Montreal has long been considered one of the fashion capitals of the world.

Next to New York City, I would be hard-pressed to find a more culturally diverse fashion nexus in North America. Each season, Montreal’s mainstream stores and high-end boutiques carry the latest and most dynamic trends that the fashion world has to offer.

But high fashion and daily wearability are often mutually exclusive.

Just because we have access to the latest styles does not mean that we should be running out and adding items to our wardrobes each season.

Being in fashion is about observing the most recent trends and only taking the bits and pieces that suit your personal style.

Let’s look at a dandelion of the fashion industry — an atrocious weed of a trend that keeps popping up again every few seasons —the skinny pant.

The skinny pant first made its mainstream appearance in wardrobes across North America in the ’60s.

Unlike the flare style that was all the rage in the ’90s — designed to flare out at the knee, balancing out the thigh and giving the illusion of a slimmer top half — the skinny pant hugs the leg right down to the ankle. Most of us do not have legs that can stand such scrutiny, but more about that later.

Fashion is about nostalgia, and it doesn’t take a fashion expert to see that we humans simply recycle trends every few decades. In a recent Gap ad campaign, the skinny jean was publicized by using old Audrey Hepburn footage.

Though she’s been dead over a decade, the old fashion icon looks just right in the present day campaign since her wardrobe is what today’s generation has labeled fashionable.

But looking at Hepburn dancing around in the campaign’s archival footage hasn’t quite sold me on this trend.

For starters, Hepburn’s measurements were recorded in 1953 as being 34A-20-34. No, that 20 is not a typo.

She stood five feet seven inches tall and weighed a mere 110 lbs. Normal people just don’t look like that, nor should they aspire to.

Hippies had no use for the binding skinny style and the pant was tossed aside and replaced by flowing skirts made of comfortable gingham, tie-dyed T-shirts and loose fitting jeans that allowed for practical functionality.

Skinny pants returned in the ’80s — a rather strange decade. An actor was playing president, a sequined glove-wearing man in military garb topped the charts, and hair was made to look like an electrocuted poodle.

The theory behind the skinny pant is simple; wearing slim fitting pants shows off a person’s curves and makes them look skinny, but the skinny pant is only flattering to skinny people. Frankly, the name should be changed to the “skinny person pant.”

There are, of course, those nauseating people who look good in everything and they look darn good in the skinny pant. And for those who can pull it off, one bonus is that this style is designed to highlight footwear.

Maia Bensoussan, 28, had fun adding skinny pants to her wardrobe this season. “It’s easy to dress them up and they look fabulous over great heels you want to show off,” she explains.

So the style is designed to bring attention not only to a woman’s curves, but to her accessories, and as with every pant style, the skinny trend has also made its way into the denim market, offering women a more “dressy” jean alternative.

And the skinny pant has also spawned a mixed bag of fashion atrocities and hideous accessories.

A garden of pastel-coloured suede ankle length boots and long unflattering shirts worn falling off the shoulder in high vagrant style are now in vogue. Also making a triumphant return is the worn-too-high-and-far-too-thick belt, contemporary society’s exterior corset that binds a woman’s midsection to accentuate the curvaceous buttocks and breasts.

Of course, in order for this style to work, an average-sized woman needs to wear control top panties and a push-up brassier with ample padding. Haven’t we evolved at all from the Victorian era?

Starting her accounting career, Romy Waxman has spent a lot of time this season shopping for work-appropriate clothing.

A few months ago she was encouraged by a salesperson to go the skinny pant route.

“This 90-pound, 16-year-old salesgirl looked fabulous in them and impulsively, I got a pair,” Waxman explains.

Though Waxman purchased the pants in July, “they have been hanging in the closet ever since,” she says, shaking her head, “and that’s where they’ll stay until I discover them in three years and give them to the Salvation Army.”

How is it that a trend can suddenly negate our personal senses of style?

Are we really so indoctrinated into consumer culture that we’ve lost the ability to make rational decisions about what flatters our own bodies?

The answer, embarrassing as it is to admit, is yes!

The newest thing is often considered the best; we buy impulsively and think later.

Personal fashion shouldn’t be dictated by the year or what the magazines have labeled “hot.”

It should be dictated by the woman’s body type and size — period.

And certain styles should never be allowed back. We repeat the errors of our past over and over.

