April 21, 2015 marked the opening fashion show for Fashion Art Toronto. Incidentally is also marked their 10-year anniversary.

I was fortunate enough to have had received an invitation to join them as Fashion Art Toronto (FAT) celebrated yet another successful week of Art & Fashion here in Toronto.


For those of you who are not familiar, FAT, part of Toronto’s Art’s& Fashion Week, is an organization that houses creativity and expressionism under one roof, celebrating Fashion Design to Photography, to Fashion Films, to Installation Art, to Performances Art.


As this year marked their 10-year anniversary, FAT showcased a variety of artistic fashion designers, filmmakers, and artist alike that truly pushed the boundaries of wearable art, with works of art that attempted to relive some of the existing tension of Fashion Vs. Art.
www.fashionarttoronot.ca Dystropolis
The theme for this years show revolved around celebrating Canadian culture, or as FAT put it, #MADEINCANDA. Designers and artist alike were asked to draw inspiration from Canadian art, design, technology, and landscape creating what they consider Fast Forward Canadian Fashion.

The week opened and closed with FAT announcing to it contemporaries an alternative lens to conventional Fashion Shows. Of course some who attended FAT might argue that what was presented was simply paint splattered on a canvas, but then again don’t these paintings hold a value of approximately thousands of dollars?
I think when attending events such as FAT one has to place their mind within the context of art. The fabric and clothes that are used in creating these collections should be understood much in the same way an artist uses hues and texture to created his/her work of art. The stage is a canvas brought to life. Models are not merely models, but rather performers, performers who use the movement of their bodies to express the artist’s intention. While some of the work presented may not speak to each an every audience, they do however speak. And that is the beauty behind art, it doesn’t have to speak to every in the same manner, it just has to speak, period.

Congratulations FAT! Here is to another decade of innovation, forward thinking and expressionism.