{"id":8168,"date":"2022-01-18T11:36:01","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T16:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackfashioncanada.ca\/database\/?post_type=cpt_portfolio&p=8168"},"modified":"2026-07-19T18:22:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T22:22:31","slug":"chris-tyrell","status":"publish","type":"cpt_portfolio","link":"https:\/\/blackfashioncanada.ca\/database\/fr\/profiles\/chris-tyrell\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Tyrell"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t

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Highlights<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Jamaican-born designer Chris Tyrell co-founded Hoax Couture with partner Jim Searle, creating a decades-long collaboration that helped redefine Canadian fashion.<\/li>\r\n \t
Taught to sew as a child, he detoured through law school before returning to his first love: making daring, personality-packed clothes.<\/li>\r\n \t
Hoax Couture grew from vendor booths to a beloved label dressing celebrities, bridal parties, ballet companies and stylish Torontonians in custom pieces.<\/li>\r\n \t
Known for wildly fun, diverse runway shows and the \u201cDare to Wear Love\u201d charity event, he\u2019s turned fashion into both spectacle and social good.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul><\/span><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Chris Tyrell and Jim Searle of Hoax Couture, known as \u201cthe boys\u201d in the fashion industry, have a unique chemistry. While sharing the story of Tyrell\u2019s upbringing, career and the systemic racism he experiences, they frequently finish each other\u2019s sentences and bounce their energy off each other. It\u2019s soon clear how the interracial duo has successfully operated a business together for over 40 years.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Chris Tyrell and Jim Searle, Toronto Sun<\/em>, Aug 1990 (Photo Courtesy of Chris Tyrell)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Early Life and Career<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Born in St. Andrew, Jamaica, in 1956, Tyrell was no stranger to fashion. His mother introduced him to sewing \u2018from the get-go\u2019 to keep him out of her hair.\u00a0 He was still a young child when his parents died, but was quickly taken in by his maternal grandmother and an \u2018army of aunts.\u2019 By age eight, Tyrell was sewing daily, and his classmates would often say, \u201cWhat\u2019s that crazy kid wearing today?\u201d<\/p>
When he was 11, his family moved to New York, and Tyrell took a break from sewing to focus on adjusting to living in a different country. A few years later, he moved to Canada and received\u00a0 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Ottawa, then travelled across Central America to decide on his career.<\/p>
During his travels, Tyrell wound up stuck in a Mexican village for two weeks. He noticed the women making their clothes from dyed blankets, which reminded him of his childhood passion.\u00a0 When he returned to Canada, Tyrell told his partner, Jim Searle, that he wanted to pursue fashion design as a career.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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This special section creates a spread of 2 photos that will jut out into the side margin.<\/p>\n
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Hoax Couture runway show (Photo by Brian Summers)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Cashmere Fashion Show (Photo by Jim Searle)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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For almost 40 years, we\u2019ve worked together and proven it can happen,\u201d says Tyrell. \u201cPeople from different backgrounds, different racial backgrounds, different economic backgrounds, can get together and do something fabulous and positive.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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So Tyrell and Searle, with a few friends, began creating one-size-fits-all designs to sell at vendor booths across Toronto. In 1984, one booth caught the attention of Holt Renfrew buyers, who purchased their entire collection.<\/p>
In 1986, after about a year of team designing, the duo moved on, creating their own womenswear and menswear brand, HOAX COUTURE<\/a>. Strictly wholesale at the start, they opened their first Toronto retail store in 1988.<\/p>
Today, they create solely custom designs out of their Toronto studio. Their extensive clientele includes celebrities, brides, grooms, mothers of the bride, a hospitality corporation, sports teams and frequently, clothes for themselves. They\u2019ve also done a lot of costume design for various ballet companies, including The National Ballet of Canada, Joffrey Ballet and The San Francisco Ballet, to name a few.<\/p>
