• NIKE
  • MICROSOFT
  • BARBIE
  • ANNABELLE COSMETICS
  • GET FRESH COMPANY
  • MY LITTLE PONY @ NYFW

01

CUSTOMIZED AF1'S FOR
CLAM DUNK SURF CLUB S/S 2019 TORONTO FASHION WEEK

Our friends at Nike Toronto helped us customize the iconic Air Force 1 in prints from our S/S '19 collection and our capsule collaboration with Get Fresh Company. They were hydro-dipped exclusively for the runway, strategically matching or clashing with the collection looks and anchoring our designs with a classic Nike silhouette. Aside from custom AF1s, models stepped lightly in Nike Sportswear and Running silhouettes hand-selected by Hayley.

02

NIKE DISPENSARY

Celebrating the release of the Matcha Pink colourway of the Epic React Flyknit silhouette, Nike Toronto created an immersive experience where runners and style mavens alike could experience a ‘runner’s high’ in the bubblegum pink confines of a concept space they dubbed ‘The Dispensary.’ Conspicuously coinciding with 420 celebrations on April 20th, the space played on the idea that it is easier to purchase marijuana in the city of Toronto than to cop the most sought after Nike silhouettes. Bill Nye was even on hand to explain the very real science behind the euphoric feeling of a runner’s high that can be earned through physical exertion.

Hayley designed some exclusive co-branded Nike merch which was available for sale for a limited time at The Dispensary. For her designs Hayley played with the dispensary theme and designed a dime-bag motif available on t-shirts and totes as well as a pager t-shirt complete with a psychedelic skeleton hand inspired by classic stoner paraphernalia.

03

TORONTO FASHION WEEK F/W 2018
COSMIC DREAD

In the deep recesses of the human psyche lies the vastness of human consciousness. The brain limits our perception of time and space as a safety mechanism to protect us from our true potential. Despite this, interstellar travel and contact with alien life are an inevitability. Spiraling ever closer to the convergence of robotic perfection and maximum biological evolution we cannot escape one thing: Cosmic Dread.

For FW18 HE once again partnered with NIKE who provided the runway footwear. Combining running silhouettes, classic sportswear staples and over-the-top colourways, Nike’s pieces provided the perfect anchor for the collection.

04

TORONTO FASHION WEEK S/S 2018
TEENAGE WASTELAND

After becoming a mainstay at Toronto Fashion Week, Hayley Elsaesser branched out with a solo Toronto show for SS17, and a New York Fashion Week show at Milk Studios for her My Little Pony inspired FW17, collection ‘Déja Moon’, which was a collaboration with Hasbro. Hayley is excitedly returned to the official Toronto Fashion Week, and once again thrilled audiences with her trademark prints, sickly sweet colour palette and diverse runway casting.

Hayley’s SS18 collection, named for The Who’s classic song ‘Baba O’Riley’ from ‘The Kids are Alright’ is a vision of post-apocalyptic optimism. Only the youth have survived and have congregated in the nuclear desert. They adorn themselves with colourful relics of their carefree life before ‘the event’ and wait out their days in hedonistic celebration of the culture they lost. Teenage Wasteland is their dystopian country club.

Hayley partnered with Nike Toronto to perfectly set off the futuristic country club vibe using classic and fashion forward sneaker silhouettes on the runway.

05

NIKE AIR SOCIETY LAUNCH & INSTALLATION

Hayley was approached by Nike to join the Toronto ‘Nike Air Society’ with a collaborative project along with fellow Canadian designers- Smythe and Markoo. Each designer styled pieces with Nike clothing and the VaporMax shoes, creating unique looks each inspired by a different VaporMax colourway: “Chrome Blush” for Smythe, “Black Anthracite” for Hayley and “Pure Platinum” for Markoo.

Keeping in the spirit of collaboration, the designers each selected a muse to model the clothing in the official lookbook photos. Hayley’s muse, Sandy Gill is a celebrity stylist and grade 6 teacher who perfectly embodies the spirit of individuality and drive that takes Hayley’s girl through her day.

The designers also created a window installation at a different location along Queen West to display the collaboration and shed some light on the inspiration behind the partnership. Hayley worked with Toronto artist Char Da Silva to create her other-worldly landscape which imagines Hayley’s muse getting lost in her own world of creativity as she moves throughout her day: from work to play, formal to casual, all while looking amazing and ‘walking on air’.  

Hayley with Charziie who created the installation.

01

INTRODUCING VR TO
TORONTO FASHION WEEK

When she designs, Hayley likes to try to imagine another world and create a collection around her interpretation of that world, with each design adding to the story and becoming a piece of the creative puzzle. Hayley is definitely a technophile, and technology plays a huge part in her design process. When we started working with Microsoft we wanted to pay homage to the technology behind Hayley’s creative process in some way, and allude to the intricacies of the colourful world she imagines for each collection. Through Windows Mixed Reality we were able to do so. Hayley travelled to Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Washington and was captured in a state-of-the-art studio surrounded with high-powered cameras. The images were compiled to create a 3D Hayley avatar ready to invite you into her world (or be a character in your favourite X-Box game). We invited media and friends to don a WMR headset and venture into a combination of virtual reality and augmented reality, with the Hayley Avatar as their tour guide.

Our FW18 collection, ‘Cosmic Dread’ is basically Hayley’s science fiction influenced prediction for a future where technology and biology have merged and interstellar travel is commonplace. Putting her trademark candy coating on the idea of existential dread in the face of vast technological advancement, we thought it would be cool to begin our runway show with a fun mini performance piece. Our opening model emerged from a life-size ‘Eyegina’ wearing a WMR headset as if from another dimension where technology allows us to travel through time.

02

SURFACE AMBASSADOR

As a designer Hayley is known for her bold, colourful aesthetic highlighted by her iconic pop-art-inspired prints. Hayley designs all of her prints by hand and prior to working with Microsoft was sketching on paper, digitizing, and then drawing again electronically. It made the design process slow and arduous, and the potential for misplacing a sketch (especially if you know Hayley) was high. Enter the Microsoft Surface. Hayley has been designing on the Surface for 3 collections now, and has been converted. It essentially takes an entire step out of the process, and makes the remaining steps much easier and more seamless. With the use of the accompanying pen, Hayley can draw directly on her screen, and mock up a new print within moments, allowing her to spend more time on meticulously planning out her unique colour combinations.

03

MICROSOFT SURFACE COLLECTION

Hayley partnered with Microsoft to create a small capsule collection celebrating individuality with all proceeds going to the Rainbow Railroad, a charity that helps the marginalized LBGTQ+ community find a safe haven within Canada. Designed using the Microsoft Surface, Hayley revamped her signature Mouthy print in the form of a colourful backpack.

Hayley also teamed up with YouTuber, activist, and friend Stef Sanjati, to help create her official hoodie. Drawn by Stef herself on the Microsoft Surface, the "Bread Squad" hoodie is based on the affectionate name given to her audience.

BARBIE FOR HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY

 

A capsule collection sold exclusively at Hudson's Bay commemorating Barbie's 60th birthday.

"When we are kids our imagination knows no bounds. We can dream as big as we want. We picture ourselves in the driver’s seat. Kids don’t pretend to be court jesters, they imagine that they are kings and queens. We don’t picture settling into a mundane day-to-day life and living for reality TV, we imagine being the ones on the TV, inventing new machines, creating new works of art, and changing the world. As we grow older we are told we need to fall in line. We need to be more feminine. More of a ‘real man’. Girls can’t sit like that. Boys can’t play with dolls. We learn to take direction. We learn we shouldn’t speak out of turn. Even our fairy tales prescribe lives of careful and methodical plodding. The Tortoise and The Hare. The Ant and The Grasshopper. We are taught from a young age to compare ourselves to others and prepare for the worst. I am here to tell you that dreams do come true. When 4 year old me said one day she was going to make clothes for Barbie, it would have sounded like a pipe dream. If my mom had said ‘don’t be unrealistic’ instead of teaching me to sew, it would have been. If when I wanted to do science experiments, or build things my mom had said, ‘girls don’t do that’ I wouldn’t be writing this. If Ruth Handler hadn’t questioned why her daughter, Barbara only had the option of playing with baby dolls rather than envisioning herself grown up, the world would be different.   If I didn’t have strong female role models to look up to, I wouldn’t be the woman I am today. I am living proof that you CAN be anything you want to. I’m so beyond thrilled to announce my new collection with Barbie, available exclusively at Hudson’s Bay. Barbie inspired me to create, and I’ve taken that inspiration and put it into this collection." - Hayley

-



THE OUTRAGEOUS
LIPSTICK COLLECTION

Partnering with Annabelle Cosmetics for a limited edition line of lipsticks, The Outrageous Collection by Hayley Elsaesser, is a harmonious blend of bright shades and fun packaging featuring some of the Hayley's most popular prints, like the signature lips that adorn many of her pieces. The Outrageous Collection is made up of 10 lipsticks total (four of which are web exclusives; the others are available in drugstores).

GET FRESH COMPANY

Toronto is a tough place to make a name for yourself. Everyone is too busy climbing their own ladder to care about yours. This city doesn't want to know about you until the whole world does. We don't want our peers to succeed. You struggle until you make it, and then they'll pretend like they were there all along.

In Toronto we hide in plain sight. We fly under the radar while struggling to convince our neighbours that we deserve a spot amongst the foreign brands they covet. We try to convince our country that our art is worth caring about; that our message has meaning. We try to connect in a city devoid of caring, in a nation that hates pride, and constantly looks outward for validation. We try to succeed in an environment that suppresses success. We find no luxury within our walls. There is no colour in our skyline.

Despite this, two brands have pushed through the noise and are left standing. Five years later and we are still here. We will no longer hide in plain sight. We will paint boldly on the bleak landscape of imitation. We will not be imitated by angry leaders with more money then sense. We will not bow down to Goliath. We are Queen West, and we are still here.


MY LITTLE PONY

Hayley collaborated with Hasbro on her FW17 collection, Déjà Moon, taking inspiration from the iconic My Little Pony brand and utilizing classic Pony imagery in her designs. Incorporating a broader colour palette with splashes of red and gold, and designing through the lens of hazy nostalgia, Hayley imagined her childhood dreams had gained a life of their own and populated her prints. With allusions to first love, enduring friendship, and carefree youthfulness, Hayley paid homage to Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie and brought the spirt of My Little Pony to life.

Using the partnership with Hasbro as an opportunity to amplify the message of the collection, the HE team decided to produce a stand-alone show during New York Fashion Week at the famed Milk Studios. Artist Corey Moranis created a life-size Pony dreamscape as the backdrop with models surrounded by moons and stars in pastel hues. Choosing a presentation style showcase, Hayley partnered with Bumble&bumble on the hair and MAC Cosmetics for the ethereal makeup looks. Giving a nod to classic NYC street-style, Hayley also worked with Timberland who provided the perfect footwear anchor for her NYC debut.

DEJA MOON @ NYFW

NIKE

01

CUSTOMIZED AF1'S FOR
CLAM DUNK SURF CLUB S/S 2019 TORONTO FASHION WEEK

Our friends at Nike Toronto helped us customize the iconic Air Force 1 in prints from our S/S '19 collection and our capsule collaboration with Get Fresh Company. They were hydro-dipped exclusively for the runway, strategically matching or clashing with the collection looks and anchoring our designs with a classic Nike silhouette. Aside from custom AF1s, models stepped lightly in Nike Sportswear and Running silhouettes hand-selected by Hayley.

02

NIKE DISPENSARY

Celebrating the release of the Matcha Pink colourway of the Epic React Flyknit silhouette, Nike Toronto created an immersive experience where runners and style mavens alike could experience a ‘runner’s high’ in the bubblegum pink confines of a concept space they dubbed ‘The Dispensary.’ Conspicuously coinciding with 420 celebrations on April 20th, the space played on the idea that it is easier to purchase marijuana in the city of Toronto than to cop the most sought after Nike silhouettes. Bill Nye was even on hand to explain the very real science behind the euphoric feeling of a runner’s high that can be earned through physical exertion.

Hayley designed some exclusive co-branded Nike merch which was available for sale for a limited time at The Dispensary. For her designs Hayley played with the dispensary theme and designed a dime-bag motif available on t-shirts and totes as well as a pager t-shirt complete with a psychedelic skeleton hand inspired by classic stoner paraphernalia.

03

TORONTO FASHION WEEK F/W 2018
COSMIC DREAD

In the deep recesses of the human psyche lies the vastness of human consciousness. The brain limits our perception of time and space as a safety mechanism to protect us from our true potential. Despite this, interstellar travel and contact with alien life are an inevitability. Spiraling ever closer to the convergence of robotic perfection and maximum biological evolution we cannot escape one thing: Cosmic Dread.

For FW18 HE once again partnered with Nike who provided the runway footwear. Combining running silhouettes, classic sportswear staples and over-the-top colourways, Nike’s pieces provided the perfect anchor for the collection.

04

TORONTO FASHION WEEK S/S 2018
TEENAGE WASTELAND

After becoming a mainstay at Toronto Fashion Week, Hayley Elsaesser branched out with a solo Toronto show for SS17, and a New York Fashion Week show at Milk Studios for her My Little Pony inspired FW17, collection ‘Déja Moon’, which was a collaboration with Hasbro. Hayley is excitedly returned to the official Toronto Fashion Week, and once again thrilled audiences with her trademark prints, sickly sweet colour palette and diverse runway casting.

Hayley’s SS18 collection, named for The Who’s classic song ‘Baba O’Riley’ from ‘The Kids are Alright’ is a vision of post-apocalyptic optimism. Only the youth have survived and have congregated in the nuclear desert. They adorn themselves with colourful relics of their carefree life before ‘the event’ and wait out their days in hedonistic celebration of the culture they lost. Teenage Wasteland is their dystopian country club.

Hayley partnered with Nike Toronto to perfectly set off the futuristic country club vibe using classic and fashion forward sneaker silhouettes on the runway.

 

05

NIKE AIR SOCIETY LAUNCH & INSTALLATION

Hayley was approached by Nike to join the Toronto ‘Nike Air Society’ with a collaborative project along with fellow Canadian designers- Smythe and Markoo. Each designer styled pieces with Nike clothing and the VaporMax shoes, creating unique looks each inspired by a different VaporMax colourway: “Chrome Blush” for Smythe, “Black Anthracite” for Hayley and “Pure Platinum” for Markoo.

Keeping in the spirit of collaboration, the designers each selected a muse to model the clothing in the official lookbook photos. Hayley’s muse, Sandy Gill is a celebrity stylist and grade 6 teacher who perfectly embodies the spirit of individuality and drive that takes Hayley’s girl through her day.

The designers also created a window installation at a different location along Queen West to display the collaboration and shed some light on the inspiration behind the partnership. Hayley worked with Toronto artist Char Da Silva to create her other-worldly landscape which imagines Hayley’s muse getting lost in her own world of creativity as she moves throughout her day: from work to play, formal to casual, all while looking amazing and ‘walking on air’.

MICROSOFT

01

INTRODUCING VR TO
TORONTO FASHION WEEK

When she designs, Hayley likes to try to imagine another world and create a collection around her interpretation of that world, with each design adding to the story and becoming a piece of the creative puzzle. Hayley is definitely a technophile, and technology plays a huge part in her design process. When we started working with Microsoft we wanted to pay homage to the technology behind Hayley’s creative process in some way, and allude to the intricacies of the colourful world she imagines for each collection. Through Windows Mixed Reality we were able to do so. Hayley travelled to Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Washington and was captured in a state-of-the-art studio surrounded with high-powered cameras. The images were compiled to create a 3D Hayley avatar ready to invite you into her world (or be a character in your favourite X-Box game). We invited media and friends to don a WMR headset and venture into a combination of virtual reality and augmented reality, with the Hayley Avatar as their tour guide.

Our FW18 collection, ‘Cosmic Dread’ is basically Hayley’s science fiction influenced prediction for a future where technology and biology have merged and interstellar travel is commonplace. Putting her trademark candy coating on the idea of existential dread in the face of vast technological advancement, we thought it would be cool to begin our runway show with a fun mini performance piece. Our opening model emerged from a life-size ‘Eyegina’ wearing a WMR headset as if from another dimension where technology allows us to travel through time.

02

SURFACE AMBASSADOR

As a designer Hayley is known for her bold, colourful aesthetic highlighted by her iconic pop-art-inspired prints. Hayley designs all of her prints by hand and prior to working with Microsoft was sketching on paper, digitizing, and then drawing again electronically. It made the design process slow and arduous, and the potential for misplacing a sketch (especially if you know Hayley) was high. Enter the Microsoft Surface. Hayley has been designing on the Surface for 3 collections now, and has been converted. It essentially takes an entire step out of the process, and makes the remaining steps much easier and more seamless. With the use of the accompanying pen, Hayley can draw directly on her screen, and mock up a new print within moments, allowing her to spend more time on meticulously planning out her unique colour combinations.

BARBIE

BARBIE FOR HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY

A capsule collection sold exclusively at Hudson's Bay commemorating Barbie's 60th birthday.

"When we are kids our imagination knows no bounds. We can dream as big as we want. We picture ourselves in the driver’s seat. Kids don’t pretend to be court jesters, they imagine that they are kings and queens. We don’t picture settling into a mundane day-to-day life and living for reality TV, we imagine being the ones on the TV, inventing new machines, creating new works of art, and changing the world. As we grow older we are told we need to fall in line. We need to be more feminine. More of a ‘real man’. Girls can’t sit like that. Boys can’t play with dolls. We learn to take direction. We learn we shouldn’t speak out of turn. Even our fairy tales prescribe lives of careful and methodical plodding. The Tortoise and The Hare. The Ant and The Grasshopper. We are taught from a young age to compare ourselves to others and prepare for the worst. I am here to tell you that dreams do come true. When 4 year old me said one day she was going to make clothes for Barbie, it would have sounded like a pipe dream. If my mom had said ‘don’t be unrealistic’ instead of teaching me to sew, it would have been. If when I wanted to do science experiments, or build things my mom had said, ‘girls don’t do that’ I wouldn’t be writing this. If Ruth Handler hadn’t questioned why her daughter, Barbara only had the option of playing with baby dolls rather than envisioning herself grown up, the world would be different.   If I didn’t have strong female role models to look up to, I wouldn’t be the woman I am today. I am living proof that you CAN be anything you want to. I’m so beyond thrilled to announce my new collection with Barbie, available exclusively at Hudson’s Bay. Barbie inspired me to create, and I’ve taken that inspiration and put it into this collection." - Hayley

ANNABELLE

THE OUTRAGEOUS
LIPSTICK COLLECTION

Partnering with Annabelle Cosmetics for a limited edition line of lipsticks, The Outrageous Collection by Hayley Elsaesser, is a harmonious blend of bright shades and fun packaging featuring some of the Hayley's most popular prints, like the signature lips that adorn many of her pieces. The Outrageous Collection is made up of 10 lipsticks total (four of which are web exclusives; the others are available in drugstores).

GET FRESH COMPANY

ELSAESSER X GET FRESH COMPANY

Toronto is a tough place to make a name for yourself. Everyone is too busy climbing their own ladder to care about yours. This city doesn't want to know about you until the whole world does. We don't want our peers to succeed. You struggle until you make it, and then they'll pretend like they were there all along.

In Toronto we hide in plain sight. We fly under the radar while struggling to convince our neighbours that we deserve a spot amongst the foreign brands they covet. We try to convince our country that our art is worth caring about; that our message has meaning. We try to connect in a city devoid of caring, in a nation that hates pride, and constantly looks outward for validation. We try to succeed in an environment that suppresses success. We find no luxury within our walls. There is no colour in our skyline.

Despite this, two brands have pushed through the noise and are left standing. Five years later and we are still here. We will no longer hide in plain sight. We will paint boldly on the bleak landscape of imitation. We will not be imitated by angry leaders with more money then sense. We will not bow down to Goliath. We are Queen West, and we are still here.

MY LITTLE PONY @ NYFW

MY LITTLE PONY AT
NEW YORK FASHION WEEK

Hayley collaborated with Hasbro on her FW17 collection, Déjà Moon, taking inspiration from the iconic My Little Pony brand and utilizing classic Pony imagery in her designs. Incorporating a broader colour palette with splashes of red and gold, and designing through the lens of hazy nostalgia, Hayley imagined her childhood dreams had gained a life of their own and populated her prints. With allusions to first love, enduring friendship, and carefree youthfulness, Hayley paid homage to Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie and brought the spirt of My Little Pony to life.

Using the partnership with Hasbro as an opportunity to amplify the message of the collection, the HE team decided to produce a stand-alone show during New York Fashion Week at the famed Milk Studios. Artist Corey Moranis created a life-size Pony dreamscape as the backdrop with models surrounded by moons and stars in pastel hues. Choosing a presentation style showcase, Hayley partnered with Bumble&bumble on the hair and MAC Cosmetics for the ethereal makeup looks. Giving a nod to classic NYC street-style, Hayley also worked with Timberland who provided the perfect footwear anchor for her NYC debut.