When most people think of Fashion Week, the major four cities that host the global event– such as Paris and Milan– first come to mind, but we have taken a serious interest in the fashion stylings of Canada and the man behind Vancouver Fashion Week. While the VFW team currently prepares for its upcoming 26th season, the seven-day occasion is gaining more attention as founder Jamal Abdourahman brings a bevy of talented, emerging designers to an international platform.
Though based in British Columbia, Abdourahman has navigated the fashion worlds of both Europe and Asia before taking on the challenges of developing and producing the massively growing event. Keep reading to find out what sets Vancouver Fashion Week apart from the rest, as well as Abdourahman’s favorite Asian designers showcased throughout the past seasons and a quick peek backstage.
Audrey Magazine: When did your interest in producing fashion events first begin?
Jamal Abdourahman: In 1994 I was a club promoter and put on a small fashion show in Vancouver and from there, one thing lead to another and I found myself putting on bigger and bigger shows. By 2001, I saw that Vancouver had a gap in the market in terms of fashion platforms. We are a stylish city, but often overlooked and I wanted to change this. We have a really rich creative city and huge amounts of local emerging designers, make up artists and hair stylists. At this time, there was no platform to help these young creatives emerge onto their perspective markets and this is what inspired me to create Vancouver Fashion Week (VFW). I wanted to help young talent reach a global audience. By promoting local and international designers, I wanted to put Vancouver on the fashion map.
AM: What were some of the early challenges of getting Vancouver Fashion Week off the ground as well as challenges with maintaining the shows each year?
JA: A lot of the early challenges that we faced still exist today. Gaining local support, whilst also securing sponsors can prove challenging season to season. VFW is often misrepresented; everything that we make goes back into supporting our designers next season. We are now approaching our 26th season, and our reputation is growing every year.
AM: What sets VFW apart from the Mercedes-Benz sponsored events?
JA: The Mercedes-Benz fashion weeks focus much more on established designer houses like Chanel and Valentino, whereas VFW focuses on emerging designers. We support emerging designers, giving them the opportunity to show on a global platform and we aim to bridge the gap between designers and buyers. By supporting emerging designers our fashion week looks towards the next top designers, supporting local, national and international talent.
AM: When choosing designers to showcase, what characteristics do you look for in their collections?
JA: We look for creativity and design, refreshing talent, and passion. A lot of the collections we view are graduate collections and generally from here you can see if the designer has genuine innovation, passion and skill.
AM: Are there any favorite Asian designers that stood out to you over the years that VFW has been running?
JA: ILOVECHOC, YKS, JUKOJulie and Hong Kiyoung have stood out over the years, as they keep returning to VFW with more exciting collections season to season.
AM: There’s been mixed feelings about the blogger presence at various Fashion Weeks, how do you feel about the continuing popularity of bloggers and street style at these events?
JA: Bloggers and Street Style are some of the biggest supporters of VFW, they are the voice of the city. They are the people who will wear and support emerging designers, so they cannot be ignored. We are proud to have so many bloggers support VFW and the designers we showcase.
AM: What future progression do you hope for with VFW and its designers?
JA: We hope to grow VFW to become one of the main recognized international fashion weeks. We want to increase the number of emerging designers we showcase, and the number of buyers and agents we invite to meet our designers, along with increasing global media presence.
Backstage at VFW Fall 2015:
For more about Vancouver Fashion Week and images from Fall 2015 click here.
Feature Image Courtesy Of Blogs.theprovince.com
