How Can Canadian Fashion Weeks Exist with no Definite Canadian Fashion Culture?

When I lived in Toronto I was fortunate enough to attend many fashion events as well as volunteer behind the scenes. One of those big events was Toronto Fashion Week, which will be on hiatus until they can do some rebranding as was recently announced. As someone who worked behind the scenes I know how much hard work and magic goes into making those three nights an expression of Toronto/Canadian fashion. When I volunteered, Canadian artists were being showcased on runways in the Yorkville Village, the Royal Ontario Museum and in select art galleries, partering with businesses in the entire village. Toronto Fashion Week came together to present a close-knit community of hard working artists and entrepreneurs - but what if this small community is what is keeping Toronto Fashion Week at a stasis? Toronto Fashion Week represents a small part of Canadian fashion - but what is Canadian fashion? Is there Canadian Fashion considering Canada is a very large and very diverse country?

The fashion industry is one that appears to be elitist. Only the most worthy fashionistas can be invited to prestigous events, gifted designs, and seated in the front row of fashion week - or so it seems. In the two years I spent in Toronto, I managed to network and meet the people who ran these events, the designers behind the fashion, writers and publishers for fashion magazines, and even be one of those who sat front row and was gifted opportunities and items. What I learned was that fashion, like most things, is not so much elitist as it is classist. You can make your way into this secret group with the right money, and very few credentials. A lot of the opporunities offered to me had a cost but once paying a small entry fee to a gala I could be seated with (and was promised to meet) some of the fashion elite, pay my way into fashion events, panels etc. Every networking event had a price but once you met the right people you could be accepted into the perceived elite and go for free after paying said dues. It became less about the who's who and more about who was willing to pay for these opportunities. The same group of people running the pannels and mentor-meetings are also running Toronto Fashion Week. Of course, I'm not insinuating that just anyone should go to these events or that this marketting model should be changed, but when there is such a small number of Toronto Fashion Elite you are really only presenting Toronto Fashion Week to your friends, for your friends and those who have yet to break into the scene willing to pay top dollar to expand their business, or sit beside big names they believe will further their career. Fashion week seems untouchable but in the Toronto Fashion scene almost anything is possible for the right amount of money and work to back up each dollar. 

When I think to other fashion weeks (Milan, Paris, London) I think that these massive runway shows encompass a diverse range of talent and artsists representing the entire country in which the fashion week is taking place. Almost a small capsule of what fashion means to this country at this point in time. The world comes together and watches big names like Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Karl Lagerfeld etc. show us how they plan to evolve fashion, but always with a flair or twist that represents New York, London, Milan, Paris. When I look at Marc Jacobs I see edgy street wear, something you'd wear in a New York subway and ruin instantly but God, it was worth it. At Toronto Fashion Week, I saw (and touched) the works of artists I admire (Hilary MacMillan, Narces, Hayley Elsaesser to name a few). The designs were unique, special, interesting but nothing screamed "Canada" or "Toronto".

Now, this is not a critique to these designers. No one is expecting gowns with maple leaves on them, or a collection in red and white. But this element seems to be missing. Canada doesn't have a style that identifies us. I went to my social medias and asked everyone following me what Canadian fashion was to them or if anything came to mind when I said Canadian fashion. I got a TON of responses (thank you). Answers ranged from Canadian brands Aritzia, Lululemon, Roots, Pink Tartan, DSquared2, East Coast Lifestyle, Country Liberty and Canada Goose, to obvious styles like flannel, tuques, boots, winter gear, denim. I got some negative responses saying we were not fashionable at all, that we had a 'lack of focus on sustainability and indigeneity'. I also received a positive outlook from people saying Canadian fashion was 'slow fashion, intentional collections', 'creative, diverse, unique and freedom to express', that Canadians had 'more gender neutral inclusivity', and that we are a 'small but mighty community making big waves'. Only one person stated that Canadian fashion was seal skin, aboriginal designs like mukluk boots. 

The quotes I received above stating the positives about Canadian fashion were from artists and designers themselves. Almost all of the other brands and styles were listed by friends of mine from Moncton where I am from. Of course when you are an artist, in the thick of the industry you see the hard work and talent and can comment on it. Clearly people in Moncton still see Canadian fashion as puroseful: to keep warm, while people working in said industry and Torontonians see the potential there is for creativity, expression, inclusivity and artistry.  So how do we get Canadian fashion to expand outside of the small knit communities creating them (and not just in Toronto but also Vancouver, Montreal and other big cities)?

Well to be honest I'm not sure I have any answers. I believe Canadian fashion could expand and show more Indigenous fashion and go back to clothing and art that existed before Canada was founded. Sustainability in fashion is also crucial and we could be the country that spearheads this initiative without compromising our uniqueness and compromising what our designers WANT to create.

I hope when TFW returns in showcases what Canadian fashion is: a melting pot of creativity and cultures but also the roots of where Canadian fashion came from. Canadian fashion is both those graduating from fashion schools now with fresh ideas, and Indigenous bead work that has survived generations. It's the Senegalese clothes my dad wore when he first immigrated hear that I intigrate into my daily wear paired with my ripped jeans. The fashion weeks we have across Canada could go beyond Canada and could someday represent the world in a small scale because of how diverse Canada is. Toronto Fashion Week is still catering to those in the it's own fashion world, those who can afford the looks straight from the runway but with that group of people being so small in Toronto, it's fashion week impacts few. Making fashion week about the art and less about those funding the artists would allow for a bigger, more appreciative community to feel engaged as opposed to having these events feel elitist/classicist.

But what do I know.

Cropberry