Eco-Fashion Week closing show at Holt Renfrew Vancouver (Photo by Megan Renaud)
Vancouver isn’t known globally as a fashion city like New York, London and Paris are. The city has its own sense of fashion and many in the industry are finding themselves confused.
“It’s still kind of an enigma to me, fashion in Vancouver. I just don’t understand what people want here. I still can’t figure out the industry here,” said Kim Krempien, Fashion Director of Vancouver Fashion Week.
While Vancouver is trying to find its own fashion identity, events such as Vancouver Fashion Week and Eco-Fashion Week are trying to help in different ways.
Vancouver Fashion Week is an event that is more widely covered, and thoroughly discussed, as a main event on the Vancouver fashion scene. It is still growing after 12 years and it’s bigger than Eco-Fashion Week, which started in 2010.
Eco-Fashion Week is a four-day event, two days shorter than Vancouver Fashion Week, which ran this year from Oct. 6-10. Eco-Fashion Week, which takes place in Robson Square, includes several fashion shows, cocktail events and seminars that deal with economically sustainable fashion.
It touches on, and makes its audience aware of, many issues that affect the world on a global scale and offers solutions. Issues include the carbon footprints of fashion companies, waste of material and not making an impact in helping community.
Eco-Fashion week takes fashion and educates its audience on how to be economically conscious in what they buy and wear. It’s about knowing where your clothes comes from and what they contain.
Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson, in a Eco-Fashion Week letter wrote that “our city is the perfect place to launch conscious trends in fashion, to educate about sustainable practices in the industry and to explain the global and personal benefits of adopting these practices.”
As it wraps up its seventh season, Eco-Fashion week continues to make its mark in Vancouver’s fashion industry. Founder Myriam Laroche, her team and the many volunteers, Eco-Fashion week are sure to bring it back for its eighth season.
Even though Eco-Fashion Week is starting to pick up more and more interest, Jamal Abdourahm, the producer of Vancouver Fashion Week, isn’t worried his event will lose its buzz. “We have our own eco component, it is not something new,” Abdourahman said.
The two fashion shows could be seen as competing events, but Abdourahman disagrees.
“In this business it takes at least seven years for one to be able to establish itself. [Eco-fashion Week] only started 2010. At the same time, we want everyone to succeed, even if they are competition. We love competition, but I don’t see them as competition.”
Vancouver Fashion Week, which Abdourahman says is similar to London Fashion week, showcases emerging designers, whether they are international or local. This is what gives Vancouver Fashion Week its own brand, bringing in new “cool” designers.
Vancouver Fashion Week returns next season, expecting a bigger audience than ever.
