Fashion weeks in flux

    Fashion weeks in flux



Nobody likes to talk about competition between fashion weeks in Montreal and Toronto. Only the blunt and the brave dare say it exists.

Most players do say that Canadian fashion would benefit from one strong stage on which to showcase the best design talent in this country. But few venture to say which stage that should be.

Now IMG Canada — a branch of the global talent management powerhouse for sports, fashion and entertainment — has bought Toronto’s fashion week, which early this year was renamed World MasterCard Fashion Week, with the unwieldy acronym WMCFW.

The purchase, at a price that has not been made public, leads to the question: How will this affect Montreal’s week?

Toronto will now have access to IMG’s extensive international network — talent, models, sponsors — said Joe Mimran, chair of the Fashion Design Council of Canada, which managed Toronto’s week for 13 years under Robin Kay, who has been retained as a consultant to IMG.

IMG, through its various divisions, runs fashion weeks in New York, Berlin, Moscow, Mumbai, Tokyo and Sydney, among other cities, and represents such top models as Kate Moss, Gisele Bündchen and Jessica Stam, as well as top athletes and entertainers.

“There is a real need to bring Canadian talent together — whether in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver — in one place,” said Mimran, mastermind of Joe Fresh and founder of Club Monaco. “It hasn’t been easy to accomplish,’’ he said, citing factors like government funding.

As for Montreal, observers have more questions than answers.

The IMG backing “will give a more international flair to Toronto. I’m very happy for Toronto,” designer Denis Gagnon said, adding that he isn’t sure what the effect will be for Montreal.

“It seems like globalization rules these days,” jeans mogul Salvatore Parasuco said in an email. “I hope we grow our Canadian identity globally with this.’’ He wondered, however, whether the deal is a good thing in the long term.

Jean-François Daviau, co-president of Sensation Mode, which produces Montreal Fashion Week, doesn’t know what the sale will change. MFW moves to impressive new quarters at the Arsenal contemporary art centre in Griffintown for its next edition and is naming a board of directors this fall.

“We are staying on course with our development plan. Things are going well in Montreal. We understand the reality of fashion in Canada,’’ he said, explaining that the reality includes many independent designers, retailers based in Montreal, and a structure unlike that of the U.S.

“We are focused very much on the local market with the aim of one day exporting.

“So the place for emerging talent is very important and we work hard to help them achieve a level that might one day allow them to show internationally.”

In Toronto, goals are similar: “Our goal is to promote Canadian talent, show their product and expand internationally,’’ Mimran said.

Mimran added that he hates to think of the two weeks as being in competition with each other. He noted that Canada’s fashion weeks will never be as strong as New York’s, and New York will never trump Paris. “Every week has to find its own place.”

He pointed to the gruelling schedule for international catwalk followers. “Yet it’s so important for each country to have its own expression of fashion.

“It’s part of our culture.”

In Montreal, Sensation Mode is producer of fashion week, with a mandate from Liaison Mode Montréal, an industry association. Each session of fashion week gets about $265,000 in government funding, part of the event’s budget of $1 million to $1.2 million per session. Fashion weeks are held twice a year: in September or October to showcase collections for the following spring and summer, and in February or March for the next fall’s lines.

IMG is privately held; organizers of fashion week report only to the owners and sponsors, Mimran said. He could not give a budget for the week, but noted it is high. It might cost $700,000 to build the tent at David Pecaut Square, where the event is held. There is zero government subsidy, he added.

IMG signed on as a consultant with the Fashion Design Council of Canada three years ago. As a result, the Mercedes-Benz Start Up competition reached out to young designers across Canada, with the prize being mentorship from established designers and a sponsored show at Toronto’s fashion week. Danielle Martin and Pao Lim of Montreal’s Martin Lim line won the first competition, in October, with their fall 2012 line.

“It can be great for Toronto,’’ Martin said of the IMG deal. “For designers, it would be great to have one fashion week. I would prefer it in Montreal.”

This season, the husband-wife team is not showing in Toronto, but is showing in Montreal on Sept. 4. “We can’t afford two fashion weeks,’’ Martin said.

It costs $1,500 to show in Montreal, said Gagnon. That includes makeup and hair, music and runway time. The fee structure in Toronto is based on many factors, but is adjusted so that the talent gets to show, Mimran said.

Gagnon said his numerous shows in Toronto were by invitation, with costs covered. “They don’t invite me anymore, so I don’t go,” said

Gagnon, who is showing in Montreal on Sept. 5.

Denis Desro, editor-in-chief of fashion for Elle Québec and Elle Canada, does not think the IMG deal will change much.

“Canada is a market unto itself. Do you think IMG knows more about the market than the people before?” Desro asked.

What bothers Desro and others is the timing of Montreal Fashion Week. It clashes with New York’s week and the Toronto International Film Festival.

“The major designers and buyers will choose New York,’’ Desro said. “If Montreal wants foreign buyers, it’s not a good route.”

Even major buyers here, from Simons, the Bay or Ogilvy, are obliged to be in New York, he pointed out.

Desro asked who and what we are doing the fashion week for. “Just to do fashion shows? To try to get buyers and journalists from outside? If it’s at the same time as New York, forget it. They’re cutting a good portion of the people who can support Montreal fashion.”

Daviau, of Sensation Mode, said the dates were chosen in collaboration with the “milieu” — designers, the industry and government. “We have to work with them to assure success.”

Last year, Sensation Mode met with all its partners to understand their expectations.

“We compared ourselves with other fashion weeks in the world. We tried to identify the strengths of our talent. The reality of the designers of Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver is similar,’’ Daviau said.

They came up with a strategic plan. “One conclusion — because fashion often works behind closed doors — is to open up with a broad board of directors with different expertise to give fashion week a new push.”

Daviau posed the question of why international buyers or media come to Montreal.

“It’s to try to find a hidden gem. That’s what we’re working on.’’


Montreal Fashion Week, spring 2013 edition, runs Sept. 4 to 7 at the Arsenal, 2020 William St. World MasterCard Fashion Week is set to run Oct. 22 to 26 at David Pecaut Square in Toronto.