TORONTO -- Bustle offered a tip of the cap to docker style in its upscale yet cosy range of separates for fall and winter.
"Last season, we were kind of inspired by the florals and we were in Mexico, and we kind of wanted to do something a little more rugged and a little darker -- but still Bustle," said creative director Shawn Hewson standing alongside his wife and label co-founder Ruth Promislow.
"We found these great quilting fabrics, and it took us in the direction of the Scandinavian longshoremen."
The soft, richly textured fabric served as a centrepiece in the line, with jackets and drawstring pants among the garments in the range fashioned from the material. The collection unveiled Thursday at Toronto's World MasterCard Fashion Week also included dual-toned turtlenecks, denim jackets, shawl collar cardigans and slim-fitting cargo pants, each showcasing the label's interpretation of casual seaport style.
Bustle dialled back on the use of ultra-bright hues, featuring a more muted palette encompassing black, grey and green. No flashy patterns either, sticking largely to tried-and-true mainstays like plaid, with the print showcased on shirts, coats, pants and the inner lining of jackets.
"It's always been a thing of ours to mix and match the patterns and textures," said Hewson backstage following the show.
"In this case, we didn't have a ton of variety in terms of the colours and the prints; so we were all about texture, mixing the textures and making sure those kind of made for interesting outfits."
In past seasons, Bustle has been among the select few menswear designers showing at Fashion Week. But their ranks are swelling, with Christopher Bates, Klaxon Howl, Thomas Balint and Hussein Dhalla of HD Homme among the labels also showing collections during the week.
Promislow called the surge in menswear representation on the runway "fantastic."
"I think just more and more men are paying attention to how they look," she said.
"Men's fashion is becoming something that people are paying attention to in the fashion world, and men on the street are thinking about what they wear and what's going on in fashion."
"I think having that many menswear labels here at World MasterCard Fashion Week this season is a sign that guys are starting to embrace their esthetic even more," Hewson added.
