Models walk the runway at Suburban Deviant's Spring/Summer 2025 show at Fashion Art Toronto.Jess Byrne/Supplied
“Who gets to participate in fashion week?” is a question the global fashion industry has grappled with since pandemic lockdowns faded away and folks yearned once more for the pageantry of the catwalk.
In the four cities that comprise the main fashion month calendar – New York, London, Milan and Paris – runway show invites are increasingly reserved for celebrities and content creators with massive social media followings, making the already-exclusive events even more so than in seasons past. The fashion week programming in some Canadian cities, however, suggests that building community and highlighting craft and creativity – not pandering to clout – are what’s bolstering industry events right now.
Tickets for the upcoming Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week are currently available to the public, and it was the same case for shows on the Vancouver Fashion Week schedule in mid-October.
In September, Montreal Fashion Week’s city-wide programming offered studio open houses, workshops, runway shows and shopping pop-ups. Gautier Berlemont, deputy manager of Mmode, the festival’s non-profit organizing body, said that the event’s public-facing schedule aimed to heighten awareness about Quebecois brands – particularly at a time when U.S. tariffs are making the “shop local” movement even more important.
At Montreal Fashion Week, Le Collectif Autochtone Indigenous showcased local designers at the McCord Stewart Museum.alic3vsworld/Supplied
“We try to use the platform to make everyone aware of what we have here – about the savoir faire and who the local designers are,” he said. To achieve this, Montreal Fashion Week activated cultural spaces such as the McCord Stewart Museum, which hosted a runway showcase of Indigenous designs dubbed Le Collectif Autochtone. All of the ticketed events on the schedule sold out, speaking to the public’s appetite to be part of the fashion week milieu.
“People feel connected to design in a different way when they meet the real person behind a brand and learn about their inspirations,” said Anne-Marie Chagnon, an artist and accessories designer who celebrated 30 years of her eponymous label during Montreal Fashion Week.
Her event – and her approach to running her brand – is aligned with the objectives of Mmode: To help the community understand the value of a locally made piece by having them personally engage with the brand and its makers.
Chagnon highlighted her influences and creative process in a fall exhibition at the Maison de la Culture de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. Mood boards, raw materials and abstract paintings shared space with a trove of Chagnon’s extravagant jewellery (including a shoppable selection of her sculptural designs). This peek behind the curtain of creativity was palpably exciting for the wall-to-wall crowd.
Catherine Pelletier Lauzon, founder of slow-fashion eyewear brand Atelier Ora, didn’t only invite customers to visit her Mile End studio during Montreal Fashion Week – she also asked three local emerging eyewear designers to showcase their collections alongside hers.
“I love making friends and connections, and it’s natural for me to be curious,” she told me when I visited her studio.
The opportunity she presented to up-and-coming eyewear labels Emotional Armor, Le Cacti and EB Lunetier is one she feels flies in the face of the current conflict-heavy social climate.
“There’s a lot of division right now,” she said, adding that because of the tensions on political ideologies – and a general pervasive mood of disenfranchisement and despair – coming together is imperative. “I think the counter-movement to that is the people who wish to change things by doing small, heartfelt initiatives. That’s what gives me hope.”
Events such as Fashion Art Toronto and Montreal Fashion Week are creating communal spaces for both the public and designers.alic3vsworld/Supplied
That kind of convivial spirit is integral to the longevity that Fashion Art Toronto has enjoyed. The 20-year-old, multi-day event founded by Vanja Vasic, who remains its director, has grown from an annual string of runway and art shows to a twice-yearly catwalk and installation schedule at a main location as well as a slate of off-site events. The organization collaborates with local fairs such as the Artist Project to create even more opportunities for face time with the public.
Liam Colbourne, Fashion Art Toronto’s director of runway, community and operations, noted that the decision to add a second annual event stemmed from the knowledge that many fashion creatives take time to put designs together. They may produce a few pieces per year, or only by custom order; they don’t follow a corporate-minded cadence of seasonal collections.
“That decision was born out of our recognition that the creative community of Toronto needs a larger platform,” Colbourne said. “From that, we were able to pivot from a once-a-year function and almost double our footprint. That investment has paid off in terms of community engagement.”
This season’s opening party will take place on Nov. 10 at Woodside Square, a mall in Scarborough’s Agincourt neighbourhood, where ultra-unconventional upcycling brand Suburban Deviant will present its latest collection.
Interdisciplinary artist Danny Welsh, the brand’s founder (and a graduate of OCAD University), said that they have struggled with the distinction between design and art, and how their oeuvre fits into it. Suburban Deviant’s offerings currently include “one-of-one” pieces such as a miniskirt made from a Twister game set and a trio of pantaloon styles with ruffled waists.
“What the Fashion Art Toronto team has created is a sense of expansiveness and acceptance of free thinkers and creatives who are disruptive,” Welsh said. “I see myself as creating wearable artwork.” Platforms such as Fashion Art Toronto give similarly minded luxury creatives the chance to interact with potential clients IRL.
Ultra-unconventional upcycling brand Suburban Deviant creates pieces that straddle art and fashion.Jess Byrne/Supplied
This kinetic confluence of customers, clients, fans and ambitious designers is why Amber-Dawn Bear Robe, a fashion show organizer and exhibition curator, was eager to create a runway show for Fashion Art Toronto.
Bear Robe, who won a Canadian Arts and Fashion award in 2023, said that the line-up of Indigenous creatives who are part of her event – Jason Baerg of Ayimach Horizons, Jontay Kahm, and Dusty LeGrande of Mobilize Waskawewin – exemplify the kind of talent that audiences want to see, something they can’t find in the fashion mainstream.
Fashion Art Toronto offers the fantasy of fashion’s limitless potential without the emphasis on consumption. Instead, the focus is on non-trend-driven design.
“I was blown away the first time I went to Fashion Art Toronto,” Bear Robe said. “I thought it was a tremendous event – well-organized and exciting and vibrant. I felt very energized.” That feeling was palpable in Montreal, too, along with the spark of real-life connection and new ideas.