Lucian Matis

Lucian Matis, the son of a businessman and tailor shop owner, was born in Romania in 1979. He grew up in his mother’s tailor shop and started designing from a very early age. His first customers were his school teachers. Lucian followed his studies in art with a specialization in painting and graphics. He moved to Canada in 1999, starting his fashion studies at Ryerson University in 2000, where he soon showed great talent and maturity, leading to his early graduation in 2003. While studying in University, Lucian worked for the bridal fashion house “A custom affaire” where he designed his first collections of bridal and evening wear, which showed a great sense of elegance, breaking the norms of the wedding gown.

While in University, Lucian won many different fashion awards, including: The Fur Council of Canada Award (2002), Le Chateau’s Menswear Competition (2002), People’s Choice Award for Best Sketch in the Chinese Competition (2002), semi-finalist for the International Young Designer Competition (2002) and Alfred Sung Award for great design talent (2003).

Lucian’s first collection, which was part of his graduating thesis, was designed under his own label, Lucien Matis, and had both futuristic and religious inspirations. It had “a different kind of aesthetic...the aftermath of the Third World War,” and was entitled Premonition of War. It created astonishment within the international and local fashion industry, displaying a great sense of detail and style, with an unpredictable combination of shape, texture and use of unusual materials, such as animal bones and teeth. Hidden beneath the fizz of fantastic details, such as excessive accessories and lace cascades, were unexpectedly wearable and exquisitely cut dresses. Presented on the sound stage of a battlefield, Premonition of War not only pleased the eye, but also made people aware of the real deeds of war and the atmosphere behind it, giving Ryerson’s annual graduating fashion show a spectacular finale.

Lucian’s last collection was presented at L’Oreal Fashion Week in March 2007 and featured his first professional collection for Fall/Winter 2007. The collection and Lucian were received with smashing success. Accolades and praise followed quickly including a special guest appearance on the highly rated, final episode of Canada’s Next Top Model wherein his entire collection was worn down the runway in a final competition by the two finalists. Since then, this same collection has been featured in a group show during the Festival of Fashion and Design in Toronto’s Dundas Square as well as in and on many magazines editorial pages & covers (including Lush, Flare, Ion, Amazing Canadian to name just a few).

Lucian has expanded his television & media presence as one of the stars of Slice channel’s hit reality-TV show, Project Runway Canada, and been featured in an in-depth profile on Fashion Television in Fall 2007 – both extraordinary achievements for someone so young and whose professional career has just started. Lucian Matis is now ready to launch his own professional label and is taking bold steps towards fulfilling that dream!