After reading several articles pertaining to 2010 in retrospect, I have to say that 2010 was filled with exciting new progressions in social media and its relationship to fashion. Scandals, death, revolving doors, parties, and fashion, 2010 has been a difficult year to keep up, I have to admit.

Last year was really the year of the fashion bloggerati, featured left and right in fashion magazines, news media, and at front row seats during fashion week. Included in the latest spin, H&M will be confectioning a mini capsule collection designed by Elin Kling, a Swedish fashion blogger who owns Style By Kling. Kling’s success into fashion is not singular though, FashionToast‘s Rumi Neely paired up with jewellery brand Dannijo to launch her own collection of stylish neck and wristwear for Tobi.com. Not to be outdone, Style Rookie‘s Tavi Gevinson had styled her first photoshoot after pitching the idea for BlackBook. All we’re missing is Bryan Boy to join the fray, he has sort of, as he was one of the more flashier bloggers to speak at the first Independent Fashion Blogger Conference.

What with social media tools being refined, new collections, new designers, new editors joining into the new year, is it any wonder that it would be easy to get lost into the brouhaha?

As I’ve distanced myself a little from fashion in the past couple of months, it’s amazing what little I would know of fashion were I not to keep up with it. It was only by happenstance that I came across news that Andy-The Anh’s business has shut its doors due to poor sales since the economic downturn. Meaning that his two stores in Montreal, and the ones in Toronto had to be shut. It was surprising, yet not.

Despite rave reviews, Andy The-Anh may have had the talent, but he didn’t have the marketing strength to compete with other brands at the same price point. While it’s nice that a lot of Canadian designers choose to stay within the country and market themselves as Canadian-made, it’s of little comfort when even the local luxury retailers like Holt Renfrew (and recently The Bay) would not carry his lines like they did for Denis Gagnon. The latter made several efforts in several areas that I think other Canadian designers should take note of. Venturing into social media, creating a documentary, establishing an exhibition in a museum, creating a capsule collection for Bedo, and even inviting non-Canadian bloggers to see his collections, all have contributed to Gagnon’s current media darling success. When a designer thinks outside of the box and is willing to take chances into the new, the results can be wonderful. Andy The-Anh’s lack of online presence and restricting himself only to the fashion arena for professionals and editors may have contributed to his lack of sales. To say that the “market isn’t willing” to take on new collections is completely inexcusable. New collections pop up 24/7, I mean if a fashion blogger, rather than a bonafide designer, can create a capsule collection for the masses, there’s plenty of space. Although Business 101 may not be taught in fashion school, let this be a hard earned lesson to all new designers that if they want to make it into the business, they have to be willing to take risks. Especially considering how Andy was one of the few who had investors willing to expand his brand, but didn’t have the marketing savvy to levitate him as far as he could’ve gone.

I would hate to see similar brands like Greta Constantine, David Dixon, and Pink Tartan to suffer a similar fate. They’re hot now, but if they don’t do anything to get their social media mojo going, they won’t be sticking around for long.

While I myself, sometimes wish for the times of yonder when the fashion conversations weren’t so convoluted, I know that time waits for no one. While 14 yr olds are able to decipher today’s library of technical jargon, my aging Generation Y (yes, aging!) genes sees that the light in the tunnel is getting further and further for me to catch up. And perhaps one day soon, a blog will be a thing of the past.

And so then, what would the future of fashion writers be?

Surprisingly, 60% of The-Anh’s sales come from the United States, that’s a high number considering he makes his homebase in Canada. “10% is sold in Greece and the Middle East, the rest is sold in Canada,” wrote Stephane Champagne of La Presse. A shame they couldn’t put exact figures for Canada. But like many other designers across the globe, his brand was not immune to the 2008 recession, where sales fell dramatically that year and had pushed the company to restructure their approach in the international market.

To put his brand into consumers’ perspective (and mine), Andy The-Anh doesn’t aim to be the next Gucci or Prada, or face competition in Milan or Paris, as those brands dwarf his company’s finances in comparison. Instead, he offers his brand as a nice alternative to those mega brands, and hopes to open a second store in Toronto for the time being.