Tony Young, known widely as Master T in Canadian television and radio, says whenever he had to \u201clook fresh, clean and suited on MuchMusic,\u201d he would go to Tyrell and Searle at Hoax Couture. He recalls wearing \u201ciconic\u201d custom suiting by the pair for some of his most memorable interviews with Mary J. Blige, Shaggy and Madonna. Young adds, \u201cThe beauty of their [designs] is that you can still [re]wear their clothes today and be in style.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The duo\u2019s career began in the 1980s, a time when, as Tyrell explains, \u201cpeople weren\u2019t that well educated about diversity. The fashion industry, like many others, has always had a problem with equal representation and inclusion.\u201d As interracial partners and business owners, Tyrell and Searle have had different experiences within the industry and continue to experience differences today.<\/p>
Tyrell explains a consistent issue he faced when going to a local fabric shop. \u201cThe guy asked me every time I went, \u2018how\u2019s your boss?\u2019, or \u2018tell your boss this\u2019, and finally I said to him, \u2018I told you this before, he\u2019s not my boss. We\u2019re partners. We work together. If you ask me this again, I\u2019ll take our business elsewhere.\u201d Tyrell pauses before concluding, \u201cHe\u2019s never said that to me ever since.\u201d<\/p>
In 2022, people are becoming more educated, but society is still far from perfect when it comes to racism. \u201cFor almost 40 years, we\u2019ve worked together and proven it can happen,\u201d says Tyrell.\u00a0 \u201cPeople from different backgrounds, different racial backgrounds, different economic backgrounds, can get together and do something fabulous and positive.\u201d<\/p>
Indeed, their work has been fabulous, positive and successful. They\u2019ve shown in Paris, New York, LA and Chicago and are the proud recipients of many fashion industry awards.<\/p>
Some include: City of Toronto Designer of the Year (1998, 1999), NOW<\/em> Toronto Best Local Fashion Designer (1999, 2000 and Runner-up 2001, 2003), Matin\u00e9e Fashion Foundation Award (1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, and each came with a cash award of $50,000), as well as Toronto Star<\/em> Readers\u2019 Choice Award 2019.<\/p>
In 2001, they even won the BMW Canada Auto Couture Award for a custom-designed, one-of-a-kind BMW 540i.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Influence and Legacy<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Something Toronto\u2019s fashionistas likely remember from the earlier days of Hoax Couture were the fashion shows. \u201cWe really went all out,\u201d Tyrell reminisces. \u201cOur shows were wild, crazy, loose and fun. We once had the models arrive in expensive cars to walk the runway along Toronto\u2019s blocked-off Bloor Street,\u201d he explains. Their runway models were ethnically diverse long before it was \u2018fashionable,\u2019 and Tyrell says, \u201cnot because we felt obligated, like much of the industry now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
Tyrell smiles when he remembers a crucial career moment, when they were organizing “Dare to Wear Love<\/a>,” a multi-designer fashion show. The show came about in 2009 after the duo met the Executive Director of the Steven Lewis Foundation, an organization working in response to the African AIDS pandemic.<\/p>
A large part of the organization\u2019s work involved helping grandmothers raise their grandchildren after the children\u2019s parents had died from AIDS. When Tyrell heard about this, he thought about becoming an orphan himself and immediately told Searle, \u201cWe have to get involved because I feel really connected\u00a0 to this.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
Following the meeting, Tyrell and Searle decided the best way to raise money was to put on a small fashion show with the help of other designers. \u201cDare to Wear Love\u201d was born.<\/p>
The show consisted of 25 designers, each creating African-sourced cloth outfits for a celebrity to walk in. This simple idea eventually turned into a major fundraising campaign, spanning multiple years. As the closing show of Toronto Fashion Week, \u201cDare to Wear Love\u201d has raised over half a million dollars, marking the event as one of their proudest moments.<\/p>
As their walk down memory lane ends, Tyrell and Searle start thinking about the rest of their day. Searle pulls up their to-do list, which consists of making numerous clothes for a client going on a cruise and also making clothes for themselves to wear over the Christmas season. No matter how busy the day, design is always prevalent in the duo\u2019s lives, and they wouldn\u2019t trade it for anything.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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While sharing the story of Tyrell\u2019s upbringing, career and the systemic racism he experiences, they frequently finish each other’s sentences and bounce their energy off each other.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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