Today fashion editor Bernadette Morra and stylist Derick Chetty discussed L'Oreal Fashion Week. Click on the comments link at the end of the discussion to add your own remarks.
How were last night's shows? I didn't make it to anything because I had to stay late at the office to close the Fashion section pages. Anything exciting happen? Bernadette
Bustle won the Ford Fashion Award - a $5000 prize. And immediately after, they staged their spring collection and I must say it was well deserved. They are one of the few young designers that showed this week that had a strong, concise point of view and a very marketable brand. Someone needs to bankroll this label, pronto. Derick
 |
| KEITH BEATY/TORONTO STAR |
| A sporty look by Bustle from L'Oreal Fashion Week. |
Anything interesting happen off the runway? Bernadette
There seems to be a deluge of product placements and sponsorships during this week's shows. Which in these economic circumstances is a necessary thing for an event of this magnitude to survive. Also with the government's ban on tabacco sponsorship, it also limits the amount of resources that designers can approach for help. One very bewildering product placement was Jig-A-Loo - the invisible all round lubricant. This certainly had the crowd buzzing over the cans that were placed on the seats before the Andy The Anh show. But a commercial that played before the show began set the record straight - it's actually a fashion product. Spray it on your suede shoes and it protects them from water. Derick
I had an interesting comment from a reader this morning regarding my story that questionned whether the world is watching Toronto Fashion Week. He is a photographer from Germany here on behalf of the fashion magazine AMICA along with a reporter for their online edition. They have posted photos and articles online here and here. The writer, Sabine Ehgoetz, also writes a blog for Elle Germany and she covered the opening night at blog.elle.de/blog/ They also expect to cover the Izzy Camilleri show tonight for the Elle
Germany blog. I haven't had a chance to look at their coverage of L'Oreal Fashion Week yet but I definitely will! Bernadette
While I'm all for international press covering L'Oreal Fashion Week, I have to wonder if it is of any value to anyone, especially the designers. Yes, you can argue it's great exposure, building brand awareness etc., but does it translate into dollars and cents? Most of the designers are small operations with no international sales offices. And there's just a handful of buyers from local retailers that attend the shows. So how is coverage in a European magazine/website/newspaper helping their bottom line when they can barely get their lines sold here in Canada? Derick
True, although I think that there is value to the designer when foreigners take notice of their work, rather than the usual Flare, Fashion and Elle which all have personal relationships with the designers. Kim Mimran was recently telling me that Pink Tartan was featured in a spread in a Spanish magazine. She has no idea how her clothes got there, but it gave her quite the morale boost! Bernadette
You were quite hard on French Connection in your review today, questionning why they were showing fall when everyone else is showing spring. Was that show open to the public? Bernadette
I don't think I was that harsh in my review. The production values of the show was poor but the clothes were fine. But I did feel that if they were going to show fall clothes which is in their stores right now, they should have invited their customers. By not doing so, it was a huge waste of time/money on their part. What did they get out of it? Derick
Maybe they will click the comment link below and let us know! Bernadette
Recent Comments