Alberta Fashion Week- Day 1

Opening night of Alberta Fashion Week was last night and it was so much fun! I spent most of it trying to get shots with my little point-and-shoot that were actually of the models and not of the photographer in front of me's head! That's why there's quite a few head shots of the models. That's all I could see! Luckily, a photographer was shooting studio-style shots off to the side after the runway shows, so I was able to take a bunch from that.

I can't resist putting up a few pictures of the venue. It used to be a bank and has some pretty lovely details.






























The first show of the night was Lael Osness. This collection absolutely oozed 1940's glamour. From start to finish, this collection was composed of lady-like cuts and great tailoring. I loved the wideleg pants and the absolutely adorable hats. Not to mention the beautiful plaid dress!



































The second show of the night was 442 McAdam, a line of handbags by Sarah Shell. What a theatrical and totally fun show! The inclusion of male models (one starting in the audience, then jumping onto the runway halfway through the show and dancing like a mad man) and the storyline carried through by the accompanying intimates made the show just that, an entertaining show! Not only that, but the bags were lovely too! There were some great crossbody bags that would be wonderful to carry to work and some adorable small chain-handle purses, as well as some stylish murses. The green and black palatte, punctuated with flashes of gold and purple was subtle, but gorgeous. A wonderful show overall! The last picture is of the first two designers; Lael Osness is in the yellow and Sarah Shell is in themulti-coloured skirt.























































































The third and final show of the night was also my favourite. Andrew Majtenyi's prints were absolutely gorgeous and clothing was so wearable and polished. I fell in love with the pink printed dress (the photo's not great, but it's the only one I had). There is a much better picture of it here. The pink and black dresses took my breathe away, they were so gorgeous! Besides pink and black, grey was a contant colour, with black on grey appliques dominating the second half of the show. These are pieces I would definitely purchase. A wonderful collection! Plus I ran into the designer, Andrew, at the coat check of the media reception and he was super nice! Professional shots of the designs are up on the Alberta Fashion Week website.

The pictures I've posted were my favourite outfits of the night. I'm working on putting all the photos onto flikr, but there is a lot of editting (read: cropping to remove other photographer's ears/hair/etc). I will update with the links to all the shots as they become available. Also, I took these pictures myself, so if anyone would like to use them, I'd appreciate being given credit!