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News Archive for L'Oréal Fashion Week

EVENT REPORT 10.28.08 3:54 PM

LG Installs Stage, Red Decor for Fashion Week's Closing Night Gala

A model at LG Fashion Fusion
Photo: BizBash

The L'Oréal Fashion Week tents in Nathan Phillips Square underwent a complete makeover in less than 24 hours for Saturday's LG Fashion Fusion, a party cementing LG Canada's sponsorship and marketing efforts at Toronto's largest fashion event. Logistically speaking, Fashion Week's first-ever closing-night gala required more than 200 people to organize, including close to 100 staffers who worked overnight on Friday to prepare the venue. Crew members divided the interior of the tents into four zones—a red carpet entrance, a coat check and photo shoot section, the cocktail reception area, and the main foyer, where Maroon 5 played on a large stage with a runway.

"LG's signature role in Fashion Week was to do something very meaningful and elevate the event by engaging more of the general public," said Andrew Barrett, vice president of marketing for LG Electronics Canada. Barrett spearheaded the marketing partnership with the Fashion Design Council of Canada to become involved in L'Oréal Fashion Week for the first time. The company had two large booths inside the tents and launched four new phones at an event last Wednesday. MORE >>

LG Electronics Canada, L'Oréal Fashion Week, Fashion Design Council of Canada, Greta Constantine, Maroon 5, Wayne Clark, Mikhael Kale, Agent Provocateur, CTV, Fashion Television

NEWS 10.24.08 2:53 PM

Images of Airplane Hangers, African Landscapes Set the Stage at Fashion Week

David Dixon's show
Photo: George Pimentel

Due to time constraints—usually about half an hour between shows—and limited space, most designers showing collections at L'Oréal Fashion Week use lighting and music to create ambience for their presentations. For example, Andy Thé-Anh's show included an energetic runway performance by electric violinist Dr. Draw, and Joe Fresh Style prepped audiences for the Zen style of the collection by shutting off the lights and turning on a soothing voice track. A handful of designers, however, chose to use projections and props to add atmosphere to their shows and play on the theme of their collections. Here are a few examples of the week's most interesting set designs. MORE >>

L'Oréal Fashion Week, Fashion Design Council of Canada, Bodybag, Bustle Clothing, David Dixon, Desperately Different, Diesel, Nada, Quagmire, Zoran Dobric

NEWS 10.24.08 1:00 PM

Samsung Pairs With Canadian Designer to Market New Phone

Makeup touchups at the Samsung Cleo preview party
Photo: Courtesy of Samsung Canada

Turns out LG Electronics Canada isn't the only cell phone company getting in on the action at L'Oréal Fashion Week. Samsung Canada participated in the event for the first time by sponsoring designer Katya Revenko and her line Desperately Different. The company held a party at the Drake Hotel Monday to celebrate the sponsorship and preview its new Cleo phone, launching with Bell on November 8.

"The phone is very targeted toward females, and it has a leading edge design, so it's a great pairing," said Jo Allan, marketing manager in Samsung Canada's wireless terminals division. The press release describes the phone as being "easily mistaken for a makeup compact." MORE >>

L'Oréal Fashion Week, Samsung, Cake Beauty, Fashion Takes Action

EVENT REPORT 10.24.08 11:26 AM

Joe Fresh Style Holds After-Party at Condo Sales Office

The Joe Fresh Style after-party
Photo: George Pimentel

The sales offices for a new condo development called Fashion House served as the site for the Joe Fresh Style after-show party Wednesday night. Peter Freed of Freed Developments, one of the show's sponsors, offered the King Street West location as a venue for the buzzed-about party.

Joe Mimran, the designer behind Joe Fresh Style, worked with Sebastien Centner of Eatertainment to create an event that reflected the zen theme of his spring collection. MORE >>

Joe Fresh Style, L'Oréal Fashion Week, Audi, Freed Developments

NEWS 10.23.08 12:48 PM

Toronto Fashion Week Organizer Apologetic After Drunken Speech

The woman behind L'Oréal Fashion Week has apologized after a drunken speech preceding Monday night's Mango show, according to a report in today's Toronto Star. Robin Kay, president of the Fashion Design Council of Canada, delivered a rambling speech welcoming guests to the tents in Nathan Phillips Square Monday and was escorted off the runway by Luc Laroche, an executive from Mango Canada, before she had finished her remarks.

The speech reportedly bristled sponsor Holt Renfrew's vice president of fashion direction, Barbara Atkin. "This kind of bad behaviour is the equivalent of wearing a bad accessory. The problem is no matter how beautiful your outfit is, everyone is looking at the bad accessory," Atkin told The Star's David Graham, who reported that no other sponsors would comment publicly. (Atkin also spoke of Kay's dedication to Fashion Week.)

The Star noted that Kay's speech—broadcast on the Fashion Television channel, which is running daily live-to-tape wrap-ups during Fashion Week—has "been ridiculed on an entertainment television show and mocked on Facebook pages." National Post society columnist Shinan Govani wrote about the incident in his Wednesday column. Kay offered us more lucid remarks in this pre-Fashion Week interview. —Erin Letson

L'Oréal Fashion Week, Fashion Design Council of Canada, Holt Renfrew

GUEST QUESTIONS 10.22.08 1:42 PM

Fashion Week Tent Poll: What Do You Think of the New Studio Runway?

The tents at L'Oréal Fashion Week
Photo: BizBash

The Fashion Design Council of Canada added a second runway room, called the Studio, to the L'Oréal Fashion Week tents at Nathan Phillips Square this season. The space—which seats close to 200—is intended to serve as an intimate setting for up-and-coming designers. We asked attendees for their impressions of the new space and its setup.

