MFW Day #1 - Dinh Ba & Muse By Christian Chenail

To start off Montreal Fashion Week right, our first plan of action was, of course, picking out our outfits to attend the shows. On the first day, Yussie wore a sheer star printed black blouse; black skinny jeans and Alice + Olivia patent wedge heels. She topped her look off with a snakeskin clutch, big black earrings and a black pearl necklace. Joanna was wearing a black dress, black, white and pink houndsooth tights, a black caped coat, and a DIY brooch necklace. She completed the look with her black wedge boots, a black, leather, 2-way zipper clutch and hot pink leather gloves!

Joanna

Yussie

The first show we were privileged to attend was Dinh Ba Design. As we entered the room, the first thing we noticed was the décor and the loud surrounding music, which began to set the mood for the show. The music that was playing was simulating the sounds of a thunderstorm, which we thought was an interesting start. It played in well with the blue ceiling and lighting, a brick wall backdrop, and silver bare branched trees that lined the opening were the models would come out. As we were directed to our seats, we were pleased to see that we were placed in the 3rd row.

The show began and the models starting walking strongly down the runway. The hair styling was the first thing that stood out to us. It was not hard to miss! They were all (men & women alike) rocking wild and messy fauxhawks down the runway, with the exception of one female model who went bald. The clothes were edgy. The collection started strong, with great outfits for men and women. The designs played with volumes and straight lines in a color palette of black, grey, off white, brown and red. The models were painted with silver makeup that was sort of splashed all over the eyes and temples, which, mixed with the metallics of the collection, gave off a futuristic vibe. They also wore large chain necklaces and tall boots with gold wedge heels, (that remind us of those heelless boots Victoria Beckham wore once). The show sorta tanked in the middle with the incorporation of tribal graphic prints and huge hoop earrings. The show, however, picked up at the end with some of the designs reminding us of ultramodern British punk wear. The men had on great boots with chains and oversized sleeveless hoodies, some made with this amazing sort of furry/feathery textile. The show ended with some great party dresses with long sparkly trains. All in all… it was a great show! We did notice, however, that they did not provide swag bags at the show, which was slightly disappointing, but Oh well… these are tough times! Gotta cut costs where you can!

After the Dinh Ba fashion show, we walked around a bit to check out the scene and hung out in the cocktail lounge. We took some cool photos and then proceeded to the second show. P.S… we are working on getting a better camera, so bare with us!!


The Crowd

Outside Marche Bonsecour and the hostesses looking cute in matching yellow black

The second show was Muse by Christian Chenail. It was set in a similar fashion with the seating and runway. We stood this time though, but it kind of gave us a better view from above (the back of people’s heads didn’t obstruct our view). The music that started off the show made us think of old school Paris boudoir music. It went great with the first set of clothing shown on the runway. The color palette was similar to that of Dinh Ba; there were a lot of blacks, grays and browns with hints of red, orange and fuchsia. With the consistency of this color palette, it would be safe to assume these are the colors of the season, so you may want to keep that in mind when shopping for Fall/Winter. The lighting on the other hand, was horrible!! It was very dark (hence the picture quality it gave us!!) and had spotlights directly on the models, which really only benefited viewers in the front row. This was disappointing since the whole purpose of a fashion show is to display a collection in the best possible light (no pun intended). The music quickly changed to a sort of wacky Euro Pop, and dance songs. It was a little inconsistent and gave mixed impressions on what the vibe of the show was supposed to be. The clothing featured a lot of leather and fur. Some of the dresses had fur collars, fur shrugs and fur trimming at the bottom. The music got weirder and weirder throughout the show, as did the clothing. In the end… it was an okay show, and we were more then happy to see it!

What really caught our eye while walking around and scoping out the scene was men’s fashion. We are going to have to say that men killed the women’s look completely yesterday!! We can’t even remember seeing any woman in an awe-inspiring look. Nonetheless… the men really stepped it up and kudos to them!! Check out the pictures below to see what we’re talking about!

This small crew of gentlemen reminded us of Kanye’s entourage, photographed by Jak & Jil Blog at at the Comme Des Carcon show at Paris Fashion week.





Front Row Men's Fashion

So that was day one… keep checking for updates because we will be going back tonight in great new outfits, for more shows and more fashion!!