The reason I loved this article is that it is so rare to read about the financial status of Montreal designers, as I’ve previously posted before, some great talents vanish under the radar without so much of a whisper. Then one has to realize or ask themselves “Hey whatever happened to such and such?”

Meanwhile

A recent interview with Denis Gagnon was published on the Montreal Fashion Week website asking the designer why he had stopped creating a line for men. “Ah, it’s the market here, it’s very tight[...] we have to be a big brand. With men it’s a completely different playing field,” he explained. Even someone as talented as Gagnon admits that some things that even he cannot possibly conquer in the market. Thus it was in early 2007, amid growing debt and no public or private investor in sight, the designer was forced to close his boutique on St-Laurent, cease the release of making entire collections, and recoiled in contenting with different collaborations and private clients to fuel his designing needs.

Gagnon has since rebounded back into the spotlight in fall 2008, and has continually produced collections with critical acclaim. He now sells his garment through his own atelier boutique.

Montreal Designers…who?

Despite efforts to promote awareness of Montreal fashion designers, a recent survey reported by Eva Friede at The Gazette, said that of the 600 polled, the majority were “woefully unaware” of who and where local Montreal designers are found. Marie Saint Pierre came out on top of the list with a mere 12%, while Philippe Dubuc was not far behind with 11%, according to Diane Duhamel, fashion commissioner of Montreal.

And here’s the kicker that Friede asks on her blog: “Now, how many of us know there’s a fashion commissioner?”

She brings a very good point. And why is it that despite such a huge media venture to promote Montreal Fashion Week, costing about $1 million to produce this year, are people still unaware? MFW has been around since 2001, and to the admittance of Chantal Durivage, co-president of MFW, Montreal is not at the forefront of fashion weeks like Paris or Milan, but “on par with Barcelona and Berlin“.

Now that’s a surprising statement for me because I was under the impression that the verbiage MFW used to promote itself came off as trying to dig its way to be like Paris, Milan, London or New York. And you can’t really blame me, with words like “leading design in the fashion world” in their current press release makes me think primo numero uno on the fashion echelon. But I guess that’s like every radio station saying it is THE number one station in Montreal. So I’ll let that slide.

If they’re on par with smaller cities like Barcelona and Berlin, ok, I can take that. And perhaps, I should just lower my expectations next time around.

Image credits: Stephane Champagne, MFW, Jimmy Hamelin

I wish I had better things to say about Montreal Fashion Week, only because I keep hoping that something good will be in store every time I go there. But I am always left disappointed, bored, and unimpressed. It’s true, I’ll be blunt. It takes a lot of guts to put on a show, hire models, rent the space and produce a collection supposedly worthy of a buyer’s time and media’s coverage. But, so many of these designers have shown subpar collections, year after year. Clearly they don’t influence current trends at all, and honestly I have barely noticed any of the local big buyers at Ogilvy or Holt Renfrew stocking these long-time fashion designers on their racks, except save Marie Saint Pierre (who is not showing this season, for unknown reasons).  Yet are generously covered in the media year after year, with no sense of criticism whatsover. Other designers are supported locally with their own money racked up by sales from their boutiques across the city, and a few across the country. I’m not seeing the cream of the crop here, people. Where are they?

I think the biggest letdown was the show of the Createurs Francais, a showcase of Who’s Next coming all the way from France. I have high respect for the French, after all, haute couture and fashion today would not be possible were it not from French innovation into fashion. But I was sorely disappointed to what was on the runway. Creativity was there but was put down by poor choice of fabrics, prints that made me think of bed sheets and curtains, and missing refinement. Only one of the creators stood out, David Kurtis, with silky dresses and shining beaded straps, and a superb winged cape made of shiny vinyl-like feathers.

I was further puzzled by other fashion viewers who exclaimed “Wow, c’etait bon!” And I was wondering if they had the intention of actually buying the clothes, or did they just say those things because they were at a fashion show?

