Jean Paul Gaultier fall/winter 2011-2012 – photos courtesy of www.festivalmodedesign.com.
For four days every year, downtown’s McGill College Avenue is closed off and turned into an outdoor urban fashion oasis – giving city residents and tourists alike a much anticipated dose of designer duds, glamour, and enough eye candy to feed any fashion addiction.
As the pre-cursor to the city’s September Fashion week and the closing event in Montreal’s flurry of outstanding free summer festivals, Montreal Fashion and Design Festival was held this past weekend, from August 3rd-6th.
As the biggest design event of it’s kind in North America, the festival organized by Sensation Mode helped celebrate Montreal’s 5th anniversary as a Unesco City of Design.
This year the festival block was the scene for celebrities like Montreal DJ Abeille Gélinas (yes, the sister of Quebec Pop star, Mitsou Gélinas), Canadian idol Eva Avila, fashion journalist Anne-Marie Withenshaw, actors Angelo Cadet and Noémie Yelle, and Gaultier’s muse, male model Tanel Bedrossiantz, who helped style the show and walked the runway.
Photo courtesy of Festival mode et design de Montréal – jimmyhamelin.com
Local talents included designers like Betina Lou, Adriana Handbags, Barilà, Marie Saint Pierre, Norwegian Wood, Ève Gravel,Travis Taddeo, Nadya Toto, and Montreal fashion sensation, Denis Gagnon. Not to mention Montreal’s big retail chains and department stores – Style Exchange, Le Chateau, Guess, Terra Nostra, Limité, Stacey Zhang, Costa Blanca, American Eagle Outfitters, the Eaton Center, Place Montreal Trust and Complexe Les Ailes de la Mode – each of whom showed their new fall favourites on the runway throughout the weekend.
Photo courtesy of Miss Sly – miss-sly.com
Events were help throughout the day and night. Then each day closed with live spinning at the center DJ booth and a specialrunway event. Some of this years offerings included shows by Lucky 7, Ray-Ban, The Bay, Opus bike company (where models rode down the runway on vintage-inspired bicycles), a lingerie show by Oh La La!, and a fashion show by the Montréal Opera, featuring costumes and performances from Madame Butterfly
The Festivals most buzzed-about runway show? Jean Paul Gaultier, of course! In collaboration with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where a retrospective of the enfant terrible’s iconic creations is being exhibited, pieces from the couturier’s 2011-2012 fall/winter ready-to-wear collection stomped the runway to the delight of an extremely packed crowd.
By: Sophia Loffreda, Montreal
You should follow me on Twitter @sloffreda.
Are you an employer? Post your job here.
Are you a job seeker? Find fashion jobs here.