IMG buys Toronto Fashion Week
By Kate Kennedy
,QMI Agency
@IMG_Worldwide
Early Thursday morning Canadian fashion icon Jeanne Beker scooped FDCC and
fashion week PR by announcing on Twitter that World MasterCard
Fashion Week (aka Toronto Fashion Week) has been sold to IMG Canada and that
Robin Kay was stepping down as president of the FDCC.
“In business, timing is everything, and I am confident that the time is right
for IMG to take World MasterCard Fashion Week to the next level,” said Kay in a
press release.
IMG Canada, part of sports and media giant IMG Worldwide, will
now produce the week in conjunction with IMG Fashion, which engineers impressive parades in London,
Berlin, Milan, and others. Perhaps most notable week IMG Fashion puts on is
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. (The auto company has put on a design competition in Toronto that ran over the past two
seasons.)
What will that mean for Canada? The possibility of more press, for starters.
Could there be incentives for journalists to attend both weeks? Could weeks be
scheduled accordingly? Each year it seems more New Yorkers are realizing
Toronto’s central Billy Bishop airport is but a short hop.
More importantly, a US-based leader could mean more American and
international buyers on the front row to view – and hopefully order – our
tremendously talented Canadian design.
The only hang-up fashion lovers may have over the switch is that our fashion
week will no longer be run by a Canadian non-profit, but quite the opposite: A
giant New York-based company.
Will they make room for up-and-coming Canadian designers? Or is there a
chance we’ll get New York cast-offs? Will themes like “Canada Cool” and
“Canadian Catwalk” appear again, or will our focus become more international?
There are a lot of questions surrounding the switch, which the fashion set hope
will be answered in October’s showing of the spring 2013 collections.
As the FDCC president, Robin Kay has grown the once-fledgling Toronto Fashion
Week to North America’s second largest, showcasing world-class Canadian talent
for labels like Pink Tartan, Bustle, David Dixon, and Arthur Mendonça.
“I have no plans to disappear and I will remain committed to helping and
nurturing Canadian designers shine on the catwalk.” As president of the FDCC,
Kay oversaw 13 years and 26 seasons of Canadian design.
