The phrase “Ottawa Fashion Week” doesn’t usually inspire much excitement. However, this year, the capital typically branded as bland, rebranded itself with a new sartorial identity.
Housed at the new Ottawa Convention Centre, there was a rampant feeling of elegance and regalia at the event. Guests enjoyed a panoply of designers’ spring/summer collections as well as two major international names.
Simon Ekrelius, a London-based designer, headlined Sept. 30 with minimalist, monochromatic designs which he says are inspired by the Bauhaus architectural era.
“It was a strange time after the First World War. People were much into just living life,” Ekrelius said.
This sense of audacity was conveyed through his work, a mostly pragmatic collection with bold statement pieces, such as a bubble raincoat.
“It’s a perfect raincoat! Unless you fall,” laughed Ekrelius, the most jovial man at the event.
One designer in particular stood out of the collections at Ottawa Fashion Week. Expectations were high for Alexis Reyna, a poet, writer, academic, and designer born in Barcelona, Spain. As his models sported tribal motifs and billowing dress shirts with saturated colour palettes, Reyna entered the runway himself for a small bout of performance art.
With long, flowing locks and tanned Mediterranean skin, he walked confidently onto the catwalk, in translucent shorts, everything exposed, and began taking pictures of the photographers, models, and the spectators themselves. The interaction and full-disclosure of nudity had the audience muted.
With such an enthralling, seemingly laissez-faire aesthetic, many wondered what inspired the eccentric designer.
“Tilda Swinton. I design for intelligent girls,” he said without hesitation.
As for the city’s sartorial character outside of Ottawa Fashion Week, Caitlyn Lockyer, a third-year law student at Carleton, challenged the notion of Ottawa as one of the world’s “worst dressed [cities].”
“It gets a bad rap. When you’re walking downtown, you see business people in their conservative attire who look boring, but young people in the city really know how to dress themselves. Unless you’re at Liquor Store, then not so much.”