John Casablancas Grad show upstages Game day

This last Wednesday, June 8th, I had the pleasure of attending the John Casablancas Institute Class #132 fashion show. Held at Heritage Hall, the event awkwardly coincided with Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, but with a disappointing 0-4 loss for the Canucks, everyone was eager to lift their spirits with some runway action.

Class #132 was composed of three designers and 8 stylists plus a production crew. While I would have liked to see a bit more of the original designs, I understand that not everyone goes to fashion school to study design – there are many more positions that make up the fashion world, including styling, merchandising, buying, and marketing. With the theme of “Wasted Youth,” the grads exhibited their own views of ruin, rebuilding, and rebirth. Aritzia’s Rebecca Tay was listed as the MC, but was a no show. The replacement was a great speaker, though.

Here are some of the stand-outs I noticed (all photo credit to Jason Hargrove):

This fierce boudoir look by Stylist Olivia McDonnell was a great start to the show.

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Obakki F/W show ethereal and grounded

Vancouver, there is hope.

When I have conversations with fellow fashion bloggers and practitioners about fashion shows, there is a lot of eye rolling. None seem to care for VFW except for buyers and the few newspapers who still report stores on it, while Eco Fashion Week has emerged as the new leader to top. I’ve been to some good shows, and the recent Jacqueline Conoir F/W show was quite the sight at the Ferrari Maserati showroom. But I’ve never thought that Vancouver could have show potential like the major cities until last Thursday’s Obakki show.

Held at the St. Andrew’s Wesley Church in downtown, Obakki set the bar high with its unconventional venue, decorated simply with a black elevated runway and 200-ish candles. A pianist set the mood, and was even plucking the strings from back of the grand piano. Pretty cool. A short film with a single model in a few of the outfits presented the themes of innocence and seduction, romanticism and restraint; night and day. I gotta say, the big screen at the altar was a huge help for those who couldn’t get a clear view of the runway – and it was a great way to showcase other visuals.

Like a choir director, DJ Nina Mendoza came up front and got the show started with some thumping beats. Also, the show was being live streamed online so that was a great element for those who weren’t able to make it to the show physically. Though not the best resolution, you can watch it below courtesy of UStream:

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Double decker event #1: Cocktails for a Cause

Thursday night I went to two events back to back. Whoever said there were no cool events to go to in Vancouver just didn’t know where to look. The first was a cocktail reception by GUESS by Marciano on Robson Street, co-hosted by two of Vancity’s noted fashion bloggers, Niki Blasini of A Haute Mess and Olivia Lovenmark of StyleStruck. A portion of the proceeds went to Dress for Success Vancouver, which provides career development tools and professional attire to disadvantaged women.

GUESS offered a 20% discount and a swag bag with a purchase and donation to Dress for Success. A win-win situation!

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