Crystal Siemens and David Dixon, virtual babes in the fashion woods, have the heavy job of carrying the Canadian industry into the millennium.
Siemens and Dixon, longtime friends who began designing seriously in the early 1990s, are new co-presidents of Designers Ontario. The organization representing Canadian designers co-ordinates the twice-annual fashion trade preview – the Matinee Ready-to-Wear runway shows – in Toronto.
The pair recently inherited the position from Toronto’s Franco Mirabelli, who a couple of years back helped secure major sponsors for the shows, which are a major Canadian event for the industry.
Siemens and Dixon have much more in common than their new position.
They both graduated from Ryerson Polytechnic University and worked out of the Fashion Incubator, a downtown Toronto building that subsidizes studio space for promising new designers.
Siemens and Dixon are also past winners of new designer awards from the City of Toronto. They’ve received grants from the Matinee Fashion Foundation, the arm of Imperial Tobacco in Montreal which awards money each year to designers looking to improve their business.
Now their designs retail at the upper end of the pricing scale, with a suit, for example, in the hundreds of dollars.
They differ, however, in their design philosophies.
Siemens is known for her skilful layering of textured and sheer fabrics that results in interesting shapes and colour mixes. She uses quality fabrics and subtle detailing to create “understated elegance.”
Siemens says growing up in rural Saskatchewan gave her an innate understanding and appreciation of colour and texture in nature – a principle that has carried through to her current designs. She took up designing because it was an affordable way to dress, and she also considered it adventurous.
For spring and summer, she emphasizes light and transparent fabrics in twisting forms around the body and in unusual combinations of fabrics such as silk, linen, cotton terry and fine knits with Lycra.
Her day separates and eveningwear are sold at specialty and department stores across Canada.
Dixon’s forte is functional and feminine attire. His designs, which also sell across Canada, are pleasing to look at but also easy to wear because they move with the body.
In 1995, he received thousands of dollars when he was named new designer of the year by Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto.
Although he specializes in day and evening clothes, Dixon has also won awards from the Fur Council of Canada and is travelling to other countries to promote fur fashions.
Last October, he literally bubbled with enthusiasm when his spring-summer ’99 collection was presented. Models walked on bubble plastic along the runway to display Dixon’s designs, which include jackets, tops, skirts and dresses in hand-clipped embroidered organza that has a bubble look.
Copyright Canadian Press Jan 14, 1999