Written by Avery Kremer

Designer - Tiffany BlueDonna Lynn Photography — Designer - Tiffany Blue
Donna Lynn Photography

Fashion has a way of presenting itself as not only a future outfit for the viewing individual, but as a culture, a world made for the fashion forward and the dressing elite. Paris, New York, Western Canada… weeks are dedicated to this well dressed society. But it isn’t merely that, fashion is a way of life for more than the designers whose constructions grace the catwalks. It’s an art, a lifestyle, a morning ritual for the daily grind, a passion, a love, a reality.

So, as we round off the viewing trends that will make their way into the minds and wardrobes of the Spring 2015 street styles, the warmer weather fabrics, whimsical floral patterns and colors (we love this season’s yellows) remind us that fashion and the entire weeks cities designate each season to the fabric forward, aren’t just about the clothes. It never has been. It’s always been about the passion behind the textiles, the desire behind the models, the beauty behind the makeup and the technique behind the hair. Fashion is a collective, where art, culture and reality collide. Realism becomes the canvas.

Take Western Canadian Fashion Week as a whole, we were privy to front row participation, their fundamental mission as a festival is based on the collaboration from arts, fashion, lifestyle, media, production and design communities. They utilize this festival as a platform to not only showcase collections, but to develop the skills of local participants from every spectrum of this community, create world class designers and establish a local universe that can compete on a global scale. Consider the Korean designed paper dresses that displayed upon entrance to this years’ event. The very essence of using paper in lieu of cloth instantly alludes to an art form. Fashion therefore becomes an extension of this sculpture, the dress a finalized creation – a wearable reality, fashion’s existence implied.

WCFW Emerging Designer - Carly VandershaafPhotography - Ian MacDonald — WCFW Emerging Designer - Carly Vandershaaf
Photography - Ian MacDonald

So as thoughts of the whimsical, the wearable, the conceptualized and the floral breath an air of spring excitement into the lungs of our scarf draped, layer blanketed selves, acutely aware it’s still fall in Canada— we’ve got to thank these fashion weeks. They bring together a community that sometimes forgets it’s in this thing together. Because as WCFW’s Executive Director Sandra Sing Fernandes proposed, “Fashion is simply wearable art.”

Thank you Sandra, we have to agree. And hey, if dressing to trend is helping build an artistic community, then bring it on winter -- we have outfits planned for you!

Designer - LUXX Ready To WearDonna Lynn Photography — Designer - LUXX Ready To Wear
Donna Lynn Photography