As I mentioned on @weekofstyle earlier today,
the first draft of the schedule was put together today.

As usually the case,  it was a long, arduous process that took up pretty much
the whole afternoon, it was extremely gratifying as the first pass resulted
in a very strong offering to you all.

We have some extremely fantastic shows that I am very much looking forward to.

As per usual, we are featuring a lot of home-grown talent mixed with some fantastic
global brands.  Bambumoda is back, as is Men In Tuxes.  I also broke
this last week on twitter, the Toronto Week of Style is once again proud showcase and support
Aboriginal designers.  This year, we will also be mounting a show call Unsigned Hype
and of course GreenisBlack is back.

Stay tuned my intrepid Style Icons..

More to come.

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Just before David Dixon’s Spring 2009 Fashion last Fall, one of Canada’s brightest stars announced, what is probably the dream job for every one woman I know..hehe.  Dixon announced that he was chosen to design an outfit for one of the Origina Style Icon – Barbie.

Barbie by David Dixon, a limited-edition collection, in black, ivory and pink with accents from the signature black and white pattern from Barbie’s premier swimsuit outfit. “Barbie’s ever-evolving style has secured her status as a fashion icon and kept her relevant to every generation,” said David Dixon. “I designed a collection that celebrates one of pop culture’s most influential and fashionable icons, with pieces that where she’s been and where she’s going.”  Dixon is the first Canadian designer to offer Barbie fashions for women and his line will be the first of its kind available in Canada.

I am glad to see that it’s happening as David is one of my favourite designers out there – Canadian or otherwise.  

This Barbie Fashion thing seems to have some legs.

Recently at New York Fashion Week, there was a fashion show that was absolutely rammed (so say the tweeterites that I was following). @weekofstyle had actually done a live re-tweeting of about 20 people that were there and it was fun.  These pics back that up as most of the outfits designed really emulate the Barbie branding.

There were mixed reviews, however, bottom line…this exercise is great for the brand, and my guess that it has surpassed all expectations of those involved.

Congrats and Well done..

Barbie 50th.

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The Style Box just put up a great post about Fashion Week etiquette.
Great little blog posting.  For those who are trying to navigate this wonderful world of the Style Industry (of which the Fashion Industry is a part of) should definitely give it a gander.  

A couple of points in the posting I want to illustrate and fully agree with : 

I feel (Toronto Fashion Week) should be strictly a trade event – especially when most people are there to work.. 
 

The majority of public attending the shows respect that, but some public don’t take that into consideration: they steal seats, fill up space in the already crammed tents, complain about the shows being “so short”, and generally just get in the way.

She also posts these great ‘Ten Fashion Commandents”
My favourite :  ’Thou shall dress to impress.’

These commandments are great as they also illustrate the strictness of the Fashion Industry. They have a very specific set of rules and way of doing things that they feel must be adhered to.   The fact is that these rules makes sense in New York or Paris or Milan.  

In Toronto, it’s a bit different.

Most of the afternoon shows are generally empty.  The overcrowding and craziness tend to happen (and rightfully so) in the later evening shows with some of the more established designers (David Dixon, bustle, etc) and these shows tend to be big PR initiatives as opposed to sales exercises as there aren’t any big buyers at the event throughout the week as most budgets are already accounted for and sales are already made from the bigger more relevant Fashion Weeks.

I have walked into the tents (and Liberty Grand) every year without any real trouble and stayed throughout the whole evening catching six maybe seven shows. I can tell you, etiquette is not the issue, relevance is.  

What designers need is a viable sales channel, not a hoped-for one.  I have mentioned this many times before, Canada has one big retailer and a great network of small retailers as well as a few traditional media.  Nothing like the major Fashion Weeks in the world.  What we do have is 2 million of the smartest and most well-informed consumer base in North America, one of the first great network of non-traditional media made up of bloggers and (now) twitterers.

Until the Toronto Week of Style was created, they weren’t being tapped into. Why is that?  

Leadership.

The Toronto Week of Style has been successful on many levels (of which I will post about another day), one of the main points of success is that consumers are now being looked at across this country and slowly in various points across the world.

By relaxing the rules a little bit and looking at things differently, there might just be a way of achieving what we are all looking to do – provide Canadian Designers of the Style Industry their place at the global table.

That’s what we have done at the Toronto Week of Style.

That’s why we don’t need Commandents.

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Hey all,

we have had a couple of designers interested in being
involved with the Toronto Week of Style.

we have put together a list of people that we are going to
start contacting on Monday..

because there is so much talent in the city, I am
always afraid that we are going to miss someone,

so..for those of you interested in being involved
leave a comment here and someone will get back
to you within a day or so…..

Cheers

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