LUGO LOVE 2020 : Style Report

The Remai Modern hosted the 10th installment of LUGO on January 11th, 2020. LUGO is a multi-performance art party and fundraiser for the gallery. Performances and happenings throughout the evening intersected with the chosen theme to varying degrees. Installations, food vendors, and a photo booth are regulars at the event. This year's theme was love. I caught up with attendees to talk personal stylistic concepts, and how they received this year's LUGO.

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With the theme of "love," many party goers were decked out in red(or in velvet or dark blue, as suggested as a footnote on the Lugo Love official program website), however many people chose to interpret their looks instead of dressing themselves in literals:

 Trio (L-R) Christian Leigh, Derek Capulet,

and Jeri Alderman-Hansson serving

up fuchsia, red, and black boldness

Amanda Leigh: Tell me about your shirt

Christian Leigh: It’s by VETEMENTS, which is one of my favourite designers, and not usually I something splurge on, so I treasure this piece with my heart.

AL: Who’s on the shirt?

CL: Marilyn Manson!

AL: What about the choice of face jewellery and teeth jewellery and makeup?

CL: The face and teeth are just a daily thing, but I went a little extra on the graphic liner tonight.

AL: What is inspiring your outfit choice tonight?

Derek Capulet: Texture, because I only wear black so it’s important to layer textures when you’re in just black.

AL: You’re bringing texture and fluorescents. Did you interpret the theme or go with your own theme?

DC: I tried to interpret the theme, just with the hair colour, but that’s as close as I get.

Jeri Alderman-Hansson: When I heard that the theme was love, I was not about it and I didn’t want to wear all red, so I decided that the only thing that was going to be red was from the neck up.

AL: Where are these earrings from?

JAH: These are actually by my friend, ahkamēyimo Designs, she made these specifically for me, which is one of the reasons I decided to wear them tonight because I figured here would not be a place where a lot of Indigenous art would be showcased.

Local designers and fans of their work took advantage of the evening more than once:

Alexa Hainsworth repping the scene

AL: Tell me a bit about your outfit!

Alexa Hainsworth: I’m wearing a grady bleu dress designed by Kathleen O'Grady that’s a silk organza, and I’m wearing a fascinator by Sova Millinery. I’m wearing Saskatchewan made artistic wear, celebrating local artists and feeling good in beautiful colours and beautiful fabrics.

AL: Did you plan the colours or did you pick the pieces not thinking of any specific theme, or thinking of your own theme?

AH: I was thankfully gifted this fascinator by Sherry, and had already purchased this beautiful dress and they fit together perfectly.

AL: You really lucked out! Is this your first Lugo tonight?

AH: No I’ve been going to Lugo since the beginning

AL: What do you think about Lugo?

AH: I love everything about Lugo. I like the social aspect, and there’s been great bands and lots of performance art which has been very captivating, and I think it’s a wonderfully cool thing for Saskatoon and Saskatchewan to do to celebrate art.

Fascinator by Sova Millinery

Saskatoon based designer Reginald Sankey,

glowing and darkly brooding simultaneously

AL: So who are you wearing tonight?

Reginald Sankey: I am wearing Reginald Sankey [laughs], head to toe!

AL: What inspired your look?

RS: I was inspired partially by two things: I wanted to go with love stories that I grew up watching, so I chose Morticia Adams, and Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo Dicaprio

AL: I can see how you’re serving the Morticia Adams, but how did you incorporate DiCaprio into this look?

RS: I did it partially with the lace to be the romantic vibe of the movie.

AL: How are you enjoying Lugo?

RS: I am loving it so far, just got here!

Andre Bear wearing one of his mother's designs

AL: Is tonight your first Lugo?

Andre Bear: Yes it is.

AL: What do you like about the event tonight?

AB: I definitely like the people here, I met the author of the Life of Pi, I didn’t know who he was, so that was pretty cool.

AL: Who are you wearing and what was this choice inspired by?

AB: My mother is a fashion designer, and I’m a law student, and she does Indigenous apparel for usually First Nations leadership, and I’m lucky to have her as a mum, because she dresses me up when I have cute events such as this. I was waiting for a time to wear this jacket, and this was it.

AL: Can people look up your mothers work, is her name out there, or is it on the downlow right now?

AB: They can find me on Instagram, and if they were to message me, my mom does custom orders all the time. My Instagram handle is @napeykan.

