On the final day of Toronto Fashion Week Reimagined emerging label House of Suri made its runway debut—but you would never know it was designer Leila Zadeh’s first time presenting her line. (House of Suri is part of Not Just A Label, the world’s leading designer platform for showcasing and nurturing today’s innovators in contemporary fashion.) Featuring a monochromatic palette of pared down separates, Zadeh’s collection was elegant and streamlined, and had the type of polish that would impress even seasoned pros. We caught up with the Canadian designer post-show to talk about her inspiration and the allure of minimalism.
ON THE INSPIRATION BEHIND HER LINE
“The idea was to create a line that wasn’t about vanity and that wasn’t trend-oriented, but was about giving a blank canvas. If you take apart most of the pieces, they’re really basic—a basic black dress, basic trousers. But you can use accessories to create a look that’s custom to you, that expresses you beyond labels.”
ON WHY SHE LOVES MINIMALISM
“Less noise allows your character to come out. Your true authentic self is muted by noise, less is always more.”
ON HER FASHION WEEK DEBUT
“We’ve been up non-stop, late nights, and we only finished the finale look two days ago. But that ended up being my favourite piece. It’s my first line, so I was pretty nervous.”
[videopress w=640, h=400 jOzGt16H]
Photography by George Pimentel