the second spring collection was on its way out the door to retailers.Surrounded by the racks of his spring samples  Sweetheart Prom Dresses , the trim designer is cheerfully voluble (and he hasn't even had his espresso yet).and repeating the same fashion story.Now I've got my own story to tell and that's exciting.but it was also time to grow personally.The soul-searching didn't assume he planned to hang his own shingle, however.He realized that he actually enjoyed designing, and decided that the challenge would be striking out on his own.part of me is still filling out Want ads!When he started out in fashion, Merotto admired Joe Eula's in-house fashion sketches for Halston.it's sort of like a scribble on a napkin and we take it from there.it's always about feeling a little bit slouchy, sort of casual, lived-in wabi-sabi sort of thing.lange jersey to make them both lightweight and structured.It's very Italian, a whole way of dressing.and I'm happy to still be discovering what the label means.By mixing soft layers with tailoring and asymmtery, to me it means marrying the European ease of a Brunello Cucinelli with aspects of classic American sportswear, like a Michael Kors.as well as Lida Baday, the popular Canadian-based brand where Merotto worked as senior designer for 15 years, before leaving to launch his own label.Harris said, last month, when I called after his latest spring collection had arrived in store.he puts those extra details and fine tuning.Naturally, there are common denominators with his former employer's label.but her designs are very direct and straightforward, he has a bit more of a softer touch, I would say.re Vision was a bi-annual must for Merotto.a lot more than I used to!or in modest entrepreneurial budget, so he buys the premium fabrics for his collections through New York suppliers who do attend.and I don't want to move down the ladder.His taste runs from such novelty textiles as Donegal tweed to brushed and cold-dyed jersey and exotic jacquard, always European in origin.A good stretch satin-silk with a wool and a bit of Tencel panel at the back, it's going to drape a certain way.Another fabric that makes a cameo in the collection every season is lace  Column Wedding Dress , used in a way that makes it modern rather than coquette.and Sarah Buxton at Alexander McQueen, who called on the mill to create lace for Kate Middleton's wedding gown last spring.The difference between fine French lace and everything else, the designer says, is like explaining why Mercedes-Benz is better than Dodge Ford.Each piece is then done by hand, we mark the darks, everything is thread-marked, it's all cut, positioned and hand-finished.Last autumn the lacy looks were inky midnight blue and black and cut into cocktail dresses, but this spring, it's pale and neutral greige, with a patterned effect as though it were vintage or tea-dyed, and comes as sleeker sleeveless shifts.of getting a bra under there.there's no about-face chasing a new trend every season.In particular, one dress he has dubbed the parachute has become a strong item and gets reinterpreted in each collection.It's reflective of that casual, sports and slightly masculine feeling that I'm trying to get across.I like things to be a little rough around the edges.That much be my Northern upbringing!But the true test of a designer's powers is good trousers, and his are more than good, they re great.At Foreign Affair, they're one of the biggest hits.buyer Harris enthuses.We also do really well with his underpinnings, because he does colour.His pieces work at every single size, a 12 just as well as a 2.hold on who his customer is  Sweetheart Wedding Dresses , what she looks like, and how she lives.I'm not going to pretend she jet-sets to Morocco every weekend.We banter about the behemoth but generic young sophisticated woman demographic.Is that our example?And anyway, Merotto isn't courting her type.I'm not looking for the perfect girl who's 25.Being 50 myself, I don't think I design for that girl or her lifestyle.I'm thinking of someone like my friends, or my wife, I don'' really think about these young snippety things.As his choice of lookbook model attests to that.bodies and faces and wrinkles.but normal, regular women putting the clothing on and looking great.A willowy showroom model can make any garment look great, but what about clothes sized up a few beyond the sample extra-small?Merotto pauses reflectively, then grows animated again.when it actually is translating beyond all of this.Ontario NDP s new ideas are the same as its old ideas.Matt Gurney has written elsewhere on Full Comment that it s smart politics for NDP leader Andrea Horwath to propose Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty jack up taxes on the wealthy in return for her support.It won't cost them any votes.It may gain them a few.And it complicates the Premier's life and helps define the NDP's stance on the issues (not that it needed any help).No matter what McGuinty does, Horwath will come up a winner.Matt is now being investigated by the National Post Secret Ideological Police on suspicion of heresy, and we ll let you know how that turns out.In his defence (which the NPSIP usually doesn t allow) he makes some good points: McGuinty runs a minority government and needs NDP support to get his budget passed and his government alive.Hence this is a golden opportunity for Horwath to squeeze some concessions from him.daycare and the disabled.Besides, who gives a crap about the rich?Still, there s something about Horwath s proposal that doesn t sit right.For one thing, it s a proposal the way your spouse proposes that you get your fat butt off the couch and find a job.McGuinty can either butter up the NDP or he can face a new election.He probably doesn t want that, considering he was lucky to win the last one, and he can t be sure the Tories will oblige by running an appallingly unsuccessful campaign for the third time in a row.Plus, a campaign based on Dalton McGuinty as defender of the rich lacks a certain je ne sais quoi.McGuinty s record suggest.