July 2007
Flare
Many young fashion students dream of a glamorous career as a fashion designer. The reality is another story. The road to success in Canada is littered with the pins, needles and crushed souls of these young hopefuls. To make it big demands a mix of creativity, business smarts and marketing savvy – a dose of madness helps too.
The bases are loaded against our fashion talent. Unlike the designs from their American and international competitors that sit on nearby store racks, producing in Canada challenges local designers with limited resources, small orders and high-priced labour. And many times, as my designer friends tell me, some of the small boutiques they sell to take forever to pay their bills – if they pay at all. It’s a sad fact that all of our success stories keep the sewing machines humming thanks to orders from American stores.
Many of Canada’s brightest lights, including Joeffer Caoc, David Dixon, Jennifer Halchuk and Arthur Mendonca, took their first big step with the help of the Toronto Fashion Incubator. Each was nurtured at this nonprofit design organization that’s been hatching new talent for the past 20 years. Its success has inspired similar operations around the globe, including Auckland, Melbourne and Los Angeles. Yet, for as many success stories of the TFI graduates, there are dozens more without the heart or battle smarts to make it through another season.
Four new designers stepped up to the plate at the TFI’s 20th anniversary gala, a milestone we’re celebrating this month in Flare Was There (page 46). While their fledgling collections have a long, bumpy road ahead, enthusiasm for Canadian fashion is at an all-time high, as evidenced by the audience and celebrity models in the show.
At FLARE, we’ll continue to wave the Canadian-designed-fashion flag and I encourage you to fill your closet with some true patriot love. For fall, I’ve got my eye on Joeffer Caoc’s jewel-bright silks, Paul Hardy’s knits, Lida Baday’s sexy suitings and just about everything at Tevrow+chase. We’ve already seen all of the Canadian fashion collections and can’t wait to share the best of those with you in upcoming issues.
Caption: I'm with Susan Langdon, executive director of the Toronto Fashion Incubator, at TFI's 20th anniversary gala.
