Photos by George Pimentel

On Monday night media, fashionistas, Degrassi Girls, Iman and NYC fashion industry heavyweights gathered into Holt Renfrew’s redesigned contemporary floor for cocktails, cameras and an ode to our fabulous five.

LG Fashion Week aside, have you seen the new space at Holts? Stepping off the escalator you will forget the grey headlines of recession as you are struck by the bold colours and hot design on offer. Influenced by the growing need for optimism, Holt Renfrew Creative Director John Gerhardt’s design inspiration stemmed from a bright green wallet he received as a gift. “It’s interesting how people respond to colour, particularly bold colours,” said Gerhardt. “I found myself looking at the wallet and feeling happy. This sentiment was echoed in a recent phone call from a friend who had just received our bouquet of blooming tulips in electrifying pink, yellow and orange, “They look fabulous and make our house feel so alive and fresh.”

The bold colours at Holts are a “a strong nod to the ‘80s” with New Wave and Japanese influences as well as art influences such as Dan Flavin, Shepard Fairey and Barbara Kruger, infused with current references like fashion’s new-found fascination with Pantone primaries,” said Gerhardt.

Further to waltzing around pretending we were Deborah Harry in Charlie’s Chocolate Factory, we had the privilege of sussing out Canada’s Fab Five Designers and their latest crop of wares for fall, all of which showcased imaginative costumes to the likes of our favourite children’s stories.

We know you can name the top five of Project Runway Canada, but can you name the top five Canuck designers, as touted by VP of Holt’s fashion Barbara Atkin? Denis Gagnon, Greta Constantine (design duo Kirk Pickersgill and Stephen Wong), Philip Sparks, Mickhael Kale and Jeremy Lang. (Although we can’t help but wish a woman made the top five, we shall fight that battle another day.)

The models strut out and we find ourselves having schoolboy crushes on Sparks’ Peter and The Wolf trio. Their distinguished Brit boy outfits topped with fur hats would look so good paired with a high class picnic in the woods. We’d like to read them fables of magical princes while also landing them sweet soft kisses and assuring them everything is going to be okay.

When Gagnon’s hooded sequined numbers emerged we left the forest to take a dive in the nearest 1940’s lagoon, leading the way to secret doors and shiny dark treasures. Perhaps a little intoxicated from early eve cocktails and lack of dinner – but we were enchanted and immediately taken to a world far away from economic gloom.

Holt Renfrew is the place to escape and forget the perils of today, cause heck – if we can’t afford a trip to the South of France – we can at least dip into fantasy for a little while.