That said, one designer has consistently shown great collections for the mass consumers, with interest cuts and a couple of new fabrics here and there. That honor goes to Andy The-Anh, who had a press cocktail show instead of runway (economic recession? He’s also only restricting himself to the showroom at LG Fashion Week in Toronto). Season after season, his body-conscious designs and glamorous satins always flatter women’s body (well, ok, the models’ in this case). I don’t have much critique of his show except that first 5 models of his short collection stood on a rotating podium for 10 mins, and that was a little too long for the media to stand. The caribbean blue colors were a deja vu of his 2008 fall collection, I think he could’ve picked something better, a color that we wouldn’t expect, like apple green.

Thus concludes my take on Day 1 at MFW. I apologize for the lack of photos, I’m on the verge of being rendered unconscious from sinus/flu medication, and besides, it’s tough to take pics of models on a runway with 10 heads blocking your view. Stay tuned for more on Twitter for Day 2 tomorrow!

The Spring edition contains the usual suspects – Marie Saint Pierre, Denis Gagnon, Christian Chenail, etc – and a handful of newcomers to the show: Claude Bouchard, Dimitri Chris, Micalla,  and Annie 50.

The highly successful Le Showroom, a sort of trunk show, will be showcasing other local designers’ collections since many are not choosing to run on the catwalk. Curiously, the CIMM is MIA in this edition, where usually the more commercial designers like Simon Chang would showcase the more wearable collections to the public. I would’ve thought they had finally made some sort of business connection with MFW, but I guess that has dissolved?

One has to wonder though how the recession has affected local Canadian fashion industries. More and more companies are outsourcing their workload to Asia, with a very select few companies who still produce in Canada (to my knowledge Tristan and Le Chateau are still hanging in there). The sole and only press conference that could possibly address this issue will be on Tuesday, Oct 15th, the inaugural opening day of Montreal Fashion Week SS10, but I’m afraid it’s nothing more talking fluff to reassure designers.

I do certainly believe that a fashion conference in Montreal is severely lacking in addressing these important business issues. And perhaps it would be to the local designers’ benefit if the industry would stop trying to brush it off by replacing it with more talks about pushing creativity, which frankly is not necessary. Think of all the past talents that have appeared and disappeared under the radar: Yso, Renata Morales, Rush Couture, Nadya Toto, Marisa Minicucci, Philippe Dubuc, and for a time Denis Gagnon. Top tier talents like Dubuc and Minicucci are struggling to keep afloat, or in Minicucci’s case, have to rethink their business strategy altogether. Montreal also has to contend with Toronto, which often has some of our best talents migrating to show such as Rudsak, Andy, Aqua di Lara, Travis Taddeo, and Morales, and our cream of the crops are showcasing in Paris or New York, like Rad Hourani and Mackage. It seems that Montreal is too small for designers who are aiming higher.

If Montreal is supposed to be so axed on promoting local talent and encouraging to buy local, they will certainly need to rethink their strategies to influence shoppers. Because the fast fashion giants down on Ste-Catherine are eating up the local industry’s sales with cheap “chic” like Forever 21, H&M, and Zara. While the talents of the likes of CIMM is totally capable of wowing us with commercial and sometimes innovative garments, yet they are nowhere to be found this season.

Like I’ve said before, Montreal has great potential as a fashion hub, but lacks the direction and support it needs to establish itself as true player among fashion capitals.

Image credits: Jimmy Hamelin, Montreal Fashion Week

Peculiar behavior or in need of sales?

This season, we’re seeing a lot of double takes of designers choosing to showcase in both Montreal and Toronto’s fashion week. Designers like Andy-The Anh, Denis Gagnon, Lucian Matis, and Evan Bidell will present their collections for the second time next week at L’Oreal Fashion Week. I’ve also noticed a few designers who have jumped ships and decided to only show in Toronto, namely RUDSAK, Bodybag by Jude and Morales.

Could it be that the American buyers I had talked to last season were right? Designers are traveling to several tradeshows often showing the same collection again and again, in desperate need of buyers. Yet showcasing in a coveted Fashion Week is expensive, let alone two. Given that Denis Gagnon has been plagued with financial troubles in the past, I wonder how he was able to bounce back to two Fashion Weeks this season.

