It is your style

The event, which runs from Sept. 17 – 26 at the ATB Financial Arts Barns, has grown steadily since its first iteration, said Sandra Fernandes, WCFW’s creative director.

“It’s just amazing, we’re so happy to still be here,” she said.

“Projections were, we wouldn’t be. It’s a harder market here”

This year promises to carry on the group’s continuous growth and, according to Fernandes, WCFW has received submissions from designs from across the globe.

“It keeps on getting better, and we’re so excited about that,” she said, adding that the social media attention photos from the festival garner reaches over one million.

“And it’s kind of crazy, because we’re in the interior and not really known as a fashion capital.”

Since WCFW sponsors the designers so much, many designers from across the globe have taken interest and share their talent and knowledge with their local peers.

And, Fernandes said, the foreign designers can learn from the Canadians.

“It’s a win-win situation,” she said.

This year, the WCFW has around 50 designers and about 400 models.

In particular, Fernandes is looking forward to the submissions from Suka Clothing.

“She’s an amazing young designer,” Fernandes said.

She is also looking forward to the offerings from New Classics Studio, which focuses on sustainable, and eco-friendly clothing.

“She’s new for us, and she’s just done such an amazing job on her social media,” Fernandes said.

“She’s becoming very highly respected in Alberta.”

Creating clothing with the environment in mind is becoming more popular, she added.

According to Fernandes, it’s hard to pin down a particularly “Edmonton style,” and that local designers tend to vary quite greatly in their approach and implementation.

“I think that design is something that we look at individually,” she said, though she added that some designers, regardless of borders, may have similar styles.

“There is some synchronicity in the planet ... It’s kind of interesting.

“You look at the world and everybody is talking about (things like) the war in Syria and all these different things. Those affect the consciousness, and they can come out in all these different ways.”

Part of the difficulty in Edmonton becoming a fashion hub is talented, young designers moving to larger, perhaps more metropolitan city.

Fernandez hopes, then, that many consider staying in their home town and “using it as a strong home base.”

This has become somewhat easier with the Internet, she added.

Designers can show off their wares online, and order a kind of fabric they couldn’t find locally.

“We’d like to keep some of our people in town,” she said.

“This might really start a trend.”

Another problem, she said, is the lack of stitching and textile factories in Edmonton.

Though the city used to have one, it has since closed down due to lack of business.

“That’s something we would like to see come back,” she said.

“Our young designers sew themselves or find someone else to sew for them. But ... we’d love to see our community grow and stay.”Read more at:short prom dresses uk