Canada’s Crown Prince of Pizzazz, Wayne Clark, was celebrated with an exhibition of his fashion illustrations at the O’Connor Gallery. In turn, Wayne celebrated upcoming Canadian designers by launching the Ryerson University Wayne Clark Fashion Design and Illustration Award.

When asked about the exhibit, Mr. Clark mused, “I never really liked my pencil drawings; now that we put the show up, I prefer them.”

I couldn’t agree more. The pencil sketches were exquisite morsels of fashion illustration. I also absolutely adored his girls with big sunglasses.

It was an event filled with fabulous fashion faces, from Wayne’s first year  illustration teacher from Sheridan College to superstar photographer Paul Alexander. Paul gushed over Wayne and his wonderful designs:

“The last time I shot Wayne Clark creations was with the lovely Caitlin Cronenberg, who knocked it right out of the ballpark…Wayne’s dresses are a dream to shoot. They make a woman look so much more rawrrrrrr!”

Geoffrey Person - new O’Connor Gallery Owner - told me that he has been wanting to show Wayne’s work for over five years, from the moment he first fell in love with the “sass, attitude, and glamour” of an illustration he saw at Dennis O’Connor’s house. When the timing was right, Geoffrey and Wayne went through a few thousand illustrations. Geoffrey and I agreed that Wayne’s early pencil drawings look like old Vogue magazines and through the exhibit, you can see how Wayne developed his own illustration style. Says Geoffrey: “He’s at the point now where he knows that what he draws he can sew.”

The always-glam Mary Symons summed up the exhibition the best: “I love this exhibit because it is Canadian fashion history in one room. It’s looking at four decades of Wayne, his thought process and how fashion has evolve. In Canada, he’s probably one of our most important designers.”

My secret admirer admires art as much as I do because when I arrived home, I found a collection of Wayne’s illustrations as well as prints from  Barbara Cole, whose hit “White Noise” exhibition opened at Gallery 345 tonight. She is the photographer who won the Cannes Grand Prix of Cannes Fashion Photography in July. My walls have never been so well dressed.