What does that say of the state of the Canadian fashion retail business? Are Canadian cities not doing enough to stimulate local sales? That in turn, it is forcing local designers to seek their fortunes elsewhere?  New York Fashion Week, the circus that is has become, also generated a lot of concern this season by nearly squeezing London Fashion Week out of the calendar next Fall, and the city has become a viable target for talented emerging London designers. It would seem that Montreal, like London, is unable to keep its designers at home as they’re vying for the bigger fashion weeks where they know the media and buyers will be abundant.

There’s also the issue that shoppers may not care much for local brands and will often opt for popular international brands which can be found in places like Holt Renfrew and Ogilvy’s.

Is there pride for Canadian labels? I mean, really?

Where are Canadian statistics when you need them! If there was such pride, shouldn’t sales for local designers be skyrocketing and have high demand for it on an international level? Sorry Canada, we’re just not there yet. Say a site like Net-A-Porter were to carry one of our Canadian labels, how well would it fare?

The fact is, Canada doesn’t have as many venture capitalists or moguls who are willing to invest or buy designer labels like they do south of the border. If Canadian designers cannot be funded with proper investments, there is little chance for them to be able to compete on an international level, no matter how talented they are. If they cannot market themselves properly, labels will never fly.

Returning to designers showcasing twice, I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing, if it helps the label to generate more sales, then I encourage it. However, if they showcase in too many tradeshows, buyers can sense desperation, and that could be a turn off.

Image credit: Kim Payant for Canoe

The shuffling of the cattle (me and the public) and disorganization at MFW hasn’t changed since last season. It’s amazing how such a large number of people like to consider themselves ultra important therefore are allowed to cut in line and act like the prima donnas that they are. Learning from previous seasons, I repeated “patience is a virtue” to myself as I inched along to my awaited seat.

Andy The-Anh’s show was delayed 30 mins due to crowd mismanagement, but everything was cool once we filtered into the showroom. I was seated near the backstage, up on the last row in the bleachers. MFW figured out that bleacher seats were prime and labeled an entire section as “VIP”. I was not VIP, I was just able to sneak into VIP (nobody really checks except the front row).

As mentioned previously, the show is to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Society. Now, I have nothing against raising funds for cancer, but I do have a problem in trying to associate a fashion show with morose poetry reading. My only question is…with all the money the Breast Cancer Foundation receives every year, wouldn’t you think they would’ve found a cure by now? Or are the money grubbing pharmaceuticals really just jerking our chains in saying there isn’t a cure for cancer? That’s for another blog….

Yes, poetry reading. Very depressing and morose poetry reading. That was a mood killer and it was the opening of the show. I half expected the entire show to be like that. I personally don’t think breast cancer needs more awareness than it already does, but moving on. Lots of “local celebrities” read their bit and finally the mood alleviated with the fashion show. Unfortunately, the show closed with an over the top dance fusion violinist named Dr. Draw. Ok, yes I get it, he’s very talented. He closed the show with a solo that went on five minutes too long. Music is definitely encouraged at fashion shows, but only when it’s nice, sweet and short. We don’t want a concert, just a punch.

The Collection

Andy’s specialty are evening dresses that are made of flowing chiffon and sheer fabric. He seems to fancy heavy bejeweled garments (a nightmare to clean, I can imagine), raspberry and strawberry pinks, choco browns and slate grays this season. I saw a little bit of Donna Karan-ish draping on some dresses and liked the sheer back numbers. His Spring dresses aren’t as impressive as his Caribbean blue dresses for Fall though. He had several ruffled pieces that had the crowd wowed and clapping, but I’m not a ruffle person, so I didn’t care for it. More varied pieces of body hugging dresses and variations of the pencil skirts followed, while the models sported chunky purple platform heels and fuschia eyelashes.

You can view more photos on Canoe.

Can the collection sell?

