For the first time in a few seasons, Holt Renfrew did not kick off Fashion Week, perhaps because people prefer to see upcoming pieces rather than what is currently available in the store.  Instead, the opening show as MIZ by Izzy Camilleri.  Known for a line of clothes aiming at people in wheelchairs (IZ) and furs (IZMA), this new collection targets the sophisticated, more mature woman.  According to Ms. Camilleri’s designer description on the Fashion Week website, the collection is “sexy, yet comfortable and easily wearable” and “but with distinct considerations for this new confident woman, who isn’t interested in looking like she once did, but wants to look like the woman she’s become.”

MIZ was filled with gorgeous houndstooth prints, camels and blacks, looks, depending on how it is styled could work for the office as well as more formal luncheons or dinners.  For the baby boomer set, which this collection is aimed at, these pieces may remind them of their mothers’ clothes from the 1960s, but with a 21st century twist, so we are not exactly going for Betty Draper per se.  For Generation X and millenials, MIZ definitely has pieces to give one’s wardrobe a more “grown-up” feel.  A favourite a black a-line dress with leather shoulders and sleeves as well as well as a gold cape dress.  However, I was not that big a fan of the houndstooth skirt suit with a cropped peplum jacket.  Sorry, but it just makes one look…wide.

Though I have to admit that there could have been a bit more colour in this collection, MIZ was definitely a breath of fresh air in terms of how it is styled.  While one of my favourites, Pink Tartan falls into a similar category, they are also a little more playful and girly to MIZ’s lady-like sophistication. I was also quite happy to see that there were more mature models – ones who are target age range – who walked the show.   This is something that should be applauded!