With a new two-acre site at the corner of King and Shaw, the Fashion Design Council of Canada had more lead time and more space to set the scene for LG Fashion Week this season. The venue, a former car dealership and the future site of the DNA phase 3 condominium development, includes a 1,000-seat runway, a gala showroom for intimate events and V.I.P. receptions, and a media lounge—all housed inside the existing structure. A glass-front tent attached to the building houses the Fashion Environment where guests can mingle between shows; a separate hair and makeup tent sits on the west side of the lot.
“The flow is a little bit different this year,” said Rob Dittmer of Three Events, the company responsible for the event design. “We opened it up a bit because it is so jam packed every year.” This season, the Fashion Environment includes a main bar, an all-white V.I.P. lounge sponsored by Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Thomas George Estates, the all-black Lincoln Luxury Lounge, and sponsor activations from the likes of LG Electronics, L'Oreal Paris, Schick Quattro, and Rowenta Beauty.
“It's clean and slick and there's lots of room to move. The people are the focus,” Dittmer said. White fringe dresses two oversize chandeliers in the main space—filled with black and white furnishings from Furnishings by Corey—and topiaries create a garden feel for the presentation of the spring 2010 collections.
“The trick is trying to make the tent not look like a tent,” said Dittmer, who created a different take on the traditional cocktail cruiser table in the showroom—dressed in grey, black, and white decor with a zebra print carpet and large black beds that provide seating—and the Lincoln Luxury Lounge by using lit chandeliers encased in tall Plexiglas cubes.
At a bank of computer terminals from Endo Networks, guests can direct questions and comments about LG Fashion Week to the F.D.C.C. The site is also equipped with washrooms (which were in short supply at the former location in Nathan Phillips Square) sponsored by Cashmere bathroom tissue. And, valet parking is available in the evenings, courtesy of Gatsby Valet Inc.
Inside the runway room, organizers installed bleacher seating for the first time and a laminate runway, rather than the wood flooring used in previous seasons. “It's all about being simplistic,” Dittmer said.
Logistically, there were no time constraints for the set up. But Dittmer said a new venue “always has challenges.” For example, because the surface of the parking lot was uneven, event planners had to level it off with a scaffolding system beneath the flooring, he said.
Event sponsors include LG Electronics Canada, L'Oreal Paris, Lincoln, DHL, Rowenta, Sears, Schick Quattro, Barbie, Peroni, Cashmere, Woolite, Yorkdale Shopping Centre, VIA Rail Canada, Town Shoes, Air France, and Holt Renfrew.
