/
1x
Advertisement
DUY Fall 2013
Photography by Jenna Marie Wakani
Style

DUY Fall 2013: The designer makes good on his Mercedes Benz Start-Up winnings with a superb fashion week showcase

Copy link

See the DUY Fall 2013 collection »

Edgy but elegant---it’s a difficult line to walk, even for the most seasoned designers.

But Duy Nguyen proved he was up to the challenge in his World MasterCard Fashion Week presentation. The solo show was an award received along with industry mentorship (including face-time with yours truly) from the Mercedes Benz Start-Up program after a cross-country search and runway showdown last fall.

The Vietnam-born, Montreal-based designer proved his mettle (or metal), if you count the silvery embroidered lace gowns, twinkling wool trousers and shimmery tweed pencil skirts showcased in the DUY Fall 2013 collection.

Advertisement

A pale, frosty palette and fox-trimmed leathers fit with the Canadian Arctic theme. Materials were all rich, warm, and begging to be touched, with mohair trousers cut to pleated perfection, and a “hairy” top that looked like a fine shag carpet. Nguyen also spent weeks slicing tulle for his swishy evening skirts, basketweaving wool jersey for tops and handcrafting hundreds of flowers from left over scraps. “I wanted them to look like they were decomposing,” he said of the appliques that wound around shoulders and necks.

A graduate of College Lasalle, Nguyen has built a loyal clientele of stylish Montrealers for his DUY label. Now the rest of Canada can understand why.

Bernadette Morra is the former editor-in-chief of FASHION magazine. She has been covering the Canadian and international fashion scenes for more than 30 years, first at The Toronto Star, then at FASHION. Over her long career Bernadette has interviewed many fashion world legends including Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and Gianni Versace.

Copy link
Advertisement
Advertisement

Fashion FWD:

The next best thing to being a fashion editor - BTS access to trends, products & news.

By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Subscribe to FASHION!

Subscribe to FASHION!

FASHION magazine inspires and empowers with fashion and style trends, aimed at all sizes, ages, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations.