On the runway at Vancouver Fashion Week (photo by GoToVan)
On Oct. 15, I sat down with Vancouver Fashion Week’s creator Jamal Abdourahman and Fashion Director Kim Krempien. Both Abdourahman and Krempien are unlikely people to have settled in Vancouver to work in the fashion industry. Abdourahman is well-travelled, working with designers in Asia and Europe before starting Vancouver Fashion Week. Krempien found her position at Vancouver Fashion Week after moving for her boyfriend in Vancouver. After going to school at Concordia and working for a designer in Montreal, Vancouver seemed like the last place she’d end up. However, the pair have focused their creative talents in Vancouver and are making their mark in the city with Vancouver Fashion Week. This event, which has a small paid staff but approximately 100 volunteers, is making a bigger name for itself each season.
Megan Renaud: So how did Vancouver Fashion Week start?
Kim Krempien: It was started 12 years ago by Jamal Abdourahman, the producer. It started as kind of like a fashion show and trade fair, in a way. It started as International Fashion Week because they were bringing in designers from around the world. It was really big, it was held at the convention center. That was the first year. It has sort of been growing in fits and starts since then.
I think the format has changed quite a bit in the past four years, since about 2009. It has really hit its stride. We have this formula of working with international, award-winning designers, as well as local designers, to really grow our show.
We want to focus on design; we want to focus on emerging talent; we want to focus on bringing that to Vancouver as something that’s interesting. I don’t want to say entertaining, but it could be entertaining for people who aren’t in the fashion industry. Our show is open to the public, which I think is an important aspect as well.
It’s sort of like an education. We want to educate people about these amazing talents and these amazing designers that exist outside of the big brand names. That’s another big aspect here in Vancouver, people are obsessed with big brand names and don’t buy things they aren’t familiar with. Personally, I would love to change that. I don’t know if that’s the official mandate of Fashion Week but that would be great as a side bonus.
Jamal Abdourahman: It didn’t happen over night. It was a progression. I’ve been doing shows since ’94. Every few months I did big shows. I managed a store, I owned a store. I had a project where I was taking European designers to Asia. I was going to Hong Kong then I’d come back. I went to Paris. I was attending Paris Fashion Week and I was working on taking designers. I was talking to designers and meeting designers in showrooms and in shows. I went to London and I did the same thing. Then I came back here and the plan was, again, to take European and Canadian designers. So August of 2000, something came up and we thought why don’t we bring everyone here instead of taking them somewhere else. That was that. It wasn’t just a light bulb that came on and woke me up. It was a stage that I took, without knowing it.
MR: To someone who doesn’t know anything about Vancouver Fashion Week, how would you describe it?
KK: I would describe it as an international fashion week, with a really diverse range of talent from all over the world that is inspiring. And I would describe it as an accessible fashion week because it is open to the public, people can come if they want to. That makes fashion itself more accessible. Other fashion weeks have that air of elitism, which we do not. You don’t have to be someone to be here.
JA: Vancouver Fashion Week is creativity and diversity, which is Vancouver.
MR: Would you compare Vancouver Fashion Week to New York Fashion Week or Paris Fashion Week?
KK: Unfortunately, I’ve never been to either of those. I have been in New York when Fashion Week was happening and you can really tell there is a complete buzz, which unfortunately doesn’t happen here. So in some ways we can’t say we’re the same at all. In some ways we can, like with the quality of designers, we can definitely compete.
MR: Why don’t you think there is the same buzz about Vancouver Fashion Week as there is with New York Fashion Week?
KK: I think it comes down to exposure and generating interest, which we need to do more of. Unfortunately, I think there might be a kind of bubble around the fashion industry in Vancouver that other people can’t penetrate. I do think in the last couple of years we have been able to draw audiences that aren’t traditionally interested in fashion. They are attending the shows and they love it. They find really interesting and they bring their friends or they tell their friends. That is definitely something we want to encourage. I think it will just take some time.
JA: New York Fashion Week has been going for a very long time. It is a city that has all the talents in the world. We are still babies. We will change that.
MR: How do you plan to change that?
JA: effort is what counts. So, we have been showing this in the past four years. We turned two-day shows into six-day shows … 20,000 plus people are attending shows. That didn’t happen overnight. We are going to change it, so that the city and others are aware that there is a Vancouver Fashion Week. This is already happening. You go to restaurants and you see people are coming from Seattle, Victoria and Calgary and they are going out and dining and staying in hotels. That has been happening already. Smaller numbers but we will put more effort and bring in more.
MR: What do you look for in designers to showcase?
JA: Creativity. Some local designers here come to us and we talk to them. Some of them went to school. They want to show their designs. Some never went to school, but they have a vision and if you believe in their vision, then we can give them the opportunity. Creativity and the work.
KK: I think creativity, talent and the quality of their work are the main components that we look for. That is across the board. It doesn’t matter if they are new or they have been doing this for 20 years.
MR: How much prep, approximately, would you say goes into each season?
JA: More than the season before! For sure!
KK: Yeah, at least six months I would say, if not more than that. They kind of build on each other. The work that you put into the one goes into the next, and goes into the next.
MR: What can the audience look forward to for the upcoming season?
KK: March is going to be great. It is going to be bigger than ever. We are aiming for more designers than ever, and more people to come than ever.
JA: The designers and the diverse and amazing talents from different regions. These different regions will bring in different cultures to the show. Also, the homegrown talents as well. Everyone should come check out the shows.
