On Tuesday, I kicked off a week’s worth of shows at World Mastercard Fashion Week with one of my favourite Canadian designers, David Dixon. His collection was a celebration of women, with feminine silhouettes and an empowering soundtrack.
The collection opened with a vintage video about a “woman’s place in the world”. Urging women to focus on being lovely and leaving the thinking up to the men, the video ended and “BULLSHIT” slammed across the screen, emitting a roar from the packed audience. The collection was entitled “The Glass Ceiling” and Dixon was inspired by retro “how to” videos about social expectations.
“What truly inspires me, are the women who choose to select my contribution to design. My goal is to empower women’s confidence, assist in their daily routine to bring out the sides that they want to present that day-a reflection of their state of mind,” says Dixon in his line notes.
The collection was comprised of two scenes. Models wore their hair in messy chignons and wore incredible graphic shattered glass accessories. Acrylic is a huge trend in jewelry design, but Dixon explains that the jewelry had more significance with his collection’s design mission, “Embracing feminism, strong silhouettes, the return of the power suit, and accessorized with shards of glass, as women crash through that ridiculous “glass ceiling,” and pick up those pieces of glass, stand proud with vision, moving forward with fresh perspectives, and rule out the word minority.”
The collection had a number of strong coats. I fell in love with Dixon’s use of striped IKAT fabric as well. I love the voluminous sleeves of the cropped cocoon coat, as well as the dramatic belted cape. Fall is a great season to express your style with outerwear, and Dixon nailed it.
Dixon played with prints, using stripes, houndstooth, brocades and even snakeskin. While trends might say snakeskin already had its moment, I’m always a fan of a reptile print. I loved the tailored shapes of these two looks.
Dixon also injected a little pop of colour to a monochromatic black-white-grey collection with these cobalt blue looks. The jumpsuit is so elegant and pairs well with the dramatic glass necklace, but the blue cape suit look stole my heart. I wouldn’t wear it with a bare midriff, but the jacket is masculine and feminine, with the peek-a-boo of the models’ arms.
The show closed with a series of black evening dresses in frills and embroidery. All the looks were wearable and the jewelry added to the theme and modernity of the collection.