By Tyler Griffin
Graduating fashion students are busy preparing their capstone collections for the 31st annual Mass Exodus showcase on April 6 at Daniels Spectrum. Considered the largest student-run fashion show in the world, the event offers fourth-year-fashion design students the chance to show off their skills to potential employers and industry professionals. The Eye caught up with a handful of designers before the big day to hear about their lines.
Inspired by the colourful world of Wes Anderson films, Cassidy LeBlond’s collection takes a playful and sustainable twist on officewear. Drawn to Anderson’s colour palette, LeBlond thought it would be fun to interpret and introduce it in a professional setting.
The workwear line draws from Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel directly, with some designs named after characters like “the Zero,” “the Agatha” and “the Gustave.” LeBlond’s line promises to “bring some colour to the fluorescently lit world of cubicles and coffee.”
Unconsciously, she ensured her designs could act as staple pieces to be mixed and matched with other garments and prevent consumers from buying more clothes. “Sustainability is something you have to define for yourself,” and LeBlond defines it as reducing wastage—whether that means strongly made garments or not having to constantly throw out clothes that are poorly made.
“I don’t have a super fancy [design] process, it just comes and goes when it pleases,” says LeBlond. “I don’t have something special that I do every time, it just kind of happens.”
For LeBlond, Mass Exodus represents a chance to utilize the skills she’s gained throughout her four years in the fashion program. “It’s fun because it’s a kind of be-all, end-all of Ryerson fashion design.” When asked what sets this year’s Mass Exodus apart from past years, LeBlond simply replied, with a smile, “I’m in it.”
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