So, the skinny pant does in fact look fabulous — on skinny people. But it, and all its various counterparts, should be laid to rest, once and for all.

Simon Chang bounds into his Montreal studio holding a chiffon floral skirt in one hand and a tray of cookies in the other, which he proceeds to pass around with a huge grin. Wearing patched jeans and a black dress shirt, the thirty year fashion veteran conducts business with a smile, breaking frequently into uproarious laughter, but turning serious on a dime when asked a question, becoming pensive, and making direct eye contact. In an industry where people are constantly looking past each other for someone more important, Simon Chang makes it a point to be respectful. He is not only an interesting man, but he is interested in the world around him, and particularly in other human beings.

The little collection which Chang started in the seventies is now a fashion empire, with new products being added every season. Chang’s frustration over finding the perfect accessory at photo shoots led him to begin designing his own, with fantastic results. His love of art and his background in graphic design have allowed him to gracefully transition into the role of accessories designer.

Raised in Vancouver and now with a Montreal base of operations, proud Canadian Chang is the perfect blend of East and West coast sensibilities, infused with worldly artistic influences and classic elegance. Though he is of Chinese descent, Simon Chang is a Canadian boy at heart, dedicated to creating wearable, affordable clothing for Canadians. Chang has a vast fall/winter collection so that his clients can be well dressed while braving the elements. In order to help clients –and even his own staff- navigate through the immense 400 piece seasonal collection, Chang gives each clothing group a catchy easy-to-remember name, like “Dancing with Wools”, “Tweed her Nice” or “Elvis Paisley.”

Chang equates design to building a house, stressing that it’s only as good as its foundation. That foundation comes from Chang’s team of employees, some of whom- like his right-hand woman Renee- have been with him for over twenty years. Preferring to sell to small independent stores, Chang delights in meeting and knowing his representatives, and talking to his clients, even making selective store appearances. Knowing his clients has allowed Chang to grow and evolve as a designer of beautiful and wearable clothing. “Fashion is one thing, but it needs to be blended with practicality and wearablity,” he says.

Chang’s commitment to people extends far beyond his role as a fashion designer and he works extensively as a philanthropist. “Trends in Fashion come and go, but the need to give back to the community is consistent”, says Chang, who attended the Emily Carr Institute on a full scholarship from the Bay. He has never forgotten that he was helped along the way, and has continued to give back, founding the Simon Chang and Phyllis Levine Foundation in 1986. Over the past twenty years, the foundation has raised money for research in the areas of breast cancer, pediatric disorders, heart disease and Aids. They also support education and social organizations that help the less fortunate members of Canadian society – offering everything from sports programs for children to funding women’s shelters.

Proud fundraisers for the Quebec breast cancer foundation, Chang and his team designed shirts as part of a “pink” campaign that helped raise more than One million dollars across Canada. The foundation recently presented Chang a copy signed by Celine Dion, one of the many celebrities who has embraced Chang’s philanthropic design.

Chang’s dedication to helping others is apparent on a personal level as well. Listening to each woman’s fashion issues, Chang designs based on their comments. “You have to listen to the issue at hand before you can try to fix it,” says Chang, “not just when dealing with fashion – listening is the key to life.”

At a public appearance in Toronto, a woman in a wheelchair made a lasting impression on the designer. “She said no one noticed her because she was in a wheelchair,” Chang explained, shaking his head. That is, until she began wearing Chang’s fashions. With their durable construction and their emphasis on comfort and wearablility, she was able to tailor Chang’s fashions to fit her needs- and getting noticed, much to the designer’s delight. “A woman in a wheelchair, or with a walker is still a woman, and deserves to be able to dress and feel like one,” says Chang, who notes with a grin that his target market is “age 25 to death.” It was input from his clients that led Chang to develop a fitness style line – what he calls “the ultimate multi-tasking-woman’s line”- which is being launched next fall. Though the clothing line has evolved over the years, there is a consistency to Chang’s work that ensures little of it ends up in vintage stores. Instead, garments remain current, re-wearable, re-inventible and classically stylish wardrobe pieces.

Re-interpreting artistic influences- from Broadway musicals to art exhibits- through his clothing line, Chang continues to surprise and delight while being faithful to the rules of wearablility. Chang equates the layers and textures in his collection to food, each one stimulating a different sense. “But I only provide the ingredients.” He says with a smile, “Each woman builds her own menu.”