Denis Gagnon’s designs go for gold

Denis Gagnon unveiled his Spring/Summer 2014 collection this week. Cult MTL talked to the designer about the new line pre-show and was on hand to show you how it looks.

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Designer Denis Gagnon post-show. Photo by Matt James. 

“It has continuity with the last collection, but it’s a summer collection. This one is fresher, there’s more light. It’s a collection that’s fresh, dynamic and happy,” Denis Gagnon says of the 36 ensembles that make up his Spring/Summer 2014 line. “We want it to be sexy, wearable and accessible, but at a reasonable price.”

I visited the iconic designer in his boutique/studio space in Old Montreal a few days before the new line’s launch at the PHI Centre Wednesday night. With the details set and each model fitted, accessorized and runway-ready, Gagnon’s excitement was contagious as he flashed through each item in turn, pointing out details with the enthusiasm of a collector showing off her new swag: the long zipper running up the leg of a pleated sheer dress, the adjustable details on a belted pair of black pants or the gold details embellishing a perfecto jacket.

The collection stays well within Gagnon’s chromatic fixations — black, white and pale grey with flashes of gold — but is more feminine than past lines, rife with pale sheers and soft forms, as well as the leatherwork Gagnon’s renowned for. He continues last season’s work with painted fabrics, unveiling grey satiny trousers with veins of black detail, but this season introduces more draped silhouettes spiked with diaphanous pleats.

Gagnon also doubles down on past collections’ zipper fetish, framing jackets and tailored pants with layered strings of gold-plated flyaway zips, echoing the gold accents that appeared everywhere from the models’ eye-shadow to the gold leaf-plated heels of their shoes.

While Wednesday night’s runway premiere didn’t go off entirely smoothly — all 17 models were trapped in an elevator shortly pre-show — Gagnon’s collection confirms his place as a fixture in Montreal’s style scene. ■

Photo gallery by Matt James.

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