Well hello dears.

It’s that time again when Toronto fashion fanatics wait with breathless anticipation for what will be going down the runway. If the indications from Paris, London, and Milan are any indication my pre season comments are, “prepare to shop.” Last week I raved about Lady Gaga’s Mugler music with the video installation featuring tattooed zombie performance artist, Rico G! Now you’ve got to see the collection yourself.

Designer Nicola Formichetti has done a jaw-dropping, risky yet gorgeously avant-garde collection based on the idea of a Mugler monster (which Rico G is the face of). Not only this…OK, OK, I’ll stop going on about it. See the Mugler collection for yourself and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

So enough about European menswear, for now! LG Fashion Week starts Monday, March 28^th with the kick-off show being Holt Renfrew’s Can’t Live Without Canadian Fashion then right after Izzy Camilleri and Adrian Mainella team up to present IZMA’s Fall/Winter 2011. Though what many people don’t know is the fun starts this Monday, March 21^st with Philip Sparks show, which I will be attending with the ever fabulous Shaun Proulx, followed by the huge popular Greta and Ezra Constantine presentation on Friday, March 28^th at an Audi dealership. The pre LG Fashion Week shows are signal style is coming.

So what to attend during LG Fashion Week? Remember if you are not registered and thumb-printed media you are considered a consumer which means you get the cattle seats at the shows. But if you don’t mind and just want witness all the mayhem here are the “must see” shows:

Tuesday, March 28^th

Joe Fresh at 8:30 p.m.

Bustle at: 9:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 31^st

Rudsak at: 6 p.m.

Friday, April 1^st.

Klaxton Howl at: 6 p.m.

You can follow my runway-side commentary on right here on GayGuideToronto.com through the @GayGuideTO feed on Twitter.

After the rumours, whispering and gossips had their way LG Fashion Week (http://www.lgfashionweek.ca) finally illuminated the runway in their new home the Allstream Centre on the CNE Grounds. Wearing John Galliano (after a muchly debated post of what I should wear on Facebook) I clicked into the Allstream Centre ready synical as all hell. Like many of the fashion press, my patience with the FDCC  was wearing thin overthe constantly changing locations. If you haven’t heard here is the list, yes you read that right list, of attempted locations: the Travelodge demolition site at King/Bathurst, Liberty Village, the former location of the Chrysler dealership on King West and now the Allstream Centre.  Robin Kay, President of the FDCC, once justified the constant change of locations as being “fashion nomads”.  However I question if the word “nomand” is covering up for other shortcomings which are not being made public?

The opening night itself was pretty much  standard with usual fashion pack in attendance: Suzanne Boyd from Zoomer Magazine, David Livingstone Fashion Journalist extraordinaire, Andrew Sardine from NOW, the fabulous Bernadette Mora Acting Editor-in-Chief of Fashion Magazine,  Jeanne Beker  designers: Farley Chatto, Marty Rotman (of North Bound Leather) and Joesph Mimran (of Joe Fresh) .The returning sponsors Shick, L’Oreal, Rowentta, Woolite and Holt Renfrew all had respected booths and such. However the feature of the night was the IZMA collection from Izzy Camilleri and Adrian Mainella. Camilleri and Mainella (who you may remember as former host of Fashion File) collborated on the line of furs under IZMA.

As the lights went up the collection has Izzy signature all over it with very little of Mainella’s style blended in. Camilleri over the years as developed a style for sleek, elegant and drool inducing women’s clothes which are, no word of a lie, traffic stopping. However, I was straining to see where Mainella’s, who is now billing himself as an Image Consultant, influence was. Though there were some menswear, it was token and as I found not very practical. For women’s clothes this collection had some awesome pieces and if you can sift through some of the mesh pieces for Fall 10, it would be worth it.

Here are some pictures from opening night:

The Shick Razor Girls at LG Fashion Week

FDCC President, Robin Kay Opening Night of LG Fashion Week

Designer Farley Chatto at Opening Night

My seat at the IZMA Show