FAT: Fantasies Full of Fashion
By:Julie Ryland
Date:May 06, 2008
By:Julie Ryland
Date:May 06, 2008
He strides down the runway like an African tribe princess, in an emerald green blouse and polka dot patterned skirt that exude an elegant femininity combined with a sexiness that that makes even the most aggressive lens blush. The glamour is expressed in every inch of pink chiffon and sparkle in his fake gold jewelry, and his heels hit the same beat as the music each time, leaving invisible music notes on the red lacquer floor. His smile gives off the artsy mysteriousness of Mona Lisa; but his look reveals the jittery, shy eyes of a man in a skirt.
The Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District looks like a fashion house on fire. From the fierce red banners, lights and exit signs, to the red phone booth, seat signs and runway. A couple of hundreds years ago, this venue fermented beer for one of the country’s largest distilleries. But “fermentation” refers to more than a process involving beer and enzymes, and is according to Oxford’s dictionary also “a state of extreme agitation” and social uproar. Maybe that’s why organizer Vanja Vasic chose this venue to show what more than more than 120 artists and designers have brewed for this spring.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re style conscious or style clueless, old or young, fat or thin. Alternative Arts and Fashion Week (FAT) brings the community together in an attempt to develop a renewed dialogue about fashion and art. It’s an opportunity for people to question their own style as well as others’, and challenge their perspectives through innovative, thought provoking and interactive fashion shows, art installations and performances.
“Alternative is just a pseudonym,” says self-proclaimed “NOW-girl” Becke Gainforth, “This is the real fashion week.” Gainforth works for NOW Magazine, and is the organizer of MyStyle, one of tonight’s shows at FAT. The African tribe-like princess that just passed the applauding crowd is one of 12 models, and 150 applicants, who were chosen to walk the runway for MyStyle. Gainforth says they were looking for individuals with a unique sense of style and a desire to strut their stuff down the runway. “We were looking for every type of diversity,” she says, “From ethnicity and sexuality, to vintage and new wave.”
Traditionally, the runway exemplifies an ideal of what we should want to become – a white, blonde stick figure wrapped in a ridiculously expensive dress. Warning: FAT might actually inspire you to become yourself. “These are real people, wearing real fashion,” says Gainforth about her models for MyStyle.
A few minutes earlier, MyStyle’s models exploded on the runway in a collage of brands and decades, and trends that stretched in as many directions as their voluminous and spiky hairdos. Usually, models go on the runway to be someone else. Today the challenge is to be themselves, and like most other people, they’re not size-zero clothing hangers. Few of the models from any of the shows have experience from modeling. PR spokesperson Aurora James doesn’t refer to them as models, but as mirrors that reflect the reality in the world around us.
Unfortunately, up until now, reality has been more common in Orange County and the Tyra Banks Show than on the fashion scene. “This is the age of reality, and FAT is the prime of that,” says Gainforth. “Here people can come and see a slice of life, humor and inspiration that is paraded down the runway in a different context. It’s nice to show people something that is attainable.” But attainable does not mean that it has to display the wardrobe of soccer moms with no fashion sense and a lack of aspirations.
There’s a balance between keeping it real, and still breathing life into your fashion fantasies. Ken Chow, the creator and designer of Krane, and a humble Chinese, had many aspirations. He designed and produced eight coats and 13 bags for his fall 2008 collection, and turned his sister’s basement in Markham into a sweatshop where he was the only employee. Somehow, fabrics of waxed cotton and leather, traditionally a material used by fishermen, pieces of sheepskin and red lining in old military jackets imported from Italy, turned into androgynous, sexy uniforms. The result - Patrick Bateman meets Dracula and Napoleon.
Back on the runway, another hybrid of fantasy and reality is making its way down the same red walkway in a show by The Grange. It’s still quite far from a French revolution (these starving artists actually still eat cake), and with less drugs and nudity than when the hippies fought for sexual liberation, but it certainly has the allure of freedom. All the models carry signs that clearly state their fashion principles. “Quality, not quantity,” “”Pro Style,” “Ecofriendly,” “Style Girl,” and “Buy Local.” A red exit sign lights up above the runway, which is a suggestive reminder that by coming here, one has made the escape to a place far east of Yonge Street’s billboards and mainstream mentality.
