Sid Neigum’s childhood in Drayton Valley helped him get to where he is today.
Photography by Greg Pacek
Leggings, dresses and even scrunchies – as a kid, Sid Neigum remembers his grandmother, Sophie, sewing head-to-toe floral ensembles for his little sister at her rural Alberta home. His grandmother never used patterns; just a little imagination.
“I loved how she could create something from nothing in a matter of minutes with a measuring tape and fabric,” the award-winning fashion designer, born and raised in Drayton Valley, Alta., says from a downtown Toronto coffee shop.
Neigum credits Sophie – a seamstress – for influencing him to enter the world of fashion. Now, the 25-year-old is one of Canada’s hottest up-and-coming designers with his high-fashion frocks sold in boutiques in Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, New York, Seoul and Hong Kong.
His creations landed him a $25,000 prize as part of the Toronto Fashion Incubator‘s New Labels Award in 2012. He also scored studio space in downtown Toronto, where he worked up to 16 hours a day for weeks to prepare about 50 garments for his winter 2014/2015 collection lookbook, released in March.
His latest offerings – white, black and red monochromatic outfits made of nylon, silk, leather and cashmere from Italy, France and Japan – are definitely not looks typically seen in his hometown.
Many of Neigum’s designs are reminiscent of the work of doll torturer Sid Phillips from Toy Story, his cartoon alter-ego, for their all-black, goth-like appearance with exposed seams and sterling silver staples.
“When I started creating clothing I felt like I brought the same sensibilities (as Toy Story‘s Sid) to the table,” Neigum says. “No rules. Deconstruct everything and build it back up. Deconstruction is still a theme that I reference season after season.”
Called Jonathon as he was growing up, Neigum says the Pixar antagonist was his inspiration to change his first name to something that better reflected his personality. “I think I was maybe a less morbid version of that Sid growing up,” the designer says. “I took apart everything, and created new things. Took apart remote control cars, made model rockets, built all sorts of things and blew some of them up.”