Binzento Vincente: Vancouver Men's Fashion Week - The First And One Of Its Kind In Canada

New Season Vancouver Men's Fashion Week Is Approaching

(Photos source: Vancouver Men's Fashion Week)

I will be traveling to the west coast next week for the Men’s Fashion Week in Vancouver. It’s my first men’s fashion focused show in Canada, and perhaps the only one in the nation. It definitely got me curious when I first received an invite since I had no prior knowledge that Men’s Fashion Week even existed in Canada. After speaking with Jun Ramos, the founder and creative director of Vancouver Men’s Fashion Week this season marked its 3^rd year anniversary. “I was very surprised that there was no fashion week in Canada when I came here 12 years ago”, said Ramos. “I found that there was no balance in the representation of men’s wear designs, so few years back I had an idea to start our own men’s fashion week”.

Like everything else in the Canadian fashion industry, the major obstacle is funding. Certainly this was the same challenge for Vancouver Men’s Fashion Week. However, Ramos was able to recruit corporate sponsors including ING-direct, his own company Ramos & Fortier Ltd, and other small businesses to build this event. “Vancouver’s Men’s Fashion Week is one of the first MFW's, even before London’s Men’s Fashion Week. Our goal here is to give our Canadian fashion designers the appropriate platform to showcase their talents, but also provide them the needed mentorship to bring their designs into the fashion market”, Ramos added.

In addition to Canadian fashion designers, Vancouver Men’s Fashion Week welcomes the participation of other international talents. With the experience from the past men’s fashion weeks, the subsequent seasons will only get better. Ramos believes that in order for Vancouver or even Canadian fashion programs to succeed, government involvement to provide funding to fashion graduates would benefit greatly. The public sector should also work together to build a relationship between buyers and fashion designers. After all, local fashion industry will never survive without the monetary contribution from merchants and retail businesses. Ramos said hosting the men’s fashion week during the first week of August was intended to accommodate potential buyers who would come to north of Vancouver for merchandizing in the 2^nd week of August.

Not knowing what to expect with my first men’s fashion week experience in Vancouver, I am thrilled to see what our Canadian designers have to offer to the men’s focused fashion. I guess I will have to find out on August 10^th at the W Building Vancouver. One thing for sure though, the Canadian fashion scene is expanding – Ramos will be hosting Men’s Fashion Week media event in London, UK in early 2014 (more info on that will be coming soon). Stay tuned for more of Binzento’s coverage of Vancouver Men’s Fashion Week, and also two of the featured Canadian fashion designers that will be showcasing their collections at the shows.