Stage Design

With only one runway and shows scheduled on the hour every hour, there wasn't much time for designers to construct a set or dress the runway room for the presentation of their collections at L’Oréal Fashion Week, which wrapped up with a brunch at the Drake Hotel on Saturday. For most designers last week, creating ambience involved lighting, projections, and music. However, a few went for more elaborate setups in an effort to set the tone for their collections.

For his show (sponsored by the Bay) entitled "The Long Way Home," David Dixon projected a black-and-white scene of a road leading through a snowy park on the upstage wall. The show, dedicated to "women on the go," began with a narrative on the screen, asking why one would bother to take the long way home: To ponder, to pray, to cry, to reflect, and to be at peace were among the answers offered. Two lit-up old-fashioned street lamps flanked the runway, and models entered as snow fell on the catwalk.

You could say Shawn Hewson and Ruth Promislow took a gamble in presenting their menswear collection for Bustle. The casino-themed show began with a sound clip from a 1954 television production of Casino Royale—"It's made beggars of many and millionaires of a few." Dollar bills lay scattered along the runway, champagne bubbles floated across the backdrop, and a baccarat table surrounded by three stools was positioned at the top of runway. Each model took at seat at the table to play a hand dealt by Stacey McKenzie of Canada's Next Top Model before walking the runway.Set designer Stephen Severn created the all-white set for Zoran Dobric's show. Furniture (including a lamp, table, and chair) wrapped in white fabric and tied with rope sat on one side of the runway while painted white suitcases sat opposite. The set was "meant to represent an abandoned house or boarded-up home, since the collection theme is my childhood back in Europe," Dobric said.

Nada Yousif invited guests to take a stroll with her through Paris for the presentation of her collection, which featured a palette of purples, pinks, and black. Yousif placed four dimly lit street lamps along both sides of the runway and a projection of a Paris street scene on the upstage wall.

Jeanne Beker and Bratz presented the Diesel Kids show, which also served as a means for the Fashion Television host to launch her second book, Passion for Fashion: Careers in Style. Beker and Bratz also unveiled the new Bratz fashion reporter doll at the show, which featured several models dressed as pirates handing out chocolate coins from large treasure chests at the entrance to the runway room.