For Andy, I would say selling his Spring collection won’t be much of a problem, at least in the practical sense. There are a lot of pieces that are fit for the office as well as evening wear, giving a sexy edge without being trashy. He’s probably one of the best local designers who is able to bring a little bit of pizazz to an outfit without overdoing it. My only gripe is quality control, if he can just improve that, it would be worth spending the high price tags. I would be curious to know how he’s faring in sales…

Was it a success?

Frankly, as pretty as the collection was, it was certainly missing something. I would like to see Andy try new shapes, new fabrics and textures. Even if he’s comfortable in always creating tight tailored blazers and pencil skirts, it wouldn’t hurt for him to experiment a little more with volume. It’s great that he’s found his safe zone, but if he continues to always play it safe, he’ll have less room to wow in the future. Yes, I’m very hard to please eventhough the crowd last night gave him a standing ovation. I just believe he has the capabilities of doing much better.

Image credit: Jimmy Hamelin, Sensation Mode

La Diva

Laboratoire Creatif is a union of over 100 local designers who share the same facilities to confect their creations. This season they will be collaborating to raise funds for women living with breast cancer. The show will happen Oct 16th at 7pm at Marche Bonsecours.

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at Admission.com, type in “La Diva” in the search engine.

Glamour

Andy The-Anh will be showcasing his Spring collection at MFW for an event called “Glamour” where all profits will be donated to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation.

**Edit** The date for Andy’s show is Oct 14th at 9pm at Marche Bonsecours.

Regular tickets are $25 which will allow you to see the new collection and a chance to win a raffle

VIP tickets are $150 which will guarantee you a reserved seating inside the the runway show, a complimentary brooch by Andy-The Anh, admission to their private cocktail hour and a chance to win the raffle.

I know I said I wasn’t going to go to MFW, which is sort of true. I’ll actually be attending only this show and no one else’s since I’ve never seen Andy’s runway show and I might as well see one. I’ll be seated up in the back bleachers (where they have the best view after the front row seats, anywhere else has a pretty craptacular view).

Bedo is a Canadian-based brand since 1975, offering 6 trend induced collections a year. Style-wise, I don’t have much to say about the brand, other than that it does well for itself as far a trends go, but I thought I should have a look and check out the quality of their clothing.

It’s Fall, so the entire collection has a lot of wool blends. Unfortunately, being that they’re all about “affordable” prices, they don’t use good wool blends. They use the super itchy kind, as I’ve learned at my time at Pellegrino, itchy wool are threads of yarn made of the shortest wool hair (from the back of the neck of the sheep), thus when twisted together, the short end hairs stick out, giving you that itchy feeling. Over time, your itchy wool yarns will tear because the short hairs can’t hold together. High quality wool are made of long hair taken from the back of the sheep, thus feel silky and smooth to the touch. They’re also the most expensive, especially the worsted (tightly twisted) kind.

That being said, I touched nearly the entire Fall collection by hand. All of it felt surprisingly itchy. If I touched anything smooth it was probably of cotton blend and or didn’t use wool at all. So their website and lookbooks may look really nice on paper, but go and touch for yourself, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

Andy The-Anh – Made in Poland

I must admit that this is a disappointment coming from a man who has such a great sense of design and style. I have much respect for Andy The-Anh, but unfortunately, he’s lost some brownie points on quality.

I recently bought a white pencil skirt from his store from his Spring 2008 collection, and it was delightfully on sale for $170, originally priced at $300. I checked it (or thought I did), tried it on, loved it, bought it, end of story right?

I showed the skirt to my boyfriend, proud that I bought something so nice at a discount. He immediately checked the bottom hems and already found a hanging thread that threatened to unravel the hemline. Apparently, the stitching of the lining and the skirt has been shoddily done. Supposedly this hemline should be solid, but because of the stitching method (which leaves faint stitching traces on the surface), it barely kept both the main fabric and lining together. My boyfriend suspects it was a way to cut cost by choosing to use this cheap stitching method (who knew?). He suggested that I should cut the thread before it unraveled any further, and there’s really no method of repairing this at home and would have to seek professional help to get it fixed.

Further investigation has also led me to discover some crooked stitching of the lining and a few end threads sticking out.

