Sit front row at all the major Spring fashion shows with our NEW live runway videos. Check them out here!

For Canadian fashion designer David Dixon, career inspiration came in the unlikely form of a luxury cruise ship. “As a child, I saw an episode of The Love Boat in which Geoffrey Beene, Halston, Bob Mackie and Gloria Vanderbilt showed off their collections,” he says. “They were so glamorous and different from anything I’d ever known. I thought, ‘This is something I could be into.’” He began sketching the next day and hasn’t stopped since. When his mother passed away last summer, it was the black-and-white photos of her youth that prompted the look of his spring/summer 2007 collection. “She looked like she was having fun,” says Dixon. “I wanted to capture that essence of youthfulness and vibrancy.”

Where do you like to eat?
“My favourite restaurants are ones without a kids’ menu! I enjoy Byzantium and The Spoke Club in Toronto.”

What is your fave book?
“Having two young boys and having to abide by story time, it would have to be The Boy Who Cried Fabulous.”

What superpower would you like to have?
“The ability to heal.”

What is the most extravagant thing you’ve ever done in your life?
“I rented a limo for 20 of my nearest and dearest — fully stocked with Dom Pérignon — to get us to midnight mass on Christmas Eve.”

Where have you never travelled to but yearn to?
“The future.”

Who do you admire most?
“My parents.”

What is the worst trend of the past 10 years?
“George W. Bush.”

What is your favourite thing to wear?
“The Burberry scarf I got for my birthday from my partner, Jeff.”

What’s one thing you would bring to the afterlife?
“A great lawyer — to get me through the Pearly Gates — or a return ticket!”

What are your three desert-island must-haves?
“A solar-charging cellphone, a contractor to build me a house and a chef to cook.”

What advice would you give your teen self?
“This, too, shall pass.”

What is the best sound?
“I love the laughter of my boys.”

What are your favourite destinations?
“My favourite destinations are Florence, Mykonos (shown) and our family cottage in Muskoka.”

What is your favourite film?
“My favourite film is Funny Face, with Audrey Hepburn.”

What beauty product can you not live without?
“My can’t-live without beauty product is Guerlain’s matte bronzer.”

What inspired your spring/summer 2007 collection?
“My spring/summer 2007 collection was inspired by photos of my mother in the late ’50s and early ’60s, just after she immigrated to Canada from Ireland. “

What is your “heaven food?”
“My ‘heaven food’ would be diet Coke and a bag of Humpty Dumpty BBQ chips.”


Image courtesy of David Dixon

InBloom Contest!
This season is all about glowing skin and luminous eyes. ELLE Canada Online wants to help you copy these trends with our first ever Spring Makeover Contest! Submit your photo to [email protected] and explain why you think you are most deserving of a makeover. Five lucky winners will win a beauty basket full of Cover Girl, Pantene and Olay products, courtesy of LookFab, and more.