Angela Fama

Closing the recent Forsya’s Favourite Things Fashion Show was Response’s show-stopping, holiday-hip silk Perla dress with beading.

Clothiers trot out the silver silk and peacock prints in a cool, but cozy, event

How many times have you heard a fashion designer claim to make clothing for the “average” woman’s body or the “everyday” man? Meanwhile, they have impossibly beautiful models peddling their wares on the runway. Of course, there are some exceptions, most notably Christie Clayton, Christopher Bates, and Allison Smith. Proving that you don’t have to be a chiselled Amazon to look great in their clothing, the three local designers (alongside a few amateur models) sashayed down the catwalk in their own lines at the recent Forsya’s Favourite Things Fashion Show.

As the name suggests, the short and sweet style event was held at Forsya Boutique (2206 Main Street), a cozy new hot spot that carries only Canadian designs. In addition to a festive fashion show, attendees were treated to a night of discount shopping.

Kicking off the show was the Tawleed Bubble Dress ($310) by Adhesif Clothing Company, a Vancouver-based label that mixes new and recycled fabrics to create one-of-a-kind pieces. At first glance you might think the TBD is a blouse tucked into a dress, but this faux two-piece is actually a short-sleeved sheer top attached to a strapless tweed mini dress. (Designer Melissa Ferreira was one of only two designers who weren’t able to make an appearance on the small stage.)

Next up was the Hannicar dress by Response ($379), an independent Toronto-based label headed by Glynis Dupuis. Here we had a chocolate-brown cowl-sleeved number made from vintage crepe silk. Again, this designer wasn’t on hand to model her stuff.

But Carny Love’s Christie Clayton sure was. Clayton was the first designer of the night to rock the runway. And what a job she did—which is maybe not all that surprising to those who know her. With fiery red hair and personality to burn, Clayton is basically Vancouver’s answer to Betsey Johnson. She wore her Chariot Shift dress ($158), a perfectly zany silk and viscose mini dress with a beautiful burnout peacock print and a fully exposed zipper at the back. She later explained that, like all her designs, this dress is very forgiving, so that women “don’t have to talk about their guts anymore”.

The next designer to work it was Christopher Bates of Ultra Menswear. With hunky shoulder-length hair and playboy good looks, Bates looked very comfortable up on that small store stage in his euro-chic Renegade leather bomber ($1,142) and waxed-denim Techno trousers ($299).

After Bates, it was time for Allison Smith of Allison Wonderland to show off her runway walk. The Vancouver designer wore one of her black-and-red La Soiree dresses ($184), an asymmetrical pleated party frock. And her model wore La Dynamo ($189), a black short-sleeved, wool-mix dress with a contoured waistline and a pencil-skirt bottom.

To close the show, Response made a return with two more dresses. The first was the Adi ($375), a strapless grey-taffeta cocktail number with a black belt. But the showstopper was the Perla ($420). A silver silk mod-style shift dress with beading, the Perla was, without a doubt, the perfect hip holiday outfit to cap off this festive SoMa event.