La Semaine de la Mode de Montreal (SMM) has moved away from the chic Marché Bonsecours in old Montreal to a new venue in the Griffintown district.

Le studio Arsenal is a great location. The massive 41,000 sq.ft. gallery/art space was built in 1846 as a shipyard. 21 designers would be showcasing their collections on the 100 ft. runway in the enormous Salle Principale.

Between shows there is plenty of room to interact, look at art, including a live nude Adam and Eve installation surrounded by crates of apples, socialize at one of two bars or an oyster bar, have your hair and make up done, take selfiess at the SMM/Pantene background, hear live music, or sit in the Target VIP area to sip a cocktail and people watch.

The people watching was the most fun as the outfits ranged from the super stylish, to exotic, to edgy Goth, to classic chic in an endless procession of unique looks, including a woman with a hairdo of colored pencils.

Celebrating MFW’s 25 Edition, Groupe Sensation Mode waived all production and participation fees for designers, and also paid for the first 10 models in each designers runway show.

Pedram Karimi opened fashion week with his avant-garde style, showcasing a series of designs that focused on simplicity and comfort; choosing a combination of colors that complement the lightweight fabrics and simple design.

Muse by Christian Chenail introduced classic daytime and evening-wear that can be worn by the modern woman in a variety of settings from casual to formal. The emphasis on prints and lightweight material projects a sense of comfort and elegance from an era gone by taking us back to the 50’s with vintage blond bombshell starlet looks.

BODYBAG by Jude offered a collection of beach and casual wear in light fabrics that provided a summery warm feeling with aqua draped dresses. Surfers strutting the runway in wetsuits with surfboards mixed in with models in denim sundresses emphasized the beach focus. A video depicting Lachine rapids and Habitat 67 was a nice touch.

DINH BA celebrated 10 years in fashion with retrospective pieces from the first 10 years, followed by his new fresh collection of ready to wear garments. His show featured synchronized models walking side by side in opposing geometric dresses.

Starting with a formal/ evening ware that was both stylish and mysterious with patterns and textures that accentuate the depth created by the use of multiple sheer layers of fabric that ranged from the sleek/ form fitting attire to the more risqué.

Having showcased a full assortment for both men and women, we were then introduced to the more casual/ daytime attire as a completely separate line; emphasizing shorter hemlines, racier designs in tropical and Zebra-like jungle patterns. Not to end there, a collection of colorful, ocean-like patterns and primal stripes leveraging hues of blue and green and textured material completed the collection.

This was an amazing collection, with depth and style!

MELISSA NEPTON had a big buzz in Montreal as she was showing two collections, on Tuesday night she showed her signature line based on pixel prints, Melissa had just won the $25,000 Target Emerging Designer award and showed her 16 piece Target line at the Ritz-Carleton Hotel earlier in the afternoon.

Melissa Nepton’s collection can best be described as a series of opposing forces; black against white, short versus long, forward looking with a sense of retro, bringing back the polka dot pattern and Hush Puppies. Even the music played into the equation.

UNTTLD closed the night with black and white prints and dishevelled pantsuit looks created by Simon Bélanger & José Manuel St-Jacques. On seat cards placed before their show the message read “Stop looking around-look at the garment” a message to the crowd to stop photographing each other and watch the show. Their show had a lot of energy and beautiful looks, so it was very hard to not watch. The collection started out with a series of conservative white business looks that switched to black before a full line of grey print patterns.

The first night of SMM was a great success. The new venue was comfortable yet spacious and the designers provided variety and style to their collections. There are however, underlying currents of change being speculated in the fashion industry about fashion week, which is trending worldwide not only in Montreal.  There are a lot of issues regarding the waiting period between clothes being shown and clothes being available to purchase in stores. All the buzz and talk was that fashion week must change its format. “Designers want more money, buyers, and need help” Denis Gagnon told the Gazette. Shows can easily cost upwards of $40,000. It will be interesting to see how SMM evolves…

Review and images: Brian Goldschmied

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