Fashion & Trend

Launching a new beauty brand in the midst of a global health pandemic might sound incredibly stressful, but for Camille Katona and Stephanie Spence, the timing allowed them to reiterate the messaging behind their new brand, 19/99 Beauty. “The pandemic hit when we were about six weeks out from launch,” they tell FASHION via email. “We, along with so many others, were and are grasping for ways to adjust to our new world and 19/99 will have, more than ever, a focus on building community and conversations. While what is happening in the world is devastating, we are also seeing a shift in what we as a society truly value. As a new beauty brand, our hope is to be able to use this time to rethink what beauty is all about.” Photograph courtesy of 19/99 Beauty In a release, the Toronto-based pair (who have both worked in the industry for more than 10 years) describe the brand as making “high-performance, multi-purpose products designed for those who want to define their own beauty and don’...

Need a break from binge-watching TV? Looking for some entertainment while doing dishes for what seems like the millionth time since quarantine began? Check out these 14 Canadian podcasts that touch on things like identity, the culture of celebrity, the intersection of fashion and technology, beauty entrepreneurship, wellness and more. Breaking Beauty In this podcast , Canadian beauty editors Jill Dunn and Carlene Higgins interview brand founders on how they made it in the business, and share intel on which new launches to buy and the ones to skip. View this post on Instagram Mark your calendars📆!! Jill will be hosting an IG Live with skincare guru & celeb aesthetician @reneerouleau on Tuesday May 5 at 8pm. Come hang out with us!! PS – any skincare questions for Renee? Drop ‘em in the comments below. A post shared by BreakingBeautyPodcast 🎙💅🏻 (@breakingbeautypodcast) on Apr 30, 2020 at 7:02am PDT Show Your Work Elaine “Lainey...

As the world continues to feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, fashion houses are having to shift the way they do things, particularly when it comes to campaigns. Last week, Bella Hadid starred in the first major luxury campaign to be shot over FaceTime for Jacquemus, and now, Valentino has revealed its plans for its Fall advertising campaign. According to  WWD , creative director Pierpaolo Picciolo has tapped his network of high profile friends to appear in the brand’s upcoming men’s and women’s campaigns for Fall. So far, the list includes the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Anwar Hadid and Laura Dern. Each of the stars has agreed to waive their fees for the project, with the house donating one million euros to the Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital in Rome to help with its COVID-19 relief efforts. Each star will be shot in their own home (by someone they’re living with), wearing clothes from Valentino’s upcoming collection. Excitingly, Canadian ...

After the announcement this month that London Fashion Week will launch a digital platform, a small slice of direction was given to an industry that’s been in a downward spiral for the better part of a decade. It offers hope that for creatives, there is prosperity beyond the runway calendar; and it also presents an opportunity for everyone involved to rethink, reimagine and start fresh in approaching the design, production, retail and editorial lifecycles of the pieces that allow us to express our inner character to the world. But one thing sprang to mind after hearing the LFW news and other announcements about catwalk cancellations: What would happen to street style? It’s a medium that’s become a powerful means for press to illustrate trends, and for brands to flaunt their latest wares. It’s launched influencers into business moguls and created icons out of editors—and now it’s facing a disappearing act in the wake of social distancing, a deepening examination of how the fashion ind...

At five feet 11 inches and size 0 and with long blond hair, Rachel Romu looks exactly like the sort of person you’d expect to see walking down a catwalk or striking a pose in a glossy magazine editorial. But one thing sets this model from Thunder Bay, Ont., apart from her peers: She carries a cane. Interestingly, it’s the cane that actually brought her to the runway in the first place. Romu was a track-and-field athlete in her youth, and her goal had always been to become an Olympic champion. But in 2016, doctors discovered a spinal tumour that needed to be urgently removed and also diagnosed her with a connective-tissue disease known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. With her sports dreams dashed, Romu had no idea what life had in store for her next. Then, in the spring of 2017, Toronto designer Annie Thompson—who learned about her story in a chance encounter with a friend of Romu’s and frequently uses friends and clients for shows and shoots—asked if she’d like to appear in her next camp...