IN with the new | FMD Festival highlights
August 20th-25th The Festival Mode & Design will offer a diverse program of fashion/multidisciplinary shows, live art installations/performances and real time design. Close to 50 shows will be presented featuring renown Canadian designers and leading names in international fashion. The Place des Festivals will be turned into a temporary international style HQ, uniting makers, thinkers and shoppers from here and beyond in a high-colour outdoor bona fide fashion frenzy.
Groupe Sensation Mode, the producers of Montreal Fashion Week have announced major changes to the city’s fashion calendar by merging the Festival in August with the Spring and Summer shows, typically held in September. While the logistics are still being ironed out, a number of challenges remain for local designers whose collections are being overshadowed by the major retail participants (pivotal to the festival) and must be ready a month earlier than usual. One must wonder if all this advanced preparation is worthwhile with the lack of buyers attending. It will however be the highest profile showcase ever displayed for local design talent.
Top of our list among visitors taking the podium at the FMD Master Conference is the ever-graceful Garance Doré, a French fashion blogger who’s made her mark with her witty take on the fashion world. This year’s honorary president is Nathalie Rykiel, the visionary behind collections and concepts ‘Rykiel Enfant’ (1983), ‘Sonia Rykiel Modern Vintage’ (2000) and ‘Rykiel Woman’ (2002). Last but not least, the living fashion fairy tale story of former model Thierry-Maxime Loriot who curated the Gaultier show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and has graced Georgio Armani, Lanvin and Zegna. Maybe some of their stardust will rub off!
The main free fashion show attractions, at Place des Festivals and on the Casino de Montréal catwalk, features local designers Ève Gravel, UNTTLD, Travis Taddeo and Ying Gao, among others. Plus there’s a Lunch Beat, a yoga break and the annual stiletto race. You can browse through the schedule here.
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