For a Toronto-born boy destined for the fashion industry, it was the drama of such clothier legends as Gianni Versace and Christian Dior that ignited a love for design in Arthur Mendonça. The intoxicating luxury of couture, the metamorphosis of dress-up, and the dreamy aura of all that glamour had Mendonça hooked.
"Dressing up before you go out, taking on a different persona, that's what interested me," he says. "Fashion should be about a little bit of fantasy."
And Mendonça's designs are straight out of the feminine fashionista's dreams. The Toronto favorite's collections - conservative yet undeniably sexy - combine the sensuality of flirty softness and bold luxury with the classic look of expert tailoring and pristine polish. Menswear-inspired trousers and blazers are pulled in to showcase every racy curve, while the elegant fabrics and fine detailing keep the look mature. Cocktail dresses are abound, showing just the right amount of skin and sticking to flirty shapes that know how to make a woman's body look its best. His silhouettes are clean and streamlined, and leave the drama for the details: the cinched waist, the delicious purple silk, the slinky metallics, the oversized buttons, the corsetry, the pressed crease, or the perfectly placed ruffle.
Mendonça's designs are gorgeous yet simple, and truly know how to make a woman feel like a lady... And a strong, bombshell of a lady at that.
The Canadian designer's work, adored by the eager market that laps up its vibrant femininity, is also praised by the big leagues. Such stylites as Phillip Bloch, Jeanne Becker and Margherita Missoni have all expressed their fondness for Mendonça, while celebrities like Maria Bello, Nelly Furtado, Mischa Barton and Paris Hilton have vowed their love by slipping into his clothes. And the runways of Toronto, Ont., aren't the only home to his designs; the catwalks of New York, Los Angeles, Montréal, and São Paulo have all been graced with Mendonça's collections.
Arthur Mendonça: The Designer
The Canadian designer, who grew up on the island of São Miguel, Portugal, found his education at Ryerson University, receiving his bachelor of applied arts in 2002. Mendonça, who had previously received a few pointers from his grandmother and mother, was a self-described "natural" with the sewing machine and produced dramatic, costume-like pieces while at the university - the beginnings of his fashion fantasy. When he was launched into the real world post-graduation, he assessed the market for what designers were creating and what the marketplace wanted, and incorporated this research into his style to create the bold, polished sexiness that is Mendonça.
His style has continued to expand and evolve with each season, from knock-em-dead sheer to clean-cut futurama, but under the varying tunes, Mendonça's work throbs with a consistent baseline. The designer always plays with contradictions within his collections, throwing a flirty mini dress alongside a powerful men's suit or a dramatic evening gown. Sex appeal is wrapped around modesty, and masculine boldness is set against a feminine allure, popping up in that waist-loving blazer or that crisp, architectural cocktail dress. With his vibrant designs and striking silhouettes, Mendonça takes the traditional and the expected and bridges it with something new.
"There's a classic feel to my collections, but with a modern twist," he says. "There's a sexiness, even though it's somewhat conservative."
Behind the strong lines of Mendonça's designs is an inspiration that holds little discrimination: this designer finds his motivation everywhere. A culture-splashed vacation, a friend's shirt, a captivating postcard, or a simple silhouette can all find their way into his gowns, dress, suits, and skirts. He then combines his momentary muses with the right-now, creating on-trend collections that resonate with their own unique flair. And instead of feeding into the avant-garde cravings of magazine editors who are hungry for risks, Mendonça considers his clients' needs, introducing new silhouettes but without drastic, night-to-day transformations.
"Editorial wants people pushing the boundaries, but sometimes the marketplace, certain clients, aren't quite there yet, and they're like, 'Can I have a basic pencil skirt?'" he says.
Mendonça's Recent Fashion Collections
This concoction of inspiration has recently spawned two seemingly contrasting collections - the airy and feminine Spring 2007 and the punchy and powerful Fall 2007 - but with further inspection, Mendonça's signature classic-with-a-twist thread is running right through the pair. The designer's spring collection for this year, popping with bubble-hems, white cotton, cinched waists, ruffle trims, and pockets galore, takes the Mendonça woman from the office to the safari, to the boardwalk, to the "it" club, and back again. A trip to Brazil, where futuristic architecture created in the '60s caught Mendonça's eye, gave this collection its flight, resulting in the flashes of metallic, the streamlined cuts, the clean colors, the bold prints and the shift-dress shapes.
The lines we love from this designer have stayed put for his Fall 2007 collection, with menswear-inspired suits, slim jumpers, pencil skirts, and those coy little cocktail dresses peppering the line. But the serene cool hues of spring, and the reds, ivories and midnights of the previous fall collection, have been swapped for rich purples, mossy greens, warm browns and jet black - with just the right sweep of leopard print and flash of metallic. And the feathery femininity of spring has been replaced with a sexy edge that puts the power back in the suit.
The Arthur Mendonça Woman
When pulling together his line, the client that Mendonça keeps in mind is a young, professional woman who's setting new ground in her first career. She's a fashion-forward dresser but has her eye on classic style. This little lady would feel the same rush after picking up a sophisticated yet sassy cocktail dress as she would buying a new elegant cashmere suit. But, according to the designer, that young, stylista vibe of the Mendonça woman can expand outside of the 20somethings.
"It's not an age thing, it's a style thing and a confidence thing, which is what I love," he says.
No matter the woman, Mendonça adores watching a person's reaction when they wear his designs. When you slip into a beautiful dress, he says, your whole posture and mood changes, and you forget about your day's troubles. The clothing allows you to be swallowed up in a vision - the dreamlike state of dressing up - and lets your worries fall away.
"There are so many bad things going on in the world today," says Mendonça. "Fashion can just make things a little bit lighter, not so serious and down, just a little bit of daydreaming."
