Vancouver Fashion Week puts small designers in big light

But for many designers, debuting their collections at Vancouver Fashion Week this week was an important stepping-stone on their way to fashion stardom.

Vancouver Fashion Week celebrated its 10th anniversary and 16th season this year.

Recognizing that Vancouver is not a world center for fashion design, producers pride themselves on their commitment to fostering the growth of newer designers and celebrating cultural diversity in the fashion industry.

Last year, 25 designers participated in the show.

This week's spring/summer show featured 46 designers from Canada and around the world, including 17 international designers from the United States, Britain, Mongolia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.

"What makes Vancouver unique is the diversity, and so we are showcasing designers who are from Asia, India, different parts of the world," Vancouver Fashion Week producer Jamal Abdourahman told Xinhua.

"Different regions, not just France and Italy, like other fashion weeks."

The twice-yearly show also features special events showcasing new up and upcoming designers, providing them with a first crack at the runway.

"This is where people can find new talents, and most of the new designers are courageous enough to do something different, and that's why it's great for us to showcase," Abdourahman said.

Over the years, Abdourahman said he had watched young designers who got their start here make it big in the fashion world.

"Cheri Milaney was what we showcased in 2001, now she's in Italy, she has her own perfume, she's an established designer that's selling in a lot of places, that's just one example," he said.

For the past five years, Vancouver Fashion Week has included a special section entitled Eastern Allure to focus on Asian design.

This year's Eastern Allure event featured two Chinese designers, Eva Chen and Fala Chien.

They both moved from China to Vancouver as they began forging their way in the North American fashion design.

Chien debuted her own brand, Play with Fala, in 2007, two years after she arrived in Vancouver from Taiwan. Aiming to provide high fashion at affordable prices, her pieces have sold in Vancouver, Shanghai, and Taiwan.

But the collection she showcased at Vancouver Fashion Week on Friday, Secret Garden, had a different goal in mind.

Her playful collection included short dresses in bright blues and pinks, flower printed cotton tops, and simple white silk backless dresses.

Using almost exclusively organic fabrics like cotton, bamboo and silk, Chien said she hoped her collection would help show the world that high fashion and environmentally sensitive design were not necessarily mutually exclusive.

"I think most of the designers using organic fabrics are making T-shirts, sweatshirts, and things like that. I want to give people something fashionable. People think organic is old school, casual. I want organic to be fashionable," she said.

Abdourahman said Vancouver was the perfect location to premier eco-friendly fashion. For the past four years, Vancouver Fashion Week has even included a special event for environmentally sensitive design.

"If you see Vancouver, we promote sustainability, we promote conservation, so we promote the old way of thinking. Not just the green and jumping into a new fad. And we've been showcasing it for the past four years."

Eva Chen settled down in Vancouver to raise her daughter after leaving China to travel and work in the United States and Singapore.

In contrast to Chien, Chen's collection featured dark, complex evening gowns laden with natural feathers, jewels, and elaborate headdresses.

Using elements like feathers and silk, she said her collection was inspired by nature, as well as her background in music and dance.

"My inspiration is from the natural flower garden and animal feathers, put together," she said.

"The collections are always gorgeous, elegant, classic, and very feminine."

Alongside the special themed evenings, Vancouver Fashion Week included fashion seminars and special events for children.

In partnership with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, most designers also featured at least one breast cancer survivor modeling their designs in an effort to bring more awareness to the issue.

Next year, Abdourahman said Fashion Week goers could expect more designers from around the world to increase the variety of cultures on the world's catwalk.

"We're going for a big effect where it's almost like the Olympics of fashion, in Vancouver," he said.

source: English.news.cn