Eurotrash is extremely excited to host this week’s Fashion[Unfold] debate on her blog. For my readers who are neophytes to this weekly forum here’s a brief description of what it’s all about and how you can participate:

“Fashion[Unfold] is a Debate initiative for Industry insiders to address/discuss Fashion issues. An initiative brought from concept to reality, via Tweets by Noëlly Sam @MissSLY, Fashion Editor-in-chief at Miss SLY!™ and Marcus Kan @fusionofeffects, Toronto based Photographer”.

Every Tuesday, a Fashion topic is selected, and the discussion gates are open so everyone can weight in their two cents, via Twitter and comments, here is how you can participate:

On Twitter:

1.       Follow us on Twitter for live interactions during the debate time period: @EurotrashGirls @FashionCrazy_ @MissSLY & @fusionofeffects

2.       Add the hashtag #fashionunfold to your tweets, so we can automatically see your reaction

On this very post:

1.       Drop a comment and let us know what‘s your take on the subject.

Fashion[Unfold]: Supporting Local Fashion vs. Splurging on Coveted Luxury the Holt Renfew way.

Following up on an article I posted yesterday, Calgary’s DVB: Caitlin Power and Fashion-for-Thought, we thought it would be a good idea to extend some of the issues I bring up in the piece a little bit further. The more I come into contact with Canadian designers and retailers, the more I begin to understand that fashion in Toronto is not all glitz and glamour (as FASHION magazine or HOLT RENFREW’s Christmas windows would like us to believe). During LGFW, especially, I met many talented designers who presented their collections off-site because it’s simply unfeasible to insert themselves into the politics of the official event. One of the biggest impediment these designers face is reaching their customer, which has a lot to do with miseducation and the sort of fallacy people often attribute to fashion: it’s an haute couture world that the rich enjoy for free and that shallow, materialistic, VISA-indebted people are slaves to.

Dee Dee Bird jewelry

What do the Canadian designers have to say about this? It’s actually not that expensive to buy fashion made by local talent and it’s certainly neither unattainable nor froufrou. And because these designers are super talented, passionate and driven, the amount of craftsmanship along with handpicking the best quality fabrics, attention to detail and novelty in design are just the same as one would find in a piece hanging off a mannequin on the 2nd floor at HOLTS. The only difference is that HOLTS is marked up like crazy (is it no wonder that the employee discount is 50% and they STILL make money?) and that local designers will usually sell their pieces for a song because all they really want is to make back some of their cost, throw a buck to whoever facilitated the exchange and if there’s any money leftover, buy some dinner.

Caitlin Power

In fact, many Toronto-based designers have to scrounge for funding just so they can buy material for their collections and depend on the goodwill of restauranteurs, club-owners and promoters to spare them a space and time to unveil their pieces to whoever shows up. OK, so everyone needs to rough it out a bit before making it in any industry – true. However in fashion we often forget this catch-22: “in order to make it in the industry [Canadian designer] pieces have to be top quality – and in order to sell and let’s face it, eat, their prices have to be competitively low”. Now, that’s something to reconsider!

Question:

This could be alleviated a tad if consumers started buying local designers. So why aren’t we doing what we can to support local talent? Is it because we think that participating in fashion is a shallow enterprise or is it because there’s a lack of exposure in the media when it comes to Canadian designers?

Why would someone choose a $30 t-shirt from H&M (that can withstand one, maybe two wash cycles) versus a handmade, one-of-a-kind t-shirt from Ashley Rowe  for the same price? Or spend $400 on a dress by BCBG that everyone and their mother will wear to prom (that will go on sale at the end of the season for a tear-jerking price) versus a Carrie Hayes original, top quality creation, tailored to fit you like a glove?

Angela Chen and Zoran Dobric

My 2 Cents:

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I don’t own a Balenciaga or two and that I don’t swoon over Tom Ford. It’s easy to fall prey to beautiful things when they are shoved in your face in magazines, in stores, on billboards, on celebrities, and when they look so good on YOU. However, as I meet more and more Canadian designers and retailers I’ve slowly been introduced to other beautiful things that won’t pummel me into debt and that are way more recherche’. I get so many compliments on my local designer finds because they are unique, good quality, innovative and just something really different. But let’s remember, I got exposed to these designer pieces from a somewhat insider’s position: through interviews, media events, networking, and friendships I’ve made along the way with designers and retailers in the know. When I wasn’t writing about fashion and just admiring it from the outside, my vocabulary was more like a rap song: that Fendi, that Gucci, that Prada. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way saying that the power-houses of fashion are YUCK, far from it, what I am saying is that local designers are the easiest way to attain a little haute couture in your wardrobe without breaking the bank.

Just look at the H&M and Lanvin collaboration. Do you think those pieces will actually be good quality? It’s just designer being mass produced so that everyone can feel like their drinking from the fountain of haute couture! Why is it that a piece of clothing’s value increases when we slap the label LANVIN onto it (even if the quality hasn’t really changed). And why is it that the same people who think they have outsmarted branding are the very same people that will line up to get LANVIN-for-less this November?

So what are the pros and cons of buying local designer clothing versus coveted luxury at HOLTS or fast runway replicas and designer collaborations at H&M and ZARA? Which of these options do you find characterizes your shopping habits and why? Could you switch to buying local designers if you knew more about them?

I am eager to hear what you have to say, so join us on Twitter  (add your Twitter account to the list) @MissSLY  @fusionofeffects @FashionCrazy_  @EurotrashGirls and make sure to tag your tweets with  #fashionunfold to add in your 2 cents., so we can follow the conversation.

ENJOY!

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