AUDI’s The Art of Progression featuring NADA, DIMITRICHRIS and JOEFFER CAOC

I was disappointed by the shows presented by NADA, Dimitrichis and Joeffer Caoc for Spring/Summer 2011.

There, I said it. As much as I like supporting Canadian fashion, I want to support something wholeheartedly and I expected more from the three participants.

Let’s backtrack a little. AUDI’s The Art of Progression was held at the Brickworks on Bayview Avenue in Toronto which necessitated taxi trips and bumming rides from friends with cars. The building, which is used as a farmers’ market was unheated, leading a lot of the crowd to huddle in their coats (those that brought coats) and mutter about the temperature.

As expected, since AUDI was the sponsor, there were cars. A car was driven down the runway before each show and it was obvious that the cars were chosen to appeal to the crowd. They were sporty convertibles models – all very slick and expensive-looking. That’s where the quality ended.

I could go into details for each show but all three shows suffered from quality. If you’re being sponsored by a high-end car company, one should not see falling hems and a general lack of quality in the clothing. Also, draping. I’m not a sewing expert, but draping is very, very difficult to do well in a flattering manner. (Madame Gres was one of the few to really get it right.) Stitching what seemed like a big rectangle to create dresses, which had no slits for easing of walking, doesn’t flatter most of the people who would be expected to buy said dresses.

NADA’s collection suffered from redundancy. The crowd didn’t need to see the same jacket in five different colours plus there was the unfortunate placement of the origami folds on the pelvis.

Finally, while I love the fucked-up-ness of the Great Gatsby, we are not them or even Tom Wolfe. Some white suits are fine, a glut of them isn’t.