Skip to main content

Somewhere between the rack of Marc Jacobs's metallic confections and the shoe department's killer Pradas, I turn a deaf ear to the whispers of "buy me" and head into the Holt's café.

I'm not sure that any of the 20 or so women I'm lunching with - some of Toronto's best-dressed - are going to be equally disciplined. The afternoon's raison d'être is shopping, after all.

New York designer Michael Kors (whose clothes, as it happens, are being worn by Michelle Obama on her way to the G20) is hosting this private luncheon, complete with parading models decked out in his yummy fall wares.

After lunch, we're going to be escorted to the Michael Kors department for an intimate shopping spree, with the designer himself supervising the change-room travails and triumphs. But fantasy shopping experiences aside, what comes as a welcome surprise is how candid Kors is about how the rules are changing.

Suzanne Rogers, sporting an elegant champagne satin original by Toronto's Valencienne, is quick to point out that smart shoppers always buy pieces that will last for years. "And that's the essence of really great fashion," Rogers says. "It's buying great pieces and then wearing them through tough economic times."

Kelly Barnicke, resplendent in a hot-off-the-runway Giambattista Valli hydrangea coat, laments the fact that her husband is clipping her wings. "He's put me under house arrest," she says. "He doesn't want me to fly to Paris any more. I'm so in love with fashion, and that's very, very hard."

But great style is not necessarily about what's new - it's about what's good. And Barb Macdonald looks fabulous in a three-year-old gold Michael Kors suit.

"You don't always have to go out and buy new things," she says. "I'm not so impulsive any more. I'm trying to buy stuff that's long-lasting."

While every designer loves to sell, Kors concurs that recycling can be a beautiful thing. He adores seeing women, including Barbara Walters, who recently donned an 11-year-old pink tweed jacket of Kors's for his guest appearance on The View, tweak their old pieces.

"She told me that while it was once part of a suit, she now wears it with grey flannel, and just changed the oversized buttons and trimmed the shoulders down," the designer says. "You have to still be abreast of what's going on - that's going to make it feel current. It might not be worn the way you bought it originally, so think about mixing the piece. This season, for instance, put on a new skinny trouser with an important-looking shoe or ankle boot and you can give that old jacket a whole different attitude."

The only caveat is that, for those subtle silhouette, hemline or shoulder updates, you'll probably have to spend money at the tailor.

But designer dreams cannot thrive on recycling alone: Kors is, of course, also intent on enticing women to shop. And indeed, the afternoon's real oohs and ahhs are directed at the upbeat new offerings - classic, luxurious pieces that even venture into the realm of Day-glo.

"We can't give it up!" the designer says. "We have to have a balance. We have to be able to open our closet and 70 per cent of it has to be what I call, 'Grab and don't think.' You know, it's just going to work. But you still need the cherry on the cake."

Kors advises looking at each potential purchase to see that it has the best of both worlds. Does it have the ability to change the way you look? Can you figure out several ways of wearing it? That's when seasonless pieces come into play. "If you find the right weight of clothing, you can put on a heavy winter coat over that little dress. And you can wear that same little dress in July with sandals or with a cardigan at Christmas."

When it comes to updating or transforming a look, Kors sees jewellery as a real mood changer. "We showed a lot of very bold link necklaces for this collection," he says.

"Suddenly you can take a ladylike dress and make it feel a little nasty. Or you could wear that same necklace on the weekend and throw it on with a turtleneck, a shearling coat, a pair of boots and a jean. I think it automatically twists things. Sunglasses do the same thing. You put the right pair of sunglasses on, and suddenly you're Angelina Jolie."

But perhaps Kors's best advice is to stop and smell the roses.

"I think we've all been shopping in such a rush," he says, "and maybe we have to think a little bit more the way Parisians and the way the Milanese shop. It's a slow process: They try it on, they might even bring a friend back and think about it. They spend time having it tailored, and they really think, 'Can I wear this for more than a minute and in more than one season?' "

Jeanne Beker is host of Fashion Television and editor-in-chief of FQ.

jbeker@globeandmail.com

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe