Sagradesa, a Toronto-based women’s wear and bridal brand, welcomed more than 500 friends and industry insiders for a fashion show at an abandoned warehouse in the city’s east end.HANMIN YUN/Supplied
Fashion Art Toronto, the city’s longest-running fashion week, has wrapped up another successful season, showcasing collections by more than 40 emerging Canadian designers.
While most chose to present their wares at the event’s main hub on Queens Quay East, a handful of designers invited guests to presentations at off-site locations around the city. Maxime Chercover, the designer behind Toronto-based women’s wear and bridal brand Sagradesa, rounded up more than 500 friends and industry insiders at an abandoned warehouse in the city’s east end on Nov. 15.
The fashion show included deconstructed intimates and unconventional bridal looks.cosplay/Supplied
The slow-fashion label is focused on custom evening wear, bridal wear and costume design, often showing collections inspired by nature and Chercover’s Colombian heritage. This season, the brand took its storytelling to new heights: Set against the blank canvas of the surrounding industrial space, Sagradesa’s latest chapter and collection theme, “Villain Origin Story,” unfolded.
Two large installations by Toronto-based florist Tlisa Lee acted as the runway’s centrepieces. Foraged foliage and dark, romantic blooms exploded out of rock piles and wire columns. The show opened with a group of sultry, soft-toned gowns, all constructed using repurposed textiles, such as 100-per-cent silk donated by a friend of Chercover’s grandmother, crocheted doilies, vintage lace and a floral-printed linen tablecloth.
These looks represented “the bride” – the hero of the story – exuding innocence and joie de vivre. Brides are equally heroic for Sagradesa in real life, constituting an integral part of Chercover’s business.
Last year, the brand began offering custom, sustainable bridal wear, which Chercover described to me as an intimate and rewarding process. She reimagines family heirloom pieces and vintage bridal gowns by reworking them with Sagradesa’s signature designs.
Sagradesa collaborated with Toronto Animal Services to have rescue dogs walk with the models.cosplay/Supplied
“We’re debuting new, sustainable bridal designs in ways we believe are unconventional to ‘traditional’ bridal ideas and offer a long-awaited freshness in the industry,” says Chercover. The label is also making bridal intimates using scraps from its gowns, so no part of the fabric goes to waste. “Even the smallest pieces are used,” she added.
Any story worth telling has its conflict, and for the show, Chercover pulled from her own experience of intermittently losing access to her brand’s social-media accounts for three months this past summer after being maliciously reported by a local magazine (the villain in the story, Chercover says, is social media).
With no bricks-and-mortar store and a business model built entirely on its online and social-media presence, Chercover suffered a significant hit in sales and lost the ability to connect with her community.
“It was incredibly difficult to connect with our audience without social media, so the runway became a way to reconnect with our community in person,” she says. “This collection is our comeback story.”
The collection included current trends from the 2025 season, such as polka-dots.cosplay/Supplied
The colour palette transitioned to darker tones as a series of deconstructed intimates and unconventional bridal looks took over the runway. Raw edges, organic shapes and reclaimed raw silks brought the themes to life.
“Being an independent artist and a small brand in today’s industry requires a lot of resilience, especially when staying true to your artistic vision and integrity, and even more so when it comes to sustainability and ethics,” Chercover says. “This collection is a celebration of that resilience, determination and dedication.”
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The clothing and models weren’t the only ones telling a story of perseverance: Sagradesa also collaborated with Toronto Animal Services, which brought a handful of rescue dogs to the show. The pups, many of whom have had their own tough journeys, excitedly trotted down the runway alongside some of the models and were available for adoption on-site after the show.
Storylines aside, the collection touched on current trends from the 2025 season, such as polka-dots, lingerie dressing and pops of red, which is likely to satisfy shoppers’ needs for party dressing over the next few months. They’ll be set for spring, too, with many pieces playing into coming spring 2026 trends, including 1950s-style silhouettes, apron dressing and ballet-inspired looks.
The brand is back to business as usual with a pop-up collection launch expected in mid-December (its location is as-yet-undisclosed). Custom orders are back in full swing, and Chercover has discovered a new-found drive to carry her label forward. Despite the show’s ominous title, it looks like this story has a happy ending after all.