Luscious - fall/winter 2001
Three years after launching her first collection, Rebecca Ford brought Luscious to soaring Québecois acclaim, winning the Marie Soleil Tougas Award for best young designer/newcomer of the year for 2000. Since then, Luscious has grown to be an urban mode-de-vie trendsetter, basking in its fluent ability to translate multi-media thinking into comfortable and sexy clubwear. Rebecca Ford elaborates.
“We saw an opportunity to fill a niche. There were no cool clothes for girls; everything was either baggy raver or too tight for comfort. Luscious is designed for dancing in the underground and electronic music scenes. We caught a wave.”
More like a tidal wave. Luscious’ first denim collection, “Big Beats”, with its layered asymmetrics, wide bottoms and white doubled stitching placed Luscious squarely on the urban map, making as much headway into the club landscape as into fashion circles.
The first thing one notices when admiring a Luscious garment is that vintage styles are made current, revitalized for a new generation. Denim has always been a staple for Luscious, Fall 2001 being no exception. The Softkiss and Softedge faded denim dresses dance with an off-the-shoulder ribbed plum sweater, offering an original approach to elegant casual. The chlorophyll/camel front-slit leather skirt shared the spotlight with a heavy-metal Buckle skirt in delineating an ultra-feminine hipline. Musical intonations echo throughout the collection, be it via the silver studding or the ribbed wool. Here, focus is key.But what’s the real secret to Luscious’ success? Knowing what the market needs, in this case, total hedonism portrayed in beautiful fabrics. The skin is a sensual organ that, if it must be covered, must be clothed in a material that at least acts as an intermediary between the skin and this stimulating world of ours. From corduroy to Arabesque jersey to two-tone grey cross-stitching with muted red finish, the fabrics of Luscious Fall 2001 are to die for. Rebecca Ford offers additional insight into her modus operandi.
“Luscious is free to grow, we have room to expand. We’re opening a showroom in New York. By selling to exclusive boutiques in major cosmopolitan centres, we can shift gears while still maintaining control. “
When a company is designed with the same forward thinking that its fashions are, a Canadian success story is born.
Daniel Cox, Fashion Editor
Marek Wlazlo, Photographer
