Minimidimaxi Magazine

Inspired by a love affair cut short by an Antarctic expedition forty years ago, and dedicated to the fight against global warming, Pat McDonagh’s 40th anniversary show at L’Oreal Fashion Week in Toronto had it all.

For McDonagh’s fall/winter 2007 ‘Iceberg’ collection, penguins (oddly, walking like models) traipsed down the runway wearing such finery as a white lambs wool pea coat, with others in black wool tuxedo suits treated to a high shine.

In a fitting self-tribute, the black wool dress with white tuxedo front was the first dress ever worn by the iconic designer to be photographed in Toronto. The black velvet flapper dress reminds us that if a look isn’t timeless, it usually doesn’t make it onto a McDonagh runway.

When we discussed timeless fashion with Canadian legend of the silver screen Shirley Douglas, she didn’t mince words.

“The things that I love are the simple, solid shapes, and you can’t have a solid shape without a good cut.”

Good cuts were in abundance. A grey tweed coat with silver fox cuffs is body-hugging snug for icy weather, while a chestnut military coat tapers into a gentle flair. Simple silhouettes dazzled in blush, burgundy and café-au-lait, in the lushest of fabrics and furs. McDonagh nods to the future with the metallic crinkle coat, and gets downright funky with the puffed-out blue Mongolian chubby.

The gowns! An amethyst appliqué dress is done in such fine filigree that it evokes a spider web. The layered ice-blue organza dress is a perfect but unassuming pièce-de-résistance, and I dare anyone not to fall in love with the bustle dress featuring penguins dancing fin-to-fin.

Daniel Cox, Fashion Editor
Marek Wlazlo, Photographer