What's hot this season? Designers are looking to the past for inspiration

Lisa Drader-Murphy is constantly in creative mode. Her studio is crammed with bolt upon bolt of fabric: printed knits from Vienna; Italian silks; and myriad wools from Montreal, from where Drader-Murphy just returned with a half-ton truck full of fabric. There’s so much to see and feel—the brown check, a jaunty houndstooth, leathers in sunshine yellow, bright red, and purple. She’s most excited by the three bolts of zigzag-patterned knits from venerable Italian fashion house Missoni. She stumbled upon them in a three-storey fabric shop in Vienna. “I think I’ll make some sweet shift dresses out of them and maybe some little sweaters or cardigans,” says Drader-Murphy, owner of Turbine, a clothing label and boutique. “They’re such happy colour stories; they’ll really perk up a fall wardrobe.”

In fact, the designer is using the fabrics for her own fall collection that’s vintage inspired. Vintage as in the 1990s, the decade that brought us flannel shirts and grandpa sweaters for men, and floral dresses and belly-baring sweaters for women. But that era also heralded the young designer, then based out of Calgary. Under the Turbine label, Drader-Murphy put together a debut collection of well-made classic clothes reminiscent of an earlier era of elegance: tailored jackets with co-ordinating skirts and pants; Jackie O suits and dresses; and long sleek trenches. 

Long before eco-consciousness became popular, Drader-Murphy used vintage fabrics for her designs: Italian wools; Irish tweeds; Scottish tartans; shiny industrial nylons; double-knits; and slinky jerseys. “It feels like a lifetime ago that I did that first collection,” says Drader-Murphy, 41, in the converted apple barn that serves as her studio in Falmouth, N.S. “But I’ve never wandered far away from any of those pieces because they’re classics. My idea has always been that when you invest in a Turbine piece, you’ll love it now and you’re going to love it for many years to come.”

             
                               ^{Lisa Drader-Murphy}

This fall Drader-Murphy sent her designs from her 1997 collection down the catwalk during her annual Turbine showcase in mid-October, along with more recent samples. Those include her trademark upside-down dress (a cowl-neck top worn one way; a form-fitting dress worn another), off-the-shoulder asymmetrical dress, and the Little Edie dress, a long-sleeve knit dress with a collar so generous it can be worn as a hood. “I love vintage wools,” she says. “They remind me of a simpler time.”

It’s always tartan time
Drader-Murphy isn’t the only designer revisiting the past. Halifax designer
Veronica MacIsaac’s fall collection has a sexy Mad Men vibe with pencil skirts, knee-grazing jumpers, and fitted vests made from tartans and tweeds. All of her clothes are custom made in her Halifax flat and can be ordered through Veronicamacisaac.com. “Tartan goes way out and then it goes way in again,” says MacIsaac, 29, who has produced a new tartan line every six months for almost four years. “For me, it will never go out of style because it’s part of my Scottish heritage, and that’s what my core clients, the Scottish community, are looking for.”

Meanwhile, in Charlottetown sisters Hilary and Louanna Murphy are getting their business, Dreamboat Lucy, off the ground. Louanna, 25, winner of the Project Runway-inspired Off the Cuff competition two years ago in Halifax, designs the clothes, while Hilary, 23, creates co-ordinating jewellery pieces. Although there is a fall collection it’s still too soon to get it into stores. In fact, the Murphys were invited to Toronto’s Fashion Week to showcase their fall line, which was inspired by the clothes the members of an all-girl rock band circa 1970 would need while on tour, it was too fast and too soon to showcase the collection at such an event. They opted to pull back and, instead of watching their designs parade down a runway, concentrated on making introductions and handing out business cards. 

The Murphys are proud of what they’ve created—gorgeous dresses, high-waisted pants and shorts, cigarette pants, and blazers—all with a leather-and-lace aesthetic perfectly suited to the retro rocker they had in mind. Their jewellery is big and chunky, including suede chain necklaces and dangly earrings made of wood and leather fringe. “Everything has a vintage spin and a story,” says Louanna. Growing up in Kensington, P.E.I., both sisters always gravitated to vintage. “We went to thrift stores when we could, where we could find something different and well made,” adds Hilary.

Dreamboat Lucy’s designers are steaming ahead with their collection and rethinking how to make “designs that are smarter” without sacrificing quality or uniqueness. In the meantime, the Murphys are taking custom orders via phone and the online shop. And even though its still early days, the sisters love their work. “This is our dream,” says Hilary.