No celebrity models, just celebrity journalists for Joe Fresh at LG Fashion Week

When a runway room takes an eternity to fill up and “Bette Davis Eyes” plays over the bottle-necked masses, you know it’s a Joe Fresh show. Everyone is puzzled about how a grocery store fashion outlet receives such a huge reception, but the answer is quite simple: money. Joe Mimran will always have the best models, a runway that can’t be walked on by the public (no, not even the most notable of social butterflies) and a show that by most standards is fairly good. In fact, whether Joe’s show is necessary or not is moot, because he, like his wife Kimberley Newport-Mimran, had the flashiest guests: editor-at-large Derek Blasberg, Moda Operandi’s Frank de Jesus, designer Adrian Mainella, the New York Times’ Sandra Ballentine, Elle.com’s Sydney Wasserman, Shinan Govani, Nicholas Mellamphy, Suzanne Boyd, a bespectacled Moses Znaimer, Hermes Canada’s Jennifer Carter and Suzanne Cohon (and really, the list could be its own post). See the full gallery and notes from the runway after the jump.

See the complete fall/winter 2011 Joe Fresh runway show »

An early runway statement for Mimran was a neoprene coat in his brand’s signature orange, which appealed because it had a fun Muppet quality rarely seen on Toronto runways (some said “Miu Miu”). But we have a hard time believing there’s a market for such whimsy, especially when it comes in the form of neoprene rope belts in various kid-friendly colours (but really, how much from a Joe Fresh show is ever produced commercially). That said, jackets were impeccably crafted, and in some cases the made-from-neoprene silhouettes were passable as a wrap or car coat, which even as art was somewhat impressive.

The stars of the show were the knits—and there was a huge push of them, including short dresses in navy and forest green and hand-knit Nordic sweaters. We were surprised to see that there wasn’t a cohesive theme (last season’s Boy Scout parade was considered a big success), but this left room for the Fresh empire to explore a variety of test looks: animal prints, as seen in a panelled blouse with contrasting white sleeves; drawstring athletic shorts; FUBU-era gold-shimmer denim; shag rug miniskirts; and staples like wool slacks, cigarette pants and crew-neck sweaters. We love the glitz and glamour of a Joe Fresh show, but there still isn’t anything fabulous about adding basic white T’s to your shopping cart along with cooking sherry, Clorox and bouillon cubes.