Social uproar might be pushing it. But the audience at FAT is not here to sip martinis and point out back fat or loose buttons. Jewelry designer Elizaveta Yankelovich expressed her excitement on FAT’s Facebook site: “FAT makes me wanna throw my thong in the air and get crazy!” There weren’t any flying thongs. But although the exposure of body parts were limited to breasts and a couple of moonings, FAT housed people, designers and artists just long enough to ferment a new flavor for fashion.
The Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District looks like a fashion house on fire. From the fierce red banners, lights and exit signs, to the red phone booth, seat signs and runway. A couple of hundreds years ago, this venue fermented beer for one of the country’s largest distilleries. But “fermentation” refers to more than a process involving beer and enzymes, and is according to Oxford’s dictionary also “a state of extreme agitation” and social uproar. Maybe that’s why organizer Vanja Vasic chose this venue to show what more than more than 120 artists and designers have brewed for this spring.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re style conscious or style clueless, old or young, fat or thin. Alternative Arts and Fashion Week (FAT) brings the community together in an attempt to develop a renewed dialogue about fashion and art. It’s an opportunity for people to question their own style as well as others’, and challenge their perspectives through innovative, thought provoking and interactive fashion shows, art installations and performances.
“Alternative is just a pseudonym,” says self-proclaimed “NOW-girl” Becke Gainforth, “This is the real fashion week.” Gainforth works for NOW Magazine, and is the organizer of MyStyle, one of tonight’s shows at FAT. The African tribe-like princess that just passed the applauding crowd is one of 12 models, and 150 applicants, who were chosen to walk the runway for MyStyle. Gainforth says they were looking for individuals with a unique sense of style and a desire to strut their stuff down the runway. “We were looking for every type of diversity,” she says, “From ethnicity and sexuality, to vintage and new wave.”
Traditionally, the runway exemplifies an ideal of what we should want to become – a white, blonde stick figure wrapped in a ridiculously expensive dress. Warning: FAT might actually inspire you to become yourself. “These are real people, wearing real fashion,” says Gainforth about her models for MyStyle.
A few minutes earlier, MyStyle’s models exploded on the runway in a collage of brands and decades, and trends that stretched in as many directions as their voluminous and spiky hairdos. Usually, models go on the runway to be someone else. Today the challenge is to be themselves, and like most other people, they’re not size-zero clothing hangers. Few of the models from any of the shows have experience from modeling. PR spokesperson Aurora James doesn’t refer to them as models, but as mirrors that reflect the reality in the world around us.
Unfortunately, up until now, reality has been more common in Orange County and the Tyra Banks Show than on the fashion scene. “This is the age of reality, and FAT is the prime of that,” says Gainforth. “Here people can come and see a slice of life, humor and inspiration that is paraded down the runway in a different context. It’s nice to show people something that is attainable.” But attainable does not mean that it has to display the wardrobe of soccer moms with no fashion sense and a lack of aspirations.
There’s a balance between keeping it real, and still breathing life into your fashion fantasies. Ken Chow, the creator and designer of Krane, and a humble Chinese, had many aspirations. He designed and produced eight coats and 13 bags for his fall 2008 collection, and turned his sister’s basement in Markham into a sweatshop where he was the only employee. Somehow, fabrics of waxed cotton and leather, traditionally a material used by fishermen, pieces of sheepskin and red lining in old military jackets imported from Italy, turned into androgynous, sexy uniforms. The result - Patrick Bateman meets Dracula and Napoleon.
Back on the runway, another hybrid of fantasy and reality is making its way down the same red walkway in a show by The Grange. It’s still quite far from a French revolution (these starving artists actually still eat cake), and with less drugs and nudity than when the hippies fought for sexual liberation, but it certainly has the allure of freedom. All the models carry signs that clearly state their fashion principles. “Quality, not quantity,” “”Pro Style,” “Ecofriendly,” “Style Girl,” and “Buy Local.” A red exit sign lights up above the runway, which is a suggestive reminder that by coming here, one has made the escape to a place far east of Yonge Street’s billboards and mainstream mentality.
Social uproar might be pushing it. But the audience at FAT is not here to sip martinis and point out back fat or loose buttons. Jewelry designer Elizaveta Yankelovich expressed her excitement on FAT’s Facebook site: “FAT makes me wanna throw my thong in the air and get crazy!” There weren’t any flying thongs. But although the exposure of body parts were limited to breasts and a couple of moonings, FAT housed people, designers and artists just long enough to ferment a new flavor for fashion.