Helmer has always been one of those designers that meanders between fashion designer and haute couture. He crafts exquisite pieces in Haute Couture form, yet from a commercial standpoint, who would buy his dresses? Tonight, it was all art, no fashion.

This season, he had abandoned his trademark patchwork for the delicate ensemble of glass embellishments and gigantic tulle hats and boleros. I didn’t pick up a press kit for his show, but the whole atmosphere felt like I was stepping into a fairytale dream, with fitting classical music in the background. Slow did the models walk, as the outfits were decisively not easy to walk in and could shatter at any moment. Dress after dress, the crowded were stupefied into silence, it was so quiet you could hear the shutters from the photographers’ pit.

Normally I try not to get too carried away by the beauty of a show, after all, fashion writers need to decipher the message when all our blood has returned to our brains. Yet, I’m still trying to digest his show. How does the man sell his pieces? They must be sold as artworks. I can’t possibly see it any other way. The only more “commercial friendly” pieces were the few menswear, nicely tailored, with shiny glass beaded shirts. But let’s face it, no man could really wear that and not be afraid to hurt himself by leaning against a counter.

And what’s this of Lady Gaga? Yes. The finale was a red veiled bride in a floral, and when I say floral, I mean like real flowers, dress. The model channeled her inner Lady Gaga as a violin version of Bad Romance fiddled through the venue. She actually reminded me of Queen Red Riding Hood from an old TV fantasy movie called The 10th Kingdom.

I had put into question Helmer’s commercial viability, but this show reaffirms that he is more artist than designer, and in Montreal, we could benefit in having someone like him around.

See a first hand look at photos and videos of Helmer’s show, a Dualité first in video content!

A reminder that I will be covering Montreal Fashion Week Spring 2011 today and will be picking up my press kit this afternoon at the Marché Bonsecours headquarters. For those who are not media, buyers or people of the industry, you can still follow most of the action via the official Montreal Fashion Week website, and you can also follow my tweets at @fashiondualite.

Here’s the schedule for Day 1:

15:00 MARIE SAINT PIERRE (Off site)

17:00 ÈVE GRAVEL (Off site)

18:30 DAVID DIXON *

19:30 MUSE BY CHRISTIAN CHENAIL (also streamed via UStream)

20:30 HELMER *

21:30 DIMITRI CHRIS

* I will be attending this show

I’m looking forward in seeing David Dixon’s show, having never seen his collection up close but have heard much of his lady-like collections from Toronto bloggers such as Final Fashion and I Want I Got.

I will be going around Le Showroom interviewing a few people with their thoughts about doing business in Montreal and their take on which designers they believe had the best appeal.

Stay tuned!

**Additional content added**

A special media lounge has been prepared to cater especially for bloggers with laptop center!

And a look of what’s to come:

It’s been a year since I’ve attended Montreal Fashion Week, I took some time off away from the fashion scene to reassess what I wanted to write about. I admit that my frustrations with the Montreal fashion scene had gotten to me, and – well, left me discouraged by my experience. While I read up about what’s happening in the fashion capitals around the world, it was easy for me to dismiss my hometown for lacking the high fashion standard and creativity. So I decided to get away from fashion altogether for about 6 months to recuperate and ponder how I could approach it differently this time around.

This year, Montreal Fashion Week was able to include nearly the best of Toronto’s designers, and I have to say I’m terribly excited to see what our neighbors are bringing in this season. I’ll be covering David Dixon, Lovas (by Dixon’s protege), and Ezra Constantine (the men’s line to Greta Constantine). Instead of making the rookie mistake of trying to attend every single show, I decided only to go to a select few. Helmer is one of those designers whom I’ve always enjoyed attending, however I also always wondered if he ever sold any of his designs, he’s not one to create very mainstreamed looks. Of course, Denis Gagnon would have been the best show to see, but an early cocktail schedule and my real life job are at a conflict and I can’t attend. Nonetheless I look forward in seeing his collection online. There will be a huge fashion show opened to the public styled by Yso, whom I’ve bumped into in New York, and will be looking forward to it.

I’ll also be covering Le Showroom, where buyers can interact with the brands and place orders. Within it are a slew of designers from Le Lab Creatif, Montreal’s incubator for budding fashion designers. There are some promising talents here and I will hopefully bring you the ones whom I think have the best potential.

While I’ve learned that there are some extremely talented Montreal-native designers who are settling in London, I can only hope that Montreal can become the next Copenhagen in the near future. Though our best exports are showing elsewhere, it doesn’t mean that the next big hit is still just a small fry with big dreams and solid determination.

