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Arthur Mendonça: Star attraction
This Canadian designer proves that he's ready for success with a collection that's sexy, sharp and full of life.
By David Livingstone
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But when it comes to opinions about putting collections together, Mendonça counts on his friend George Antonopoulos, a freelance stylist and second-in-command when it comes to merchandising. In everyday language, this means that, come time for a shoot or a show, it's Antonopoulos' job to make sure there are shoes. It's already a given that they won't be flat. "I've always liked women in heels," says Mendonça. "I just like the whole posture, the whole stance. It's instant sex."
And who's having all the sex being promised by the likes of Gianni Versace, Tom Ford and Alexander McQueen - all of whom Mendonça admires? "Hopefully, they are," he says, referring to the women who wear his sexy clothes. But the fact that he's even trying for an answer suggests a dreaminess that he is able to combine with an aptitude for the practical.
There are times, in fact, when Mendonça can sound downright hard-nosed. On the topic of red-carpet coverage, he says, "It's like free publicity: I send a dress out for someone to wear one night - they're not keeping it - and basically it costs me a courier charge." And Mendonça recognizes how resort collections - delivered in late fall to serve as a taste of spring - have become an important way for retailers to beguile customers with fresh stock. He began offering a resort collection in 2006; Holt Renfrew - his major supporter in Canada - bought the first one.
Until now, Lida Baday has been the Canadian designer who makes the most hay out of resort collections, and, as role models go, Mendonça deems her "pretty good." He adds, "She's got a huge section at Saks, so she must be doing okay." The way Mendonça says it makes him sound like a mercenary, but both designers share a commitment to quality.
As it so happens, there are samples for his 2007 resort collection still hanging on a rack in his studio. One dress, in a densely woven cotton, already has a fresh authority, even before the topstitching, fusing and boning that are part of a silent conspiracy to give the garment a lovely shape. And over there, covering a work table, are sketches for fall 2008. One is a deft white swirl that will become a gown of silk crepe in three dimensions. If this were a film, it would be the final shot - too cute and obvious, perhaps, but leaving no doubt that this is a happy tale: the story of a boy who liked to draw growing into a man who loves it.
Photography by Malina Corpadean
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