A Fabricated Party

Fabricated SSN3 Fashion Show

(All photos by: Binzento)

YYC’s third season Fabricated fashion show happened past Friday night at the Currie Barracks. The night showcased looks by stylists and designer pieces by Artist Group, Lionette, Kendra Jo, Broken Doll, E.G. Forge and NRT.

Although the venue was located in a somewhat remote area, I did enjoy that. The trunk show inside the gallery was great, because I got to meet new designers and fashion vendors that I haven’t seen before in any of the fashion events I’ve been to. I was especially fond of Jesse Murphy’s denim jeans and his intricate leather-work, as well as Ashley Nadalin’s handmade wooden jewelries. Some of the fashion photography work by Jessica Pechet was exhibited in the gallery and throughout the venue. They were amazing and inspiring – definitely one of the highlights of Fabricated. I bumped into Broken Doll Clothing's Leah Bohnet, who's a high school friend of mine - was happy to catch up since high school.

The host of the evening was local stylist BR Pirri (Happy Birthday BR). As much as how I thought the Fabricated team did a good job in organizing and executing this event, I found the actual show was more of a ”party hub” than fashion. The crowd was quite rowdy, and I even saw a group of people got up to the exit during the runway show to grab another martini. Being uninterested in fashion is one thing, but given the effort and time their host had spent to produce a show this mass, I wished some of the audience would show a little respect. It was indeed a strange night – that’s for sure. As the girls wore lace material garments by Lionette, I heard people from the back criticizing some of the models on the runway – they were saying things like “OMG she is too skinny”, “Oh yeaa, she’s kinda cute”, and even “That’s disgusting”. Having been to a few shows outside this city, and internationally it was definitely a first sort of shocking fashion show experience even for Calgary. It also reminded me once again that, even though a small group of us are, the general local crowd is still not ready for a breakthrough fashion scene.  Several guests who appreciate the essence of runway came up to me and asked: “Did you feel like it was a sporting event?” – I answered: “I saw people dancing to the runway music at the back…”

I went back to look at what the goal of this “fashion event” was. Fabricated was suppose to help build a bridge between aspiring fashion designs and potential buyers/merchandizers. I really do hope that the designers who worked hard to showcase their collections get the attention they deserved, and not just doing it for the sake of putting a show for a “party”. I wasn’t very thrilled with the overall quality of the collections, but I do appreciate the consistency of each line. The models were generally good – I never doubt I Model’s models and everyone in YYC would agree they do have some of the best in this city, especially male models. Blo Dry Bar also did an awesome job on the models’ hair styles. My overall favourite collection of the night was Eric Goodwin’s E.G. Forge – I was very pleased to see the high quality rusted-vibe jackets, fossil inspired coats, and leather goods crafted by Eric Goodwin himself. Very well executed. Cat’s Eye vintage also got few interested pieces as well.

I could see a potential in Fabricated, afterall it was a sold out show. The question is: “Is Calgary ready for high fashion?” Just based on what I saw, the answer is “maybe not”. If a rowdy party is what it takes to get people to buy tickets to a runway show that celebrates local designers’ work and talents, perhaps I should wait for one that’s not. Afterall, we have to be honest to ourselves – was it a “good” runway show? Or was it a good “party”?

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