Jeremy Laing's tailored, layered look for fall/winter 2012. Image courtesy of ImaxTree.com

Florals? Leathers? Tailored looks? Am I really looking at Jeremy Laing’s fall/winter 2012 collection? Has the minimalist, modernist designer taken leave of his design senses? “To keep engaged, you have to give yourself different challenges and be open to where they take you,” said Laing, when I met up with him at a Paris showroom last week. “This time, I wanted to do more tailoring with the jackets; it just felt right.”

His tailored separates—like the moulded-shoulder knit sweatshirt—still capture his Asian-artsy architectural style, but last season’s digital prints have been replaced with bleach-stained abstract and floral designs. “I wanted to move away from digital, loudly defined, symmetrical prints. I think I’m done with that. Instead, I wanted to create reactive bleach prints. So it’s not just something on the surface of the fabric; it reacts with the fabric to create something that is more organic, tactile and sensuous.”

Jeremy Laing's bleached prints for fall/winter 2012. Image courtesy of ImaxTree.com.

Find out why Laing has ventured into floral territory. Click here.

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New York Fashion week is coming to a close, but stylistas aren’t running out of fabulous looks. Today’s streetstyle photos capture three women who all give a modern spin to classic ’20s, ’70s and ’60s fashion touchstones.

THE GIRL: Kelly Choy is a host on NYC TV and Bravo.

SPOTTED: Lincoln Center on her way to the Alberta Ferretti show.

HER STYLE: Modern 1920′s flapper style.

WHY WE LOVE IT!  Kelly’s Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti look was all pretty in pink—one of the season’s go-to hues.

FASHION WEEK FAVORITE ADDRESSES: “My favorite spa is in Chinatown is called Relax Foot Spa. It’s great because you can get a one-hour foot massage. I particularly love it during fashion week!”

Check out the ’70s and ’60s streetstyle fashions.

As yesterday’s snow turned to rain, the fashion crowd shifted into a nautical mood with classic stripes taking center stage. Here are the striped looks that caught my eye.

THE GIRL: Brooke is a freelance fashion editor.

SPOTTED: Lincoln Center

HER STYLE: Urban mariner.

WHY WE LOVE IT!  A creative mix of different designer labels, textures and style in a J.Crew shirt, Marni pants, Zara feather vest, Reece Hudson handbag and slipper shoes.

FASHION WEEK FAVORITE ADDRESSES: “My favorite store is Barneys and Opening Ceremony. They showcase some of the best designers!”

Fashionistas were on the prowl this week wearing some of the season’s cool cat exotic prints. From leather-good accessories to coats, printed dresses, shirts and scarves, exotic skins—real and faux— ruled the style kingdom. Here are a few samples of women who were “spot on” with the trend.

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I started off my day with a double dose of Canadian style. First up was Jeremy Laing who presented his collection in a glossy white loft space in Chelsea.

The show opened with a zip-back jacket and skinny pants in bleach-print velvet, which reflected the starting point for the collection: tailored jackets and textures. “I frequently will start my design process with dresses but you can kind of get bored with the way you work, so it’s nice to try a different approach to see what happens,” Laing told me. This season, he made a conscious decision to opt for “something with a more tactile sensitivity” rather than the digital prints, for which he is well-known. “Bleach printing is a reactive process that removes dye and ink from the fibre, so it’s harder to control. But that’s the beauty of it, you get variety, which is cool.” Read the rest of this entry

New York was under a cold spell on Sunday, but nothing could keep the town’s tastemakers from attending the day’s top catwalk shows. The “haute” heads were sporting every style from Dr. Zhivago-inspired fur pillboxes, to lady-lady crown caps to boho Ushanka or trooper hats.

Here are some that caught eye:

For more streetstyle hot, haute hats, click here.  Read the rest of this entry

Day 3 of New York fashion week started off with a light snowfall, but the style barometer remained high as the beau monde took to the chilly streets in their furs, hats and winter boots. The wintery scene had a cinematic quality that may have influenced some of these film-inspired looks.

THE GIRL: Toronto-born Christine is a fashion stylist and an editor at Mudd magazine.

SPOTTED: Lincoln Center: New York Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week central hub.

HER STYLE: Sherlock Holmes-inspired daywear for fashion sleuths.

WHY WE LOVE IT!  Hits of gold—from the leather-applique detailing on her Charlotte Olympia shoes, to her Hermes scarf, were the perfect fashion antidote to a grey, snowy day. Bonus: The canary yellow leather gloves popped against the Jenny-Bird clutch.

FASHION WEEK MISSION: “I love visiting New York seasonally for the shows and I am looking forward to Jeremy Lang on Sunday as it’s always a real Canadian highlight.”

For more street style shots from Day 3 of New York Fashion Week, click here. Read the rest of this entry

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Yesterday was a real fashion trip—literally. Designers had the fashion tribes flocking across Manhattan from Soho to Uptown. Each area attracted its own signature stylish breed. Here are some of the best:

THE GIRL: Lara is a buyer for a downtown showroom.

SPOTTED: Studio 5 on Washington Street in Soho.

HER STYLE: Upscale boho.

WHY WE LOVE IT!  Lara offers up a sartorial patriotic nod to American designers with a Jason Wu shirt, Derek Lam fur vest and Alexander Wang handbag.

FASHION WEEK MISSION: “I try to wear a piece from each one of the designers I will see this week. Today is a bow to Jason Wu.”

For more street style shots from Day 2 of New York Fashion Week, click here. Read the rest of this entry

It’s hard to think about fall/winter 2012 when we’re in the thick of winter 2012 right now! (I’m SO over my puffy parka and boots!) But the ELLE Canada team is packing their bags and heading off to the shows for the next month. Denis Desro is tweeting about Montreal Fashion Week (@denisdesro) and our managing editor Christina Reynolds is off to New York later today. She’ll tag team with associate fashion editor, Anthony Mitropoulos, and together they’ll tweet (@elle_canada) and post daily blogs about the New York style scene. Our beauty director, Vanessa Craft, will be hanging backstage with top makeup artists and blogging about what she sees/hears. Associate editor Alannah O’Neill heads to London, Denis will be in Milan and I’ll (@noreen_flanagan) join him later this month for Paris fashion week. We’ll also tweet behind-the-scene details and post daily blogs on the shows.

This year, we’ve also invited Nicole Comeau to join our team as our official fashion week street photographer. The founder of The I on Fashion will post daily blogs on ellecanada.com from New York, London, Milan and Paris. “My schedule for the next four weeks will be wrapped around shows, presentations, and parties, while having my camera and venti bold glued to my hands,” Comeau says laughing. When she’s not behind the lens, Comeau is a retail and luxury strategic consultant. (She has an MBA in International Luxury Brand Management from the ESSEC University in Paris and she’s also worked with fashion heavy weights such as Balenciaga, Chanel, Cartier, Gucci, YSL, Louis Vuitton, amongst others.)

Below is one of her first shots from the New York shows this morning. “With the weather being on the cold side, I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of fur and great coats!”

Akiko was attending the first show of the day, BCBGMaxazria this morning at Lincoln Center. She is wearing this season's statement dress by Givenchy, Chanel jacket and a Celine bag.

Click here to see more of Comeau’s shots from Day 1.

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