In the midst of Montreal Fashion Week, which happened the first week of September, Groupe Sensation Mode (the organization that produces the event) announced "huge" changes to the city's fashion calendar.
Moving forward, it was outlined that while the fall and winter shows in February would go on (venue TBA), the popular Fashion & Design Festival in August will merge somehow with the spring and summer shows typically held in September. While the logistics are still to be ironed out, questions were raised on whether local designers would be overshadowed by the more powerful retail participants that are central to the festival -- and how will designers manage to present one month earlier than normal? As well, is all this advanced preparation worth it in the end if there aren't any buyers anyway?
As a follow up to my personal video project "In the Design Bubble ~ with UNTTLD" (an interview with Montreal fashion designers Simon Bélanger and José Manuel St-Jacques discussing the challenges and misconceptions of the fashion industry) that I presented in my last post, I give you now "In the Design Bubble ~ with Anastasia Lomonova" who, sadly, was absent at this season's shows. In my interview with Lomonova, she discusses some of the hardships of putting together a runway presentation. It will be interesting to see what direction Montreal Fashion Week will finally take once February rolls around and then again next summer. Let's hope that all the changes are for the best.