The event that helped hold Toronto fashion together

Does Toronto have a Fashion Week? The answer is Yes! Toronto has had a thriving independent fashion week for more than two decades.

More than 20 years ago, when I was studying Fashion Design at what was then Ryerson University, one of my closest friends, Vanja Vasic, had an idea. She created an event called Alternative Fashion Week. At the time, Toronto Fashion Week felt exciting, glamorous and for many young designers, completely out of reach.

I know because I was there. As a young swimwear designer, I was fortunate enough to show at Toronto Fashion Week in 2005 and experience that world firsthand. Vanja joined me on this adventure and recognized something was missing. Toronto needed another platform where emerging designers and creatives who didn’t fit neatly into the traditional fashion system could still be seen.

Over time, Alternative Fashion Week evolved into Fashion Art Toronto. It became more than fashion shows. Photography, film, performance art and installation art became part of the experience creating a platform that reflected Toronto’s diverse creative community.

Fashion Art Toronto is the longest-running and most inclusive fashion event in the city. While other fashion weeks have disappeared, struggled or shut down entirely, Fashion Art Toronto has continued to evolve. What began as one annual event has grown into two major seasons each year, in May and November.

Today, the fashion industry talks constantly about diversity, inclusion, representation and giving a voice to underrepresented communities. Fashion Art Toronto was doing that long before those ideas became part of the broader conversation. From day one, more than 20 years ago, it has welcomed emerging designers, LGBTQ+ creatives, mature models, plus-size models, transgender models, artists, performers, sustainable fashion, experimental collections and creative work that didn’t always fit within conventional industry expectations. The irony is that many of the values the fashion industry celebrates today were already being championed on Fashion Art Toronto runways years ago.

As a designer based in Jamaica, I returned to Fashion Art Toronto many times because it gave me the freedom to present my work exactly as I envisioned it. One season, I opened my dancehall-inspired collection with dancehall dancers, including Toronto’s reigning Dancehall Queen. While the music, the movements and energy were unfamiliar to many, they were welcomed and celebrated by all. That has always been Fashion Art Toronto’s greatest strength: creating space for ideas that might not have found a home anywhere else. Not every collection will resonate with everyone and that’s the point. Art and fashion is not meant to please every audience, but behind every runway look are countless hours of work, personal sacrifice, financial risk and creative determination.

Perhaps one of the clearest examples of FAT’s resilience came during the pandemic, when live events around the world came to a standstill. Rather than disappear, the organization found new ways to showcase designers by creating virtual fashion experiences filmed in some of Toronto’s most striking locations. That commitment continues today. This July, FAT brought five Canadian designers to Berlin Fashion Week, giving them the opportunity to present their work to an international audience. It was a reminder that supporting local talent doesn’t stop at home, the mission is to introduce Canadian fashion to the world. This past season, I was also happy to see more members of Toronto’s mainstream fashion community attending the shows. Perhaps perceptions are beginning to change.

Fashion Art Toronto is not important simply because it is the longest-running fashion event in the city. It is important because it has endured. In an industry where so many events have come and gone, it has remained committed to creativity, community, inclusion and giving people a place to begin.

After more than two decades, perhaps the question is no longer whether Toronto has a fashion week. Perhaps it’s whether we have taken the time to recognize the one we have had all along.