Granted, I know I didn’t pay $1000 for this skirt and could probably forgive the crooked stitching, but the loose bottom thread is a real disappointment. This comes from a store that sells $1000 cashmere knit coats, so I was expecting better. So lesson learned: when buying skirts try to get past how gorgeous it looks and check the insides more thoroughly.

A friend of mind just landed a job at mega Swedish company H&M, training for the eventual opening of the new flagship store on corner St-Catherine and Peel. She also informed that there will be a second H&M store opening on St-Catherine East near (or replacing?) the Futureshop store. This store will hold the “young and funky” collections while as the flagship store will hold the more “mature” collections, assuming of course this is where the Rei Kawakubo collection will land in November 2008. With all the rage of H&M, I can only pray for her to keep her sanity during these first new months.

Some good news for men, there will be a new store for casual men’s sportswear at the Rockland Centre opening August 2008. The brand, Report Collection, has been established since 1999 and has been successful in establishing their brand in North America as well as Europe and parts of Asia. From the looks of it, Report Collection leans more towards the sophiscated sportswear line, not exactly your next Champions, or Foot Locker type of athletic sportswear.

Another new store that opened at the Rockland Centre is This & That Axesoir which introduces a new concept in accessorizing thy self. Slick with charcoal slate countertops, you’ll find neutral and natural colored jewelry as well as a selection of clothes to choose from. A 100% Canadian brand.

Frankly, I can’t think of a better mall to shop in, I love the Rockland Centre, new stores are always popping up, the food is great, the mall is clean and slick, there’s free parking and it’s not too crowded. Though I haven’t been able to set foot in many new stores as of late due to a busy schedule, the development of new stores in Montreal is encouraging.

I have no idea if I’ll ever find the occasion to wear such a dress, but I will. These dresses are beyond gorgeous. Images and designs belong to Andy The Anh from his upcoming Fall 2008 campaign.

Which puts into question as to where Montreal fashion is going business wise. Montreal Fashion Week is coming next month, I really wonder who the buyers are and where they come from. Last fall I attended Fashion Week on behalf of GLOSS, and was surprised that that there were only about a dozen notable designers showing for a total of a mere 3 days. Even our most coveted designer, Andy The-Anh, showcased his collection in Toronto’s L’Oreal Fashion Week in hopes to catch a larger audience. It would appear that the Montreal market hasn’t attracted enough buyers (international and local) to come to our fashion week despite a recent multimillion dollar investment from the Quebec Government.

Ralph Lauren Fall 2008. Simple and could definitely sell.

Muse by Christian Chenail Fall 2007. Could also sell, but are they selling?

 

I made a round yesterday to Ogilvy‘s and only saw Marie Saint Pierre’s name as the only local designer on the store’s 2nd floor. Holt Renfrew did have Rad Hourani’s collection, but where are the M Siamo’s, Philippe Dubuc’s and Andy The-Anh’s in these stores? More over, there are so many specialized boutiques that it’s hard to pinpoint which stores carry which lines, making shopping even harder especially for smaller brands. Not to mention that local designers have to compete with many European imports like Mango, Zara, H&M, and Mexx to big brand designer names like Chanel, Dior and Gucci in the high end sector. Let’s not forget that even our own proud canadian sports label Roots has been shoved aside to make way to American Eagle Outfitters downtown.

Having a good business model is essential to survive in the industry, so far it’s hard to think of one Canadian label in particular which has successfully incorporated themselves into international waters on a grand scale. But unlike Europeans and Americans, Montreal fashion designers currently aren’t attractive enough for financial honchos to invest into their brands. Though $82 million is a generous amount from the Quebec Government, it’s peanuts when the likes of other designers get the same amount for a SINGLE brand in a SINGLE year. It’s not enough to be a designer, it’s now essential to have a working business model. If Canada, even more so Montreal, wants to compete with the big guns they will have to find a way to boost their visibility on a grand scale and be aggressive. We’re being much too docile to newcomers, praising and coddling them through magazines isn’t enough, they need to be able to sell their clothes to buyers and establish some loyalty amongst their shoppers.

Image credits: Style.com, Muse Christian Chenail