King St. W.
When: March 21, 8 p.m.
Details: Celebrate Fashion Week at The Spoke Club in support of local designers. Snacks and mingling start at 8 p.m., with a runway show at 9 p.m. Toronto designers Masha, Brose, Pat McDonagh and Sentaler will show off their work to a backdrop of live music.

Step into Spring

Where: Mint Boutique, 6 Rack House Mews
When: March 21
Details: Mint Boutique is celebrating spring with 20 per cent off of its spring and summer pieces. Refreshments and treats will be provided, as well as complimentary nail art by Richmond Beauty Bar. Check out clothes from Nougat, Michael Stars, Ella Moss and more. There’s also a chance to win one of three prizes.

Dare to Wear Love Gala

Where: The Ritz-Carlton, 181 Wellington St. W.
When: March 22, 8 p.m.
Details: Dare to Wear Love raises awareness about AIDS in Africa through designer goods. Check out fashion heavyweights as they stalk the runway wearing one-of-a-kind creations made from African fabrics. There will also be a silent auction.

Oscar de la Renta at Holt Renfrew

Where: Holt Renfrew, 50 Bloor St. W.
When: March 23
Details: Get ready for spring with some Oscar de la Renta jewellery. A brand representative will be on location at Holt Renfrew to help with any style needs or questions. The collection is limited, and it will be available for one day only.

Allied Beauty Association Hair and Makeup Competitions

Where: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 222 Bremner Blvd.
When: March 24-25
Details: The best accessory for any Fashion Week outfit is great hair and makeup. This weekend, Toronto’s up-and-coming stylists go head-to-head in a variety of competitions. There will also be a slew of seminars ranging from hair care to marketing a salon business.

Faceoff: the pros and cons of chef Rodney Bowers’ idea to give meal tokens to the needy

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Toronto is a city of opportunity, but not for everyone. That’s why chef Rodney Bowers has proposed a meal token program to help the underprivileged in his neighbourhood. The deal? Buy a token from his restaurant, Hey!, and donate it. It can then be returned for a high-quality, nutritious sandwich. But not everyone supports the idea.

Herein, two perspectives on the issue of feeding the needy in Toronto.

For program:

Chef Rodney Bowers, owner of Hey! and Hey Meatball!, wants to start a meal token program in Parkdale

I’m not in the business of running a soup kitchen; I’m just a guy that’s in a neighbourhood on the edge of gentrification — Parkdale. Every day, I look outside of my window and there are people who are in need of reasonable food who cannot afford proper nutrition.

That’s just the reality of it.

We’re hoping to sell tokens out of my restaurant Hey!, and what they will represent is essentially that you’re able to come in and exchange that for a sandwich. It’s probably going to be about $2.

The thing is, when you pass someone on the street, it’s harder to give them money if you’re afraid of them, they seem like they’re on drugs or smell like alcohol. You know it, I know it, and even I’m guilty of passing by that person. We thought, it’s easier to give tokens out because you know that person is not going to go and buy those things.

And it’s not just for people on the street. We have an elderly demographic in the neighbourhood, a lot of people that are on social assistance and some that are living on a pension and have no income.

There is a fine line between what people in the streets are going to accept and what people walking down the street are going to give to people. Sometimes you want to give them food, but how many people are going to accept that? People on the streets have their backs up. They’re beaten down.

People who think it’s patronizing to give tokens have never lived on the street, they’ve never been poor, they’ve never been someone with a mental illness. It’s easy to stand on a platform and criticize how we hand stuff out. But if you always look at the big picture, how do you start at the roots of the problem?

Hopefully, because Toronto is so big, maybe somebody in the east end might want to start something over there. Hopefully it could catch on.

Against program:

Jonah Schein, MPP for Davenport and former food bank co-ordinator, thinks charity isn’t the answer

If a program wants to do something to give back to the community, I’m sure people would do it in a way that would contain some dignity. But ultimately, people don’t enjoy receiving charity.

I think a token program is a component of people trying to pitch in for a public system that’s broken.

We live in an inequitable city and in an inequitable province. Some people make a lot of money and some people are struggling to put food on the table, and that’s the problem.

It’s a fairly large number of people who don’t have access to good nutritious food in the city.

It is the government that has fallen down on this. We’ve breached the social contract that ensures people have access to food.

For example, you don’t beg for health care in this country. That’s part of the social contract, so you don’t feel stigmatized when you go in to get your health care.

Is a token program patronizing? I think it’s humiliating to live in such close proximity to such abundance and yet still have to beg for food. It is equally dehumanizing to rely on charity.

People see this poverty when they walk down the street, they see people asking for money and food, and they want to do something about that. We’ve had a charitable response emerge in the last 20 years. What this rise mirrors is the way that we as a society have stepped away from providing support to people.

Though charitable responses to food and security are well-intentioned by people who provide them, they are inadequate to meet the needs of the people where the government should be stepping in.

What we should be looking for instead is creating good jobs in the province. We should get people back to work, invest in an economy for the 21st century and agree to take care of each other.

The ShOws, fall/winter 2013: Comrags, Jean-Pierre Braganza, Tanya Taylor, Steven Tai, Jeremy Laing

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Last week, Toronto’s most fashionable gathered at the Andrew Richard Designs’ loft space in the east end to take in two days of The ShOws. Bringing some of Canada’s most talented designers together under one roof — many of whom show on international runways — the event helps raise public awareness of the incredible work Canadian designers are putting out.

