Denis Gagnon’s comeback show (punnily titled Denise Collection) opens not with his trademark leathers but with soft, luxurious knits the colour of indigo and jet ink -- complicated seams and hems askew, as if put through a blender then reconstructed. Slouchy sweater dresses are puckered and tacked inside to give the puckered, three-dimensional effect of quilted seams; a poncho with large diagonally knit ribs falls off the shoulder and a black cape is edged in leather tape and with silver snaps. Sinewy scarves have long fringes of hair resembling a horse’s mane, draped over models’ heads to recall Middle Eastern or gypsy head scarves. They collection is also accessorized with macabre sterling silver pendants cast from feathers, branches, bones by Harakiri, and pleated and seamed handbags from the capsule collection Gagnon designed for historic Montreal leather house Fullum & Holt.

But Gagnon handles leather as deftly he does fine silk mousseline and chiffon, and the result is a study in contrasts. Coal-black leather jackets are detailed with seams of concentric circles, like pinwheels on licorice (some come in warm chestnut brown, too) paired with fluttering raw-edged layers of chiffon and low-slung skintight motocross pants, the latter with still more spiraling seams -- and again rendered with scalpel precision. There’s the delicacy of softly folded and draped chalk white dresses of wispy silk habotai (or is it charmeuse?) worn under a sculptural leather jacket the shade of mahogany. The shoulders are extreme with curved, exaggerated shoulders and articulated elbows like medieval armour (and in a sleeveless versions as well) and hooded leather vests and anoraks have kangaroo pockets.

Gagnon’s radically edgy and poetic point of view isn’t for everyone - it’s deliberately dark and brooding, often cited in the same breath as Martin Margiela, Goth-inflected Rick Owens and Olivier Theyskens. But it’s also breathtakingly beautiful. Gagnon shuttered his Mile End shop last year to regroup after financial difficulties and more than his previous collections, his latest work is both creative and commercial.

I am happily ensconced on Via 1 rolling towards Montreal Fashion Week, and if the train’s spotty (at best) WiFi cooperates, will have more to say about Gagnon’s compatriots Nadya Toto and Andy Thé-Anh, who also showed in Toronto last week, shortly.

[Models walk the runway during Denis Gagnon's show during L'Oréal Fashion Week in Toronto. Credit: Peter J. Thompson/National Post]