HOAX COUTURE
Spring/Summer 2003

Hoax is one of the few labels in Canada that can design for both men and women with equal success, a fact that is revealed under the bright lights of Toronto Fashion Week. They are also one of the few labels that can pull off the ultimate hoax, recycling the culturally pertinent from decades of fashion iconography.

Hoax uses brilliant white linen and cotton separates to unleash some neat street-wear pieces, stamping Aikido pants with the Hoax approval. The men's draping black suit jackets are gorgeous silhouettes, and the single-breasted fronts ensure an unfettered masculinity. Echoes of Jean-Paul Gaultier can be seen in one particular pair of pants, and it's a first for at least Canada…

The women's collection has some great bias-cut satin skirts in gold and fuchsia, paired perfectly with off-the-shoulder tops in equally effusive solids. It's too bad the minimalism that Hoax seems to be striving for is undermined by the lack of consistency between styles.

Daniel Cox
Fashion Editor
Marek Wlazlo
Photographer