Foundation of Alberta Designers

Bernice Huxtable, Calgary Herald

It was just a simple little triangular top. Yet it took the designer four muslins to produce it. The elasticized boat neck bared a shoulder, caressed another, then flung itself carelessly into volumes of fabric that swung freely and irregularly at the back. It was the softest pitch made by a designer in the competition. Yet it spoke volumes about the man's perception of what this season's fashion statement is all about.

Shae Barry executed the piece and three others for the first annual Designer of the Year 1990 awarded at Calgary, presented by the Foundation of Alberta Designers.

…And Barry walked off with the top trophy as the king of the heap of 28 juried entries, a second trophy as the best in menswear, a third as the winner in women's high fashion evening wear! Not bad for a 25-year-old with no formal training. Not bad for a Westerner designer who has gained recognition south of the 49th parallel but has yet to be noticed outside of Alberta.

All that may change when the dust settles and Barry trots his collection eastward to centers like Toronto and Montreal. His designs are not what the east perceives as the norm here. Nor were most of the collections at the competition.

Western designers have grown up, become far more contemporary in their styling. Yet their heritage has captured the imagination of European and American couturiers currently doting on buckskin fringes and native beading.

What appeared at the competition were visions of the 90's; ethnic silk and satin tunics, loose pants, shirts and lounge coats in spirited, spicy colours; wallpaper prints dashed with dots and stripes in bum-tight skirts and cropped jackets; snow-white mohair knit sweaters saddled with leather lapels and waistbands nesting over shiny silver shorts; outerwear jackets sprouting appliques of palm trees and three-dimensional flags; tiny tots handprint tops and baggy pants and flirt skirts in brilliant blobs of colour with matching caps and safari hats; men's Italian knit pants and sweaters combining roominess with style.

Barry's collection was executed in plain and brocade-weave Italian linens, soft chiffons and loosely-woven knits in shades of champagne, ivory and cinnamon. An ankle-length saron skirt of chiffon floated over an under-skirt of poly-faille; a simple buttoned jacket was cut low on the neck to sit on the shoulders; an almost-Victorian waistcoat broke ranks with a peplum.

The collection showed a high degree of soft tailoring and structuring, Barry noting that this season, "'soft is in'. Funny thing is I've been working on similar pieces for years, I seem to be ahead of my time, particularly when designing for competitions and ready-to-wear."

He's the protégé of his grandmother, who taught him to sew when he was eight. In high school, when he couldn't find what he wanted in stores, he'd make it. Two years of Art College didn't churn out a graphic artist, as planned. Instead Barry turned his aptitude for special relations into designing clothes. Shapes are cut directly from the fabric without patterns. And if he does say so himself, "on the first fitting, if the garment isn't perfect, it's very close."

The surname is Barry. He prefers to be called Shae. His label is Phasion!

Bernice Huxtable is a fashion writer with the Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alberta