In the middle of the interview, Jeri came over to say hi and they stuck heart stickers under each others eyes and posed for a photo. Can you feel the love??

Towards the middle of the night we got spicy and started playing fuck, marry, kill, as seen in this interview with Alasdair and Brogan:

Alasdair, Saskatchewan’s Youth Poet Laureate &

Brogan Beechinor, Coach of the University of

Saskatchewan Dance Team

AL: Alasdair, can you tell me about your look?

Alasdair: My look was inspired by Queen of the Night from Mozart's The Magic Flute. We’ve got a black mesh oversized tee covered in silver sparkles, we’ve got some long black vintage carrot trousers thrifted, and to finish the look off, silver Margeila Tabis’.

AL: And the necklace?

A: Ah yes, and a thrifted acetate chain

Brogan Beechner: My inspiration was the grandeur of older times, specifically the renaissance, so I have a corseted, sheer, mesh ruffle sleeve with a big billowy ruffle neck. I’m also wearing an overcoat that has a big puff sleeve to it, so it’s really grand in size, paired with wool trousers with a leather ankle boot.

AL: Is this your first Lugo?

Alasdair: This is my second Lugo, I also attended in 2015.

Brogan: This is my first Lugo and I’m loving it.

AL: Tell me specifics, we’ll start with Alasdair: compared to the last Lugo you went to, or in general, because you are a performer this year so it’s a bit of a different vibe for you, what do you love about Lugo, what are you neutral about, what would you change? Essentially, let’s play “fuck, marry, kill"

A: The photo booth this year is incredible, I feel like the photobooth is eternally a highlight of Lugo though. You lay down in a bed and there's a camera above you

B: It’s wonderful

A: We loved the photobooth. The lazers on the third floor are amazing, overall I would say fuck the third floor in a good way, if we’re playing fuck, marry, kill, I would fuck the third floor. It’s so beautiful up there, the food is great, and it’s got the photobooth. Love pavillion also amazing. What would I kill about Lugo? The noise? Maybe we could have some muffled experiences? But then we also have a meditation garden in the theatre, so that’s….

AL: Not a lot of critiques this year then.

A: Exactly.

AL: What about you Brogan?

B: So this is my first Lugo, so I definitely fuck with the true experientials, which take it away from a bit of a social media stance and really get to actually experience it in person, see all the exhibits, what the artists are producing...that's what’s really genuine and important about this event. I would marry all the fun visuals: the lazer wall, the photobooth, all the textures in the lights that make the experience way more fun and interesting. I would kill, the love theme I think, I find it’s hard to dress to a little bit, and you have to be a bit more conceptual… I love that in an art show it bring a lot of pieces centering around love, but the theme to dress is a little bit harder.

Absolute romance embodied

Some people we not into the theme at all, such as one attendee, Iva

Iva: I wanted to completely ditch the whole love theme and wear something that I wanted that was warm.

AL: Are you ditching love in your life or are you just ditching it tonight?

I: Yeah, I’m like done with love for the time being, but who knows!

Other dressed on theme and sub-theme (see velvet note in introduction)

Therese absolutely crushing this pink velvet ensemble

AL: What inspired this look tonight?

Therese: Beyonce!

AL: What is this outfit?

T: I got it from Topshop.

AL: And how many Lugo’s have you attended?

T: About 5.

AL: And how do you feel about this one compared to others? Or, what do you wish there was more of or less of?

T: I always wish I just knew where the art was, I feel like I’m just lost in a maze of people and things and I just never know where to go to find the art.

AL: What if the art came to you?

T: Yeah! I would appreciate that.

Dave Stonhouse channeling radiant cadmium energy

AL: Why have you chosen this jumpsuit, this toque, and these new balance shoes?

Dave Stonhouse: It’s all red like hot, passionate, cadmium, fiery red, and I think whichever woman owned this before me was a fierce lady and I wanna channel her tonight

The sub-sub-theme of the night was..... turtlenecks! Turtlenecks were the third most common choice for men/masc attendees behind blazers(understandable) and t-shirts(ok).

George (left), Will & friend (right)

When we look back at Lugo Love years from now, will we remember the constant blurry flashes of red from party goers, wild disco lights and lazers, or will we look back fondly on how damn good this year was for wearing turtlenecks unironically to an art gallery party, especially when it was -20? Only time well tell. Until next year!