Hot List: Emerging designer John Hillifer sits at the top of his class

We saw John Hillifer showcase his wares at Mass Exodus in a show curated by Flare magazine’s Liz Cabral, and his unfinished edges and floppy shapes put his collection among the best of the bunch. But this isn’t the first time Hillifer has been in the fashion spotlight, since he worked with the women’s wear team at Danier to develop his winning jacket design from the Danier Design Challenge, assisted Danier’s lead menswear designer and interned with local dandy Philip Sparks. Hillifer hails from Vancouver Island, but his home at the moment is Toronto, and he’ll be graduating from Ryerson’s School of Fashion this year. We’re impressed that someone so green has shown so much initiative to gain bona fide work experience, and frankly, we wish other young people would follow suit. Success through hard work? What a concept.

Hot List, our compendium of Toronto stylemakers to watch, appears regularly on The Goods. See the full collection as we check in with more of Toronto’s hottest.