John Gerhardt can’t live without Duckie Brown for Florsheim shoes and button down oxford shirts. Holt Renfrew’s Creative Director confesses his style essentials to me in the World Design Lab of the luxury retailer’s Yorkville flagship surrounded by covetous quotes from notable Canadians that fill the store as part of the Can’t Live Without… campaign he conceived for spring.
The must-have marketing push will extend to the LG Fashion Week runway this evening when Holts opens five days of runway shows with a presentation spotlighting the Canadian brands that are integral to its merchandise mix in the Lab and beyond. But while tonight’s show will be unabashedly nationalistic, Gerhardt says none of the 50-plus Canuck labels the store carries are there because of a sense of patriotism.
“We don’t buy any of our Canadian lines because they’re Canadian,” says Gerhardt. “We believe there’s enough talent here to benchmark against our international brands.”
The talent taking the catwalk tonight includes Montreal’s Denis Gagnon, Toronto’s Jeremy Laing and Vancouver’s Wings + Horns. The presentation will open with a short video of Canadian designers lip synching shot by the style web’s newest fixation, Paris-based filmmaker Justin Wu.
“We want to highlight the faces behind the brands,” says Gerhardt. “It’s easy to identify Italian fashion and French fashion but what makes Canadian fashion stand out is its diversity.”
The range of our design scene is probably no more evident than in the Holt Renfrew buying office, which receives hundreds of lookbooks and invites each season. An order from the department store is still the Holy Grail for emerging local labels. And speaking of fashion fundamentals, Gerhardt says there are three things those buyers can’t live without.
“Be persistent, have a unique voice and focus on craftsmanship,” he recommends and you, rookie designer, might earn a spot on Holts’ haute racks too.
