At Ottawa Fashion Week (OFW), social media buzzed as front-row invitees prepped for an event that would showcase designers from around the world, along with fashion week veterans returning to show their progress.
The city’s biggest fashion event of the season returned Feb. 9 at the Ottawa Convention Centre for its ninth season of Fall/Winter 2013 creations.
“Right before we started Ottawa Fashion Week, [Ottawa] was very conservative – there wasn’t fashion,” said OFW financial director Paul Valleta.
“We’ve put ourselves on the map in Canada by bringing fashion to Ottawa – we’re bringing it in the right direction for sure,” he said.
OFW showcased designers that have evolved in past seasons with fashion week, such as the theatrical presentations by Y!D.N.A. and the modern collections of MUSE by Christian Chenail.
Ottawa-raised stylist and blogger Erica Wark has participated in OFW since the beginning, and knows a growing community when she sees one.
“The wonderful thing is, [OFW directors] Bruno [Racine] and Hussein [Rashid] are the kind of people who never stop trying, so even when we think it can’t get any better they continue to blow our mind,” Wark said.
“In just a couple years we’ve grown so much as a community especially, and it’s only getting bigger and better,” she said.
As OFW establishes itself in the community and returns to its original venue at the Ottawa Convention Centre, the interest in the nation’s capital is reaching a peak.
“A lot of times people have misconceptions and prejudgments about small fashion weeks like Ottawa — and I try to look over that,” Montreal-based blogger Lolitta Dandoy said.
“Every time I’ve come out, I was always at least surprised by designers. Every season I’ve discovered designers I liked,” she said.
With tribal influences through Jana & Emilia’s collection, or an African drum-beat performance opening Dare’s new line, this season embraced the eclectic mix of personalities that shape OFW for everyone.
“It always comes with something new, something different, I’m always really surprised about who gets to come here – like all the Montreal designers here right now,” FAJO Magazine’s deputy editor Katherine Ellis said.
Nearly five years following the first fashion season in Ottawa, sponsors such as L’Oréal, Otto’s and Smashbox have all jumped on board in the hopes of wanting to witness OFW to succeed – and in the last few seasons, it has.
“We’ve seen a couple of designers who have either never presented before or have just created for their very first time and are new to creating fashion,” CTV Morning Live reporter Sarah Freemark said.
“I think this is a great platform for them to showcase and for us to appreciate what our capital has to offer,” she said.
“The sky is the limit, isn’t it?”
