I wish everyday could be an Art of Fashion day. What ingenuity, creativity and inspired work with textiles by the emerging Canadian designers was on display in the main court at Hazelton Lanes for Nuit Blanche. Not to mention there were so many pieces that were utterly covetable. Once a year the Art of FashionAOF design and fashion exhibition provides a platform for 10 young, emerging Canadian Fashion Designers to display their work and be judged by the public and a slate of judges. An estimated 20,000 viewers flow into AOF, which kicks off with a private cocktail party. Everyone is encouraged to vote for who will win theMost Promising Designer award. The voting is still open (see link below). This year’s exhibits, all interpretations of the 2012 theme: RAW, were a fairly even mixture of hits and misses, those who impressed did so in spades.

Jennie Uhlman’s “Undulation” – Oh, how I loved this. With a real sense of architecture and tailoring in every piece, Uhlman’s collection came off as modern, with a perfect balance of sophisticated and edgy, I called this sophista-edgy. Showcasing the fabric and the hardware as the main detailing, “Undulation’s”commitment to structure was impeccable. It had punchy nods to current trends like the side peplum, larger than life shoulder detailing and a fresh, autumn/summer colour palette that made it one of the more wearable, couture collections on display.

How about Ryan Joelson and his collection “Rough-hewn”, talk about gorgeous! This fourth year Ryerson student has got the goods and a working resume with Le Chateau. His impeccable tailoring, detailed fabric manipulation, extensive hand cutting and beading and amazing surface treatments, took inexpensive polyester fabrics and transformed them into polished expensive textiles. His collection was breathtaking in person but what really wowed me was how editorial it all was. Looking at his lux Lookbook everything appeared so luxurious and expensive and just popped. The showstoppers for me were the taffeta, hand painted flower petals (talk about a labour of love!) and the forest green evening gown with ombre detailing that just didn’t get the attention it deserved because of space considerations.

Anouk Moran’s collection “ The Resplendent Warrior” was another collection that really wowed. With a dedication to masculine tailoring with pleasant spurts of feminine detailing, Moran’s pieces were utterly luminous and reminded me of something that would have been born out of the 30’s when Art Deco and Elsa Schiaparelli ruled. Unfortunately the lighting on some of the pieces was a bit too harsh and ended up transforming the intricate textiles into a disco ball effect, that artificially cheapened the materials.