Having recently made the transition from cd to the more credible format - WAX - it was time to embrace a new approach to music, a new feel, a new process, new technology, new choices, and new terminology. Now, it's all about dubs and re-rubs, white labels, 12 inches, EP's, acapellas, main vocals, and multiple track versions with slick names like "latenightflight" or "tweak the cork." If you're on point with hip-hop or house, you might find tracks referred to as clean or dirty. This verbiage can also be applied to the fashion show where we typically have two outcomes. One that is "clean" stays true to the message, creates emotion, displays both polish and rhythm, and brings the clothes to life. Or, one that is "dirty" leaves you feeling dissatisfied, it's disjointed, and can imply that the clothes are less than what they might have been or in fact are. In music, the "dirty" is a relevant mix, whereas, in the fashion arena and for our purposes it's not what we are looking for.

For spring/summer 2003 Fashion Week in Toronto, we experienced shows or presentations that were clean, dirty and everything in between. Eryn Reid chose to ride the electro wave, a genre of the moment that combines retro and futuristic elements (for electro house, see, Metro Area). Although her show wasn't flawless, her ideas were consistent, her models were feeling the music, and consequently, the clothes were well received. I remember turning to another member of the media at the time that seemed concerned by the tailoring and you certainly can respect this perspective because a quality product is important. However, at the end of the day or in this case as many shows as you can cram into a couple days, those out on the street want to be inspired and they want to look good. We can't really comment on tailoring unless the clothes are inspected on their clobbers or they're washed several times or unless we have a bonafide media darling and his/her smokeblower's citing craftsmanship, education, exotic fabrics, and bloodlines. However, we can have a drink afterwards and say that show was strangely beautiful, or that show was a lot of fun. At this moment branding has worked and the vision has been received. A clean show at the very least gives you a fighting chance and a dirty one might deflect from what is actually a quality collection. David Dixon already brings forth a reputation of class and quality. He presented with a waterfall backdrop and live percussion with big club beats over swirling violins. Not quite McQueen but effective nonetheless. Here you have the perfect combination of a beautiful collection and a clean presentation. Hoax Couture decided to change its focus from fun evening wear to fun sportswear. Unfortunately they forgot the fun, which has been synonymous with the Hoax label. The mix was choppy, the music flipped genres without consistency, and the models were completely out of form. This potentially detracted from what were some wearable and funky outfits in an environment that only comes together a few times a year.

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X-Press 2: Muzikizium 2002