"I love it, it's great. I think it makes for a really nice, intimate show for a smaller designer. I wish it was something they had during the first few times I was showing because it's sort of the perfect scale for that. It's a little tight to get in and out of, but that's just a logistical thing and you have the same problem here [in the main tent]."
—Philip Sparks, Canadian fashion designer MORE >>

L'Oréal Fashion Week, Fashion Design Council of Canada

NEWS 10.21.08 2:25 PM

Schick Runway, Lincoln Lounge Among Sponsor Displays at Fashion Week

The bar in the main tent at L'Oréal Fashion Week
Photo: BizBash

The Orangina girls with the mobile soda carts and shaggy orange wigs—a fixture inside the tents at L'Oréal Fashion Week this past spring—are nowhere to be seen this season. The event, which kicked off Monday and runs until Saturday at Nathan Phillips Square, has adopted a "fabulous" theme for the 2009 spring collections, and the tent has taken on a decidedly more grown-up look. Monday's giveaways—tubes of lip gloss and mascara from L'Oréal Paris—were passed out by models dressed in fashionable brown dresses.

The sponsors' displays—coordinated by Rob Dittmer of Three Events—have a more contemporary and subdued feel this season, tying in with the decor throughout the tent. “I'm like the middleman between the Fashion Design Council of Canada and the sponsors,” said Dittmer, who worked with companies like LG Electronics Canada, Lincoln, and Schick Quattro to translate their vision while enhancing the overall decor, which was designed by Nicholas Pinney of Nicholas Pinney Design to feel like a lobby in a high-end hotel. MORE >>

Fashion Week, L'Oréal Fashion Week, Fashion Design Council of Canada, LG Electronics Canada, Lincoln, Schick Quattro, Fashion Television, Restylane

NEWS 10.20.08 11:22 AM

Two Runways, Closing-Night Gala Planned for Fashion Week

The Fashion Environment
Photo: BizBash

When Canadian fashion designer Alfred Sung presents his 2009 bridal collection to launch L’Oréal Fashion Week today, it's unlikely anyone in the audience will be thinking about the grueling week-long process that set the stage for the six-day event, which continues until Saturday and marks the 16th season in Toronto.

The build started in Nathan Phillips Square on October 12, and since then a crew of close to 100 people has had a hand in preparing for the 2009 Spring Collections, produced by Robin Kay and the Fashion Design Council of Canada (FDCC). “There's a lot that goes on when you're in a public space. It's city property. And we're not just building a set for a concert, it's a huge infrastructure," logistics manager Elaine Chick said during a tour of the venue Friday. “You're in an open space and you're building everything and bringing everything in."

The entire production is run on generators with all of the cables laid beneath a sub-floor to ensure there are no tripping hazards for guests inside the tents, Chick said, noting that the tents from Advanced Tent Rental are equipped with heating and air conditioning systems, as well as gutters to allow for rain. "It takes a village to create this structure. Something like this just doesn't happen," she said. According to Chick, the location presented several challenges. The tents had to be built around the Peace Garden, and organizers were required to leave a 15-foot access path for emergency vehicles around the perimeter of the site. MORE >>

L'Oréal Fashion Week, Fashion Design Council of Canada

EVENT REPORT 10.17.08 4:55 PM

Greta Constantine Stages Pre-Fashion Week Show on Glacial Set

The reflective runway at the Greta Constantine show
Photo: Gerrit de Jonge

On Wednesday night the duo behind the fashion label Greta Constantine presented their third show to an audience of more than 300 at Circa. The Campari-sponsored show included Stephen Wong and Kirk Pickersgill's signature mirrored runway, this time anchored by a glacier-shaped structure emphasizing the evening's "Fragile" theme. Staff at Circa constructed the 38 by 6-foot runway over three days using wooden planks covered in mirrored Plexiglas. MORE >>

Greta Constantine, Campari, L'Oréal Fashion Week, LG Canada

Q & A 10.09.08 11:14 AM

Robin Kay Is Already Eyeing Another New Home for Toronto Fashion Week

FDCC president Robin Kay
Photo: Courtesy of the Fashion Design Council of Canada

The Fashion Design Council of Canada (FDCC), which launched L'Oréal Fashion Week eight years ago, is set to present the spring 2009 collections from October 20 through 25 in the tents at Nathan Phillips Square. This season's shows, being held over six days, will be Toronto's biggest presentation yet.

"It’s growing in every way—in awareness and attendance, in designers and sponsorship," said FDCC president Robin Kay, who noted that more than 35 sponsors have signed on to support Fashion Week, during which more than 70 designers will showcase their work in 38 shows on two runways (a first for L'Oréal Fashion Week). We asked Kay how the event has evolved and how she envisions its future.

You have implemented some major changes within the past year. What's your goal?
To be a really great Fashion Week that designers want to come to and show at and sell product. Fashion Week is a calling card for the industry, for designers to sell clothes, for reporters and writers and photographers, and retailers and buyers. It’s a huge, huge industry that was absent in Canada…I came to realize it because I was a designer, and when I stopped and looked up and saw there was nothing happening in this country, I really thought a Fashion Week would be the best attention grabber. It’s been inspirational for the city. It’s wonderful to link art and commerce, to link sponsors with the event and to build our country’s fashion economy. That’s what’s exciting for me. MORE >>

L'Oréal Fashion Week, Fashion Design Council of Canada, City of Toronto, LG Electronics Canada

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