He Said, She Said: A Sask Fashion Week Review

This week I was fortunate enough to travel from the mountains of Alberta to prairies of Saskatchewan with one of Canada’s talented actors Ksenia Thurgood for an exciting week of fashion during Saskatchewan Fashion Week.

Gone was the carpeted runway and the outdated Birkenstocks. This year’s Saskatchewan Fashion Week kicked off with their models glossy and their tent towering in the picturesque Victoria Park.

With two of us in attendance at SFW, we formulated a lot of opinions, and are excited to share them with you in a ‘he said she said’ formatted review. Let’s start with:

The Venue

Fab says – The white tent, which seemed to have grown 10 times bigger since last year’s event had an event runway as large as a resurrected Titanic. Endless rows of seats surrounded the ship like waves on the ocean. The entire city seemed to be in attendance.

Ksenia says– What first caught my eye was the front row of chairs: white textile against the gilded gold – Marie Antoinette meets Anna Wintour. I had to subdue my inner mademoiselle from galloping over to my seat, but as I perched awaiting the show to commence I imagined a tiara on my head.

The Show

Fab says – The evening’s events were split into 3 sections: Current Retail, Upcoming Designers, and Advanced Designers.

As the retailers sent impeccably styled look after look down the runway, I began to feel exhausted and over-whelmed.

I was there to see something new, and although the looks were well paired, I felt I could have accomplished that same task during a shopping filled Saturday. This would be best suited to an afternoon show, which would then also serve as a teaser to the evening’s festivities and may get a mainstream audience more excited to attend… (trunk shows should also occur at this hypothetical afternoon show).

As the Upcoming Designers hit the runway, I was for the most part: delightfully impressed.

85% of the designs blew me away, while the remaining 15% I would have left on the sewing room floor.

Then as the Advanced Designers hit the stage, I saw a complete tornado of concepts

Bag, hat, jewelry… and oddly enough floral bouquet designers were sent out to debut their newest collections.

It was a unique and exciting format to keep me alive and focused during each evening’s 2 hour + affair.

Ksenia says – Independent boutiques, newcomer designers and established artisans were all led through the evening by the beautiful host Amy Matysio (creator of InSayshable).

She not only entertained the crowd with her dazzling quick wit, but was also a delightful piece of cotton candy for the eye. A veritable chameleon, why hello Linda Evangelista, Ms. Matysio graced the SFW audience with 3 beautiful looks thanks to Nadia Williamson (NWL) and Fallon Maz (Queen V). Glowing akin to J-lo, Amy introduced the audience to fashion with a beautiful modern take on a Victorian black lace dress with Fleetwood Mac inspired earrings.

Next, she sashayed the runway in a backless green number accompanied with a bouteille of wine in hand, which she chugged onstage.

And to close the week, she rocked a hoodie (Fresh 22) over a Swarovski encrusted evening gown swinging a baseball bat.

Need I say more? Amy has the gift of being down-to-earth no matter how outstandingly stunning she is; she goes out of her way to put an audience at ease. Think Audrey Hepburn meets Chelsea Handler.

Besides the Fresh 22 hoodie, I was confused as to why she wasn’t dressed head to toe by a designer from each evening. She has such a killer sense of fashion savoire faire, it would have been great for the crowd to see how the same ensemble can come to life differently on another individual apart from the runway. Judging from the 3 nights, Amy could rock any look and those designers unfortunately missed out on having her special flare. Note to self: never attend same event as Miss. Matysio or be prepared to be fashion owned.

Of course with so much to see and do during Sask Fashion Week, Ksenia and I will be back tomorrow to share our thoughts on the models and our top designer picks!

Stay tuned, there are some stunners!

Mr. Fab & Ksenia