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.
Barrett said he broke the guest list down into three parts: LG guests, employees, and clients; key influencers and media; and consumers, who had to win tickets through a contest called Ego System on the company's Web site and through local media like Virgin 99.9 radio and Metro newspapers. To reach those who weren't among the 900 people inside the party, the event was projected onto a large screen in Nathan Phillips Square and the clear front of the tents allowed outdoor viewers to get a glimpse of the runway presentations.
The evening ran on a tight schedule. The 90-minute cocktail reception with student fashion presentations and a parade of models wearing swimsuits designed by Shan and posing with LG phones ended with an announcement asking guests to finish their drinks and enter the concert area. Maroon 5 played a 45-minute set while designers Mikhael Kale and Wayne Clark presented pieces from their spring lines and Greta Constantine introduced their Atelier collection. For the finale, U.K.-based lingerie company Agent Provocateur sent out models in its signature risqué lingerie.
Many guests left promptly after the show ended at 10:30 p.m. (An official after-party was held at the Spoke Club.) The performances at LG Fashion Fusion will be recapped on CTV in a special airing November 9; FashionTelevision will also show highlights of the event.
To continue its strategic marketing with the fashion industry, LG Canada is a presenting sponsor at next weekend's Fashion Cares benefit for the AIDS Committee of Toronto. Barrett presented a cheque for $100,000 to the AIDS Committee during Saturday's event and told The Toronto Star last week that LG Canada has spent close to $2 million on fashion sponsorships, including the Dsquared2 show during the film festival, L'Oréal Fashion Week, and Fashion Cares.
