So an interesting thing was sent to my email inbox.

Robin Kay of L’Oréal Fashion Week and Jean-Francois Daviau of Montreal’s semaine de la mode were engaging in more tête-à-tête over more red wine in the press room of Bonsecours Market Wednesday.

This time I asked what the discussion was about: “The future of Canadian fashion,’’ came the response, without details. Later, JF shared his vision: it involves Montreal as the country’s major showcase for Canadian fashion. Kay, of course, is on the record as seeing it otherwise. 

Along came P&G Beauté’s, chief in Canada, Danielle Bibas, to join the conversation. P&G is the major sponsor in Montreal and L’Oréal is its mega-conglomerate beauty rival.

Kay, meanwhile, was wearing a newly acquired sweater with the label, Ginger – a Montreal knitwear line – hanging from the back of her neck. Nobody could find scissors to detach it for her. 

I have literally no idea what to say.
(Except that I agree with Jean-Francois..but I already talked about that here).

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OK, so the title is a little political and hokey, however this idea has been bugging me ever since I had a conversation with one of our marketing partners.  The question was asked ” Why do criticize Toronto Fashion Week so much?”

Well the quick answer is that I truly believe that the powers that are in charge of this illustrious event are not equipped to be in this position of power. They don’t have long-term vision one needs to guide the growth of such an important event.  More importantly, they don’t have an understanding of the market that one needs when programming an event of this nature.  

To them, it’s about how much sponsorship they raised and how big they want the event to be. Designers and getting buyers to the event are secondary.  The budget for the event has been stated as being under a million bucks, (which they basically get from L’Oreal).  Where the hell do they spend that?  Why aren’t buyers being shipped up here in droves on the events dime? (I mean it’s not like there aren’t any hotel sponsors). Why is the event at the end of October when all the buyers budgets are all gone? Why aren’t certain people in a more prominent role?… I could go on, however you get my point.

The ideal solution is to have Montreal hold the trade show for the fashion industry, because they have support and they actually know what the hell they’re doing, and have the Toronto Week of Style be the showcase of fashion for the consumers.  We have a huge consumer base here in the city and we’re not using it to its fullest capabilities.

So there you go…

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Was reading my papers online today and came across this..
It seems the little engine that is the Toronto Week of Style is having an effect. 
First Toronto Fashion Week, now Montreal.

That’s great news for designer, great news for consumers.
The more power that Torontonians and in this case, Montrealers give to consumers,
the better the odds for a designer to succeedin the global marketplace, whether you’re Canadian or not….

I think designer Judith Desjardins summed it up best at the end

“It’s another way to get people involved with local creation,” she said.
“We do all these shows and the actual client isn’t able to see it, so it’s
a good opportunity to reach the final customer.”

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Ok I didn’t want to say anything…However..what was up with the delay in Bustle you may ask?

It turns out Robin Kay’s son didn’t have a seat…So what did they do? They took two people out of their seats about 4 rows back and right in front of where we were standing…(hey it was Bustle…what you want from me…them and Lucian I am willing to stand for).

I couldn’t stop laughing….I mean I can understand 20 minutes before the show..But 30 secs?

Nice…. 

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Glad to see that TFW website now has links to the designers online presences and photos/mini video clips of the shows that they did right at the designers names.

That’s great for them. They’re finally learning how to use the world wide interweb.

I like our execution a little better though.

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Oh look….Toronto Fashion Week has embraced bloggers as an ‘important’ media outlet.
Geez..why didn’t I think of that?  Oh wait, I did!

Too bad they screwed themselves and only gave them Industry Passes when New York Fashion Week is giving full accreditation.

That’s the problem when you are not creating and just following.  You never do it right.

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just wanted to big up Adrian….
he has put together a blog that truly exemplifies what blogs should be…with a little dash of that Toronto swagger that puts us head and shoulders above the rest….

I just read that Chanel wined and dined him in the same vein as ‘higher more reputable journalists’….
(that’s right people..you heard me…freakin Chanel)
read about it here…
http://www.fashionverbatim.net/this-is-how-buzz-advertising-works/

this is great…
huge for bloggers..
huge for the TFB (Toronto Fashion Bloggers)
huge for Toronto

I’m not going to go on about how we were the first major initiative (through our agency) to understand and respect the power and the importance of bloggers..

I’m also not going to go into how I believe that the Toronto Fashion Bloggers Group that I have been so fortunate to meet over the last year are probably the smartest and most astute group of media minds I’ve had to go up against in a long while…(trust me..they let me rightfully have it on some things that we didn’t deliver on during the first year…)

I’m also not going to go on about how some sponsors really nailed on me for even considering let alone executing a blogger-heavy marketing strategy…(except Jim at Philips and Dan and Jordan at Exquisite…man those guys got it…especialy Jim….)…yeah I am talking to you Davis Factor…charge a hundred bucks a person he said…geez…(that my friends is another post…hehe)

what I will say is that I am both ecstatic and proud of Adrian, even though I have never actually met him..(we talked on the phone a few times..teehee)…he was the first (but not the only) out of the TFB to be open and support the TWOS when even the more traditional media wouldn’t even take my calls…(respect to Nathalie Atkinson who I know has shown love to the TFB by attending their brunches)

it’s a matter of time folks…
Toronto is finally getting to be known for the being one of the smartest and most influential cities in the world…
well done…

and once again..
congrats Adrian…

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so our first post is official.

It is October 2007.  Last May, we launched to the world the inaugural Toronto Week of Style.  It was a huge success.  A lot of great things happened.  Some not so great. But that’s how it goes when you launch these things… 

The key was, that despite all of the haterade that people were drinking, we did it.  And not only did we do it, we did it well…so well, that other events have been using some of things we did themselves…while others have just outright ripped us off.  For the first time in its 20 year history, the Toronto Film Festival had an official cocktail…similar to our official cocktail of style…(now the disclaimer is that everyone I have talked to and all the research that i have done has backed this up…and trust me, I talked to a lot of people.  So if you have proof to the contrary…please let me know and I will take that claim back).  Toronto Fashion Week has an eco-strategy all of a sudden..oh and btw…for the first time in its history, Fashion Week is open to the people, the regular folk…you, and me…(well maybe not me, cause when I met Robin Kay a few years back, it did not go well…but that’s another post).

I will be using this blog to discuss certain issues pertaining to fashion, music and other aspects of the style industry. I cannot guarantee that you will like what I say sometimes.  I will say good things, I will say bad things.  But one thing I can promise, is that I will always tell the truth and if I have pissed anyone off, I am open to frank, sane dialogue discussing the issue.  Ask those around me, I am always looking to be proven wrong.  However, if you want to come after me for anything said in this blog, or in the press, then it better not be an immature rant, but a point of view that is supported by logic and real information, as that is what I will be putting out there.

We have a lot of hurdles against us. The traditional media ignores us. The municipal government is constantly dissing us.  Tourism Toronto invests in every other fashion event except ours (even one that promotes Montreal more than Toronto)..but do I care?

Notsomuch. 

Sure, some of the money that the city pumps into Toronto Fashion Week would help…and we could use some support when marketing the event globally…but the the people love us. The urban community is championing us..  the corporate community has seen the opportunity we provide and is supporting us..and most importantly, the industry that we have been created to promote has embraced us. 

That is my yardstick…

So that is good enough for me….

peace out homey

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