“In Awe of Life Itself” by Cathie Bleck, in exhibition at Yves LaRoche Gallery

I’ll also squeeze into an event I really want to see called “Dark Night of the Soul“, hosted by Trusstclub, this video installation will feature 13 video clips along side David Lynch’s photos and an eclectic mixed soundtrack that will feature singers from The Strokes, Iggy Pop, The Cardigans and The Pixies. It’ll be from Sept 30 to Oct 3rd, so really it’s just for that weekend. It will also give me an excuse to really check out Trusstclub and perhaps the new digs of Yves LaRoche Gallery next door which features some pretty creative work from locals and fellow Canadian artists. Needless to say, next week will be busy. I just hope I don’t fall sick with this fall weather!

As I perused the photo galleries on Canoe.ca of the latest collections from our Montreal designers, I felt the collections were for the most part under par of what I was expecting. For example, for his Fall 2008 collection, I thought Christian Chenail really outdone himself with the Blade Runner look, the shiny blacks and gunmetal grays and deep purples. But this year, his focus was more on fur with different textures, however there was no consistency in maintaining a certain look, at least I found.

Usually I really love Helmer‘s fantastical creations, but I found this season to be too out there, and I don’t know if I particularly fond of the giant fruits and plastic bags with vegetables…I’m guessing he was trying to send out a message that his collection was perhaps an eco-friendly one. I was also a bit disappointed with his patchwork this time around, didn’t quite wow me enough.

The consistent winner of MFW are the collections by the CIMM (Centre International de Mode de Montreal), which is based at the 555 Chabanel in the garment district. The team of designers include Samuel Dong, Simon Chang, Zenobia Bawa and Frank Lyman, and together they produce what insiders say “commercial fashion.” Ordinarily, one would imagine commercial fashion would perhaps hold no appeal to potential buyers looking for unique, well-crafted pieces. But to be honest with you, CIMM’s commercial fashion was perhaps the most solid and soundest of all at MFW. From a business stand point, this is exactly what will sell in stores. Tailored jackets, trench coats with enough detail to make it unique but without make it look absurd, puffed 3/4 sleeve blouses, scarlet wool A-line coats, and the list goes on. It’s the kind of understated local talent that one rarely sees in Montreal stores. The 555 Chabanel address is rarely open to the public and only comes into the limelight during MFW. It’s a shame that such a well-kept secret purposefully shelters itself from Montreal shoppers. I think shoppers could use a bit of Simon Chang’s touch, even if his key demographic is around 25+. One thing is for certain, if MFW keeps up with their ticket strategy, the CIMM’s show will be worth the trip next season.

As I’ve stated before, Montreal designers at MFW do not seem particularly interested in worldwide commercial success, even if they were, it would be difficult for them to come by any means of financial support from local investors. Despite the $2.4 million investment by the Quebec government, this serves only to fuel creativity in the industry, not really helping them succeed financially or expand past Canadian borders. Creativity is not what’s lacking in Montreal designers, the city itself is a bubbling melting pot of the most artistic individuals, but it’s lack of drive  for better business practices in the industry.

Image credits: Kim Payant – lavergnephotographe.com

I was bombarded once more with goodie bags and came home with a motherload that contained a Grand Marnier branded martini shaker, a bunch of Pantene products, CoverGirl lipgloss, a Venus razor (honestly, every fashion event I go I get razors, I think I’m going to stop buying them since I always get them for free!), and the best – Olay’s Anti-Aging  Lip treatment. All I’m missing is a lip plumper. I also got another pair of crocs, same from last night except in pink, so now I have two sets. I think I’ll send a pair to my mum.

It was less fruitful in terms of talking with people today, everyone was just in such a rush to get inside the shows there was little time to actually socialized.

Tonight’s shows were more commercial, so most of the designs appealed to the audience. The two buyers were especially pleased with the CIMM shows, I could see them grinning ear to ear, my new friend told me they went to Chabanel today and decided to buy their crop from there. Personally I really like Helmer, though I don’t see myself wearing his patchworks, I saw some young ladies wearing his full gowns to the show. Nevertheless, there’s a finesse that I really like from him. I’m having a hard time putting my finger on Dinh Ba, but I certainly thought that this collection was a great improvement from the last two (though still not too sure about the menswear). I was impressed with Myco Anna (ecofashion designer) just by the fact that it must’ve taken ages to patch stuff together, finding the right colors, and the right patterns to go together, also loved the theme they had.

Overall, tonight was a really good show. I’m thinking of attending only the second half for tomorrow night and I know it’s going to be insane because of Armure Urbaine. I have no idea how many tickets that show sold for, but the main showroom can only hold at most perhaps 500-600 people while Facebook confirms 1200 in attendance (but I wouldn’t rely too much on Facebook for accuracy).