Boldfaced names like Barbara Atkin, Susie Sheffman, Glen Baxter, Lisa Tant, Suzanne Dimma and Shauna Levy were all spotted in the front row, while Brian Bailey acted as host. Following each show, a Q&A with the designer helped illuminate attendees on the intensive process involved in fabric and garment design.

The first day saw runway presentations from Comrags, the local label designed by Joyce Gunhouse and Judy Cornish. The duo noted that they decided to restrict themselves with this year’s fall/winter collection, allowing a maximum of two pieces per outfit. A muted palette (think: rich brown, navy blue and steel grey, with occasional pops of colour) was livened up with various geometric prints. We liked an artfully draped teal tunic layered over pants, and an overcoat done in a silver and black print.

Jean-Pierre Braganza returned to the city for another runway presentation. This time around, the London-based expat showed a series of futuristic looks that played around with hemlines and various proportions. The waist was often a focal point, with wrap-around belts and fabric inserts serving to accentuate it. Prints — designed by Braganza — felt mystical, thanks to swirling dragon tail patterns and images of far off lands. A favourite look layered a shift dress, printed with a delicate geometric pattern, over a floor-brushing skirt.

Day two brought together three designers: Tanya Taylor, Steven Tai and Jeremy Laing. Showing first, Taylor’s vision for fall was ladylike yet edgy, and was rife with prints inspired by the mid-century ceramic tile work of Jean-Pierre Raynaud. With the prints all drawn by hand, each one was expanded and manipulated before being produced in New York, where Taylor is currently based. Altogether, the collection was full of covetable and very wearable looks. Favourites included a kaleidoscopic dress juxtaposing two prints, a dusty pink metallic biker jacket and a black leather look with a pop of orange at the collar topped with a checkered white jacket.

Next up was the London-based Steven Tai, a recent graduate of the Central Saint Martins esteemed fashion program. His entire collection was injected with an unmistakable joie de vivre, starring blown-up garments that looked as though they’d been plucked off the backs of Tokyo’s coolest kids. Embracing sportiness and a 90s raver aesthetic, the collection featured oversized pants, giant A-line skirts, and the aforementioned toppers, all crafted out of unorthodox materials. Comparing his studio to a science lab, Tai explained that certain pieces were made using molded silicone and jersey, with fasteners created with the aid of magnets. The freshest pieces were the sweatshirts starring pastoral scenes based on vintage postcards that were both digitally printed and embroidered. The crowd also got a chance to see his award-winning graduate collection, which was based on bookbinding techniques. Definitely one to watch.

The two-day affair ended with Jeremy Laing, arguably Canada’s most exciting designer. Referencing sports gear once again, this collection had a narrower fit and was slightly more wearable than last season’s. Featuring various innovative fabrics (such as a bewitching gold lamé seersucker), Laing noted that the pieces were “hard to sew; easy to wear!” Top looks included a series of chiffon t-shirts layered over dresses with a kangaroo pocket, allowing the wearer to part the garment as one would part their hair. Very innovative and beautiful in the simplest of ways. Laing’s artist friend Vanessa Maltese collaborated on the collection; the strongest pieces featured a cross print that was a blown-up photograph of the artist’s painting.

The week ahead will see plenty more fashion stories for fall/winter 2013 unfold at World MasterCard Fashion Week.

This Week in Sound: Dusted, Zeus, Lee Harvey Osmond, Austra, Grounders

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Every Monday, we round up the most exciting music news happening in Toronto. In this edition: new tracks for Dusted, a covers EP for Zeus, Austra plays The Great Hall and more.

There is something about Brian Borcherdt’s spectral wail and Leon Taheny’s meticulous beats that have us itching for Wiarton Willie to make good on his promise of an early spring. Ever a band of the summer, Dusted recently released two tracks ahead of their SXSW gigs in Texas. Both songs were recorded back when the duo was just starting out, and both feature Borcherdt’s other band, Holy Fuck. “No Trouble” is offered up for free, and the second, “In Yr Skull” (which was previously recorded for a limited edition split vinyl with Metz) is now available digitally.

Local rock outfit Zeus announced that they will be releasing the deluxe version of their sophomore record, Busting Visions, on April 2, to coincide with their North American tour. The album will include a seven-track covers EP, aptly titled Cover Me. On the track list are songs by Michael Jackson, The Flaming Lips, R. Kelly and Stone Temple Pilots.

Tom Wilson’s latest solo project, Lee Harvey Osmond, will be at The Great Hall on March 22 with a stellar lineup of local roots-rock gods. He released his latest album, The Folk Sinner, earlier this year, and this week he’ll be in town to promote his book, The Folk Sinner: a Photographic Ghost Journey, a 24-page photo essay curated from his life on the road. Wilson will be bringing along some pals as well, including members of Skydiggers, Oh Susanna, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and Cowboy Junkies. You can stream The Folk Sinner over at Exclaim!, or watch a YouTube video below.

Toronto’s next Emily Haines, Katie Stelmanis, will be performing with her band Austra as part of a doubleheader show this weekend on March 23. The electro-opera trio will be playing at The Danforth Music Hall, and then heading over to The Great Hall as part of Fucked Up’s Long Winter festival for a DJ set. Austra also recently dropped a new single, “Home,” for their upcoming album, Olympia, due out June 18 on Paper Bag Records.

It’s been a busy year for Grounders. After signing to Nevado Records, setting tour dates with Zeus and Yukon Blonde and the re-release of their Wreck of a Smile EP this month, they’ve just debuted a video for “Grand Prize Drawl.” The band is also playing as part of Canadian Music Week on March 22 at Sneaky Dee’s.