All images are complexgeometries Fall Winter 2010
I just don’t understand how certain Canadian fashion brands manage to stay out of my radar. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what is going on in the fashion world, and I always pay extra attention to Canadian brands, but sometimes I just miss some completely. Complexgeometries is one those brands, and I’m guessing I didn’t catch on to it because they don’t exactly advertise the fact that they are Canadian. Which brings me to an interesting point, what does being “Canadian” do to a fashion brand? I imagine in Canada, it is a good thing, as people like to buy locally. But on the other hand, there are a lot of people here who prefer to buy European brands (in fact, there seems to be a major issue in Vancouver when it comes to the arts, people only seem to support Canadians that have made it big somewhere else first. Not very nice at all.) What about internationally? How does “Canadian” resonate amongst other countries when it comes to fashion.
When I think French fashion brand, I think luxury and classic. Italian means sexy. British means edgy. American means luxury sportswear. Japanese and Korean mean intellectual and angular. So does Belgian fashion. Spanish means colours. Brazilian means brighter colours and bikinis. Australian means summery and effortless. So where does Canadian fashion fit in? And please don’t say activewear, because Canadians and especially the West Coast needs to get away from this image of fashion=activewear.
Anyway, back to complexgeometries. This brand has been founded by a self-taught fashion designer, Glayton Evans, who was born in Northern Canada (Fairview, Alberta to be exact.) The brand is based in Montreal, and the clothes are sold in some pretty amazing boutiques around the world, including B Store in London and Revolve Clothing (of course, no stockists in Vancouver.) Here are some pictures from the Fall Winter 2010 collection, entitled “in search of truth.” The collection was inspired by “the shrouded garb of religious ceremony” and keeps with the brand’s “continued fascination with the dissembling that is intrinsic to fashion.” I call it gorgeous draped jerseys and if this is the kind of thing we can call representative of “Canadian fashion,” then I am satisfied.
All images and quotes courtesy of complexgeometries.
