Montreal Fashion Week 2013 Spring Preview

By Evelyn Reid, About.com Guide

September 10, 2012 - Montreal Fashion Week has gotten a lot of flak in years past. If insiders weren't rolling eyes over the venue, which, while lovely on the outside, was a packed, disorganized, lineup-plagued nightmare on the inside, then they were questioning the biannual event's very relevance, with some criticizing designers for being behind the industry by two, sometimes even three or four seasons.

Amazing how much can change in just a few short months.

Armed with a new press relations team, a new home -- Arsenal, a factory turned contemporary art meets event space -- and talent in pace with international market trends, the Montreal Fashion Week I caught last week was like none other I've seen since I started covering the beat four years ago.

Notably, a handful of trends I spotted on the Arsenal runway coincidentally, or not-so-coincidentally, matched recurring themes found on New York runways days later. Then again, most of said themes are essentially repeats of 2012 Spring. Not that that's a bad thing.

First up?