Fashion in Calgary: YYC Fashion Week

What makes Calgary's Fashion Industry so amazing, is the passion in the people who want to make a difference, to promote the talent we have in our city and beyond. I just love it. It is what started me on my career path in the past, and it is what continues to drive me today.

Today I would like to talk about a new comer to Calgary, Troy Young, founder of YYC Fashion Week. Many of you have no idea who he is, or at least you didn't when when rumours of YYC Fashion Week were starting to bud. "Who is Troy Young?" was a question floating around the community.

Well, Troy Young, like many other new comers to Calgary with an interest in the fashion industry, and who come from other cities that may have a more dominant fashion scene than Calgary's, saw an opportunity. Now, if you have done your research, you may have seen that he is a wedding photographer, not a fashion industry leader or a fashion photographer even. However he is someone with passion and commitment to making a difference in Calgary's Fashion Industry.

Troy simply wanted to give fashion designers an opportunity to showcase their collections. So he talked about it amongst some other photographers that he has met within the city and pulled together a team. A team of people who all had a passion to make the same difference, giving opportunities to designers and our industry. A few photographers, and some models. None of them were event planners or marketers. But they all had/have one thing that drove them to make this happen, passion.

Some of you all laughed at the idea of there being a fashion week at all here in Calgary. I don't blame you, especially after the last couple attempts of a 'Fashion Week' in the past here in Calgary, they did not end well. I questioned how this was all going to come together myself. I'm not afraid to admit that. My judgement was based on my research of the fact they had no event planner, no marketing plan, and no real plan at all on how to make this event work and be successful. It was a typical creative group who were just going to go with the flow. Remember my advice from my last Fashion In Calgary post? Research, plan and prepare! And that we are ALL part of Calgary's Fashion Reputation in one way or another. Also, in my opinion a title with 'Fashion Week' in it will immediately create expectations, very high expectations. So I will be honest and say that I was a little worried about the dent it would make to our city's fashion reputation if this failed. Again, because a title with "fashion week" can effect a good part of our City's overall fashion industry reputation.

Unfortunately there were some mistakes made right out of the gate when they went public with the news. I'll just say their communications strategy was not thought out, or existing at all and should have been because I think it damaged their reputation from the get go. They sadly already had the weight of those past failed fashion weeks working against them, so this just gave a taste in people's mouths to exactly what they expected, an event that will fail. And I don't think they got the support they could have had if it had been approached differently.

HOWEVER, I am not going to post about all the things they could have done differently. I would like to point out the things they really did right. Like the fact that our industry can be really bad for not paying models and other fashion industry members that help make the events happen. Well, for those of you who don't know, Troy personally paid for models out of his own pocket! In fact he forked out a big amount of cash to make this first event happen at all. A business man who invested in his business idea. I seriously have high respect for that single fact. I believe there were others as well that were paid, but I'm not here to list those off either. My professional advice today though is that an event is a promotional form to promote a business, and in order to market a business you need to pay for your marketing. Don't make everyone else "donate" their time for free for your gain. Plan ahead and find the budget to pay accordingly.

Averynthe by Maark Abeenir

Back to the event itself, their designer line up was a great mix of emerging and a little more established designers. Including, budding young star, fashion designer Maark Abeenir who just blew the audience away with the release of his newest label Averynthe on the runway. Trina Marie Cairns impeccable detailed collection from her line TMC who came in from Vancouver, BC, and the always edgy Nicole Rita Tomney's N.R.T. Fashions from here in Calgary. They even sought out international designers and brought designer Farah Deeba from the UK, showing her collection of Boa-Boa.  And many more! They really did have a good mix of designers.

YYCFW Host Kimberly Jev
& Musical Performer/Model
(sorry didn't catch his name)  

There was a big mix of performance artists, from acrobatics to magic, to musical performances. I will say there were too many entertainers on stage for a little too long, especially for a "fashion week" event showing about 6 designers a night, but fun entertainers. Like the one I have the photo to the right. He was so fun! I just wasn't their for the circus act though, I was there for the fashion. (Music always works with fashion however!)

So to sum up my opinion/post about YYC Fashion Week, I think we all  can check our egos at the door, not judge them by all the things that they shoulda coulda done and remember that this team is just wants to make a difference and is just getting started. Everyone has to start somewhere and build from there. I respect what they are trying to do and I wish them the best for the long haul. They have a dream of becoming a fashion show that is recognized globally which in turn gains attention to those trying to make it in the fashion industry. I say go for it! (Just remember to research and plan accordingly. We are all in the same sandbox, let's play nice. ;)

(I encourage you to check out the designers I have mentioned above! Just click on the links provided. You can catch my few photos from the event on my instagram @sabrinamaypr or my twitter @sabrinamay_pr)