Sorry I can’t accompany pics in my posts, it takes a while to edit, so I might just do a pic post on Friday.

Again, fashion shows are mere theatrics for magazine and newspaper editors to talk about the creativity of the designers. But like yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article, the deal breakers are in the showrooms.

Showrooms, in case you didn’t know, are where buyers get the styles they want for their stores. Like say, Holt Renfrew is in search of a new crop of designer clothes, they visit showrooms where participating designers set up booths with their collections for buyers to see. Each store has their own set of standards on what to offer their clients, so just because you’re in love with a bunch of Chanel or Givenchy outfits doesn’t mean your favorite stores will carry them. Many of the runway looks are scaled down in showrooms and price points affect their sale factor. If a designer wants to sell the shoes for $800, one buyer might say it’s too expensive for their clients to spend.

The details in RTW Fall/Winter 08 are intricate, theatrical, beautiful, and all for show.
From left: Alexander McQueen, Rodarte, Prada.

That’s why you’ll rarely find the looks magazine gush about in your high end stores, because they were either deemed too expensive to sell or not salable at all.

Generally, a mere 20% to 30% of the designer clothes sold in stores come from the runway. The rest come from so-called pre-collections — clothes sold ahead of fashion week — that are less dramatic, made to be sold rather than photographed. But store buyers still want to buy from the runways — partly to maintain good relations with designers, but also to offer eye-catching looks for store displays. Looks that have walked the runways still have a certain cachet.

For Montreal Fashion Week though, I’ve noticed designers taking on a different approach. They opt to show wearable designs (save for a few like Helmer) on the runway rather than elaborate pieces. Thus comparing runway photos from Montreal and the more commercial Paris, London, New York and Milan runways, Montreal lacks star power. However, the majority are wearable, facilitating the job for buyers looking on. From my experience last year, I saw a lot of office looks such as cropped jackets, knee length skirts, vibrant colors, pant suits, streetwear, denim, etc. Perhaps it could explain why stores like Ogilvy and Holt Renfrew don’t hold the lines from some of our local designers because the targeted demographic isn’t focused on the wealthier Montrealers but mass market consumers, where the money is.

This type of method on Montreal’s part is quite smart, however, if they wish to attract international buyers who travel to many different cities, I would think the buyers would expect the same grade of showmanship on the Montreal runway. I’ll be touring the showroom floors at the end of the month, and will report back on my observations. With some luck I’m hoping to talk to some buyers and ask what they’re looking for.

Quote credit: The WallStreet Journal, Christina Binkley
Image credit: Style.com

Be forewarned that fashion shows have a tendency to start late. Show up early at your own risk!

Karv Fashion Show @ Club 1234
March 7th, 2008 at 10PM
Tickets are available (10$) price at the door will be (15$).
For Tickets & Table Reservations Call : 707-3333
Cause: Promotional
Click here for the Facebook Event

CASA Cares Fashion Show @ Olympia Theatre
March 13th, 2008 at 8:30PM
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at 1500 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Room GM 218-4.
Cause: Donation to the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation
Designers: Dom Rebel, Aqua di Lara, Bodybag by Judith Desjardins, Dinh Bà and more.

Ethni-cité fashion-show & Party @ Time Supper Club
March 13th, 2008 at 11:30PM
Pre-sale tickets are $15. Price at the door will be $20.
Cause: Promotion of cultural diversity among local and international students
Click here for the Facebook Event

The Official “WALK” Fashion Show @ House Nightclub
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:30PM
Tickets are $40. Groups of 10 or more get a $10 discount per person.
Contact Megan Clark: thats.crazy.babyyy@hotmail.com
Tel: (514) 525-8567
Cause: Donations for the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation
Click here for the Facebook Event

Armure Urbaine @ Marche Bonsecours for Montreal Fashion Week
March 27th, 2008 at 9:30PM
Tickets are $30. Can be purchased at Admission.com.
Cause: Donations for YWCA.
Designers: Body Bag by Jude, Dinh Bà, Denis Gagnon, Envers by Yves Jean-Lacasse, Helmer, Collection Iris, Marie Saint Pierre, Muse by Christian Chenail, M Siamo, Mylene B.

Path of Destruction Fashion Show – Location TBD
April 5th, 2008 – Time TBD
Tickets are $25. Price at the door will be $30.
Cause: Promotional, free stuff
Click here for the Facebook Event

OR you can just join the Montreal Fashion Group on Facebook and make your life easier.

And as a final announcement, which isn’t fashion show related, I found out that Marie Saint Pierre will be opening a new boutique at the Rockland Centre soon.