Minimidimaxi Magazine

Crystal Siemens’ penchant for presenting her collections in outlandish production settings has caught the eye of Canadian film director Bruce McDonald. How She Makes A Dress, a documentary/art-film in the making to add to the growing trajectory of collaborations between fashion designers and film directors took another plot twist at the unveiling of Crystal Siemens’ Fall 2002 collection in a moody, industrial locale on Spadina Road in downtown Toronto.

An artsy tableau vivant was assembled with a small collection of consistent womenswear pieces in the earth shades of cream, gold, silver tan and sand. These colours, prominent in Crystal’s spring 2002 collection, are used in a more narrowed field of fashion acuity. Crystal leaves the world of variegated multi-colouring for monochromes. Both the felted lace wool dress with metallic pant and the embroidered silk top with double-knit asymmetric hem skirt and pintuck detail are combinations in strong solids. The fused wool cream skirt would go well with anything.

What the collection lacked in diversity was made up for with cleanly executed focus. The pinnacle of this collection is spelled out in a felted lace top and Dupont jacket with wool/cotton pant featuring engineered lace. The successful fusion of technology fabrics and wide bands of black lace is a feat that could only be pulled off by a handful of forward-thinking designers. We’ve known for a while that Crystal is one of them.

Daniel Cox, Fashion Editor
Marek Wlazlo, Photographer