Exciting. Not a word often applied to the state of Canadian menswear. It’s not that we lack the talent, but is a question of economics. Staying in business usually means designing for women, and even then it still isn’t easy. When you list some of the best known names in menswear—Philip Sparks, Ezra Constantine, Krane, [...]

(Left to right) Trendsetters: Designs from Jessica Clayton, Jool, The Make Den, CMichelon, and Epoque by Thea Barber. Illustration by Chloe Cushman/Torontoist. The last seam has been stitched and the last heel has stomped, and even though some models are surely still trying to power-sand off layers of lipstick and eye shimmer, and dissolve the [...]

Dianna DiNoble makes gothic gorgeous. It was the final evening of Toronto’s Alternative Fashion Week, and after three nights of surprisingly on-trend talents, cringe-worthy clichés, and some breathtakingly impressive innovators, we weren’t sure what to expect next. And though we would never attempt to pull off some of the heels we saw on the runway, [...]

A model shows off Aimee Tobolka’s work. What was presented as the battle between commercial fashion and rebellious design on FAT’s third day was nothing short of a collision of utopian eye candy. If there was anything that could have brought faith back to the week—after the previous day’s cataclysm—it was this lineup of presentations [...]

Narnia Nu-Wave designer Colleen Booth. We’ve all been obliged to attend humiliating themed parties, yes? Where only the host is excited about her “Hawaii in the’ 60s” get-together, Jell-O salad pyramid and all? Where guests are forced to feign enthusiasm and laugh—once again—at the sloshed new divorcees’ getting “lei-ed” jokes. No? Well it’s painfully uncomfortable, [...]

Martin Lim’s collection opens FAT with subtle refinement. Normally when attending Toronto’s Alternative Fashion Week (a.k.a. FAT) you have to be prepared for a multifarious range of wide-mouthed astonishment. Sometimes it’s the eight-foot-tall (with heels) dominatrix you followed in, and others the two-minute-long film about a shacked-up lady duo in a Spanish villa. (Yes, naked, [...]

Detail of a photo by Natalie Castellino/The Style Notebook. Everything seemed to come in twos at [FAT], Toronto’s Alternative Arts & Fashion Week. So we enlisted James Grainger to compose rhyming couplets to accompany our favourite things from an exciting week. Photography by Natalie Castellino. MORE AT THE STYLE NOTEBOOK >

A Kirsty McKenzie model gives face to the photogs. It’s Thursday night at the Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District for [FAT], the alternative fashion, music, and art week, and there’s a hint of familiarity to it—and it’s not because it’s our third day of covering the event. No, instead, we’re sensing the ghost of [...]

Too Hot Too Wet Too Dangerous… Too Furry? Remember that time when you went to Toronto’s Alternative Arts & Fashion Week [FAT], got distracted by shiny things on the Fermenting Cellar’s floor, cupped a clammy hand over your mouth when a bare-breasted model flapped her way along the catwalk, cracked too many [FAT] jokes to [...]

A Diepo model gets sleeked for catwalk. Fashion weeks are supposed to be about the who’s who, but the unintended brilliance of FAT—Toronto’s annual Alternative Arts and Fashion Week—is that you really can’t tell. Designers, models, artists, hairdressers, musicians, bloggers? They all mix and commingle, sharing everything from taste in tattoos to pieces of pizza [...]

TTC workers may opt for a work-to-rule or slowdown campaign rather than an out-and-out strike—moves which could include actions such as refusing to collect fares, adhering to rules of the road, and not wearing uniforms. Union President Bob Kinnear’s comments indicate that they’d prefer the less drastic action so as not to antagonize the public. [...]