Advertisement

Lifestyle

Runway rumours revving up

The invitation to a press conference (or “cocktail reception” in fashion speak) on June 1 hosted by global event manager IMG and Mercedes Canada features a model in a black leather dress clawing the hood of a souped up Benz. But the team at the company’s Toronto office is staying tight-lipped about whether the announcement being made in two weeks involves IMG’s long-expected takeover of our city’s fashion week.

They’re not denying it though so let’s go with the assumption that Toronto’s catwalk is poised for a big shake up.

Hints of a sponsor switcheroo were all over the last round of shows in March. Guests posed next to a Mercedes convertible parked in the middle of the lounge though the company’s logo didn’t appear in the list of the season’s sponsors. Shooters venting about changes to the rules and pecking order of the photo pit were told “this is how we do it in New York” (IMG and Mercedes collaborate on fashion weeks in New York, Miami and Berlin and the Fashion Design Council of Canada had already tapped them to bring their production experience to Exhibition Place).

And long time backers like L’Oreal and Town Shoes had to regularly step aside for other hair and makeup teams backstage and alternative footwear sponsors on the runway.

That the invitation to the press conference came from IMG and not the FDCC is icing on the speculation cake.

When LG took over title sponsorship of the event from L’Oreal in 2008, the only noticeable, front of house change was who got to deliver the welcome address on opening night (we’ll miss you Frank Lee!) but if IMG does up its level of involvement again backed up by big Mercedes bucks, it’s guaranteed to be more than a rebranding exercise. The change could represent a big step towards earning sustained international attention for our fashion industry.

But is sustained international attention what our industry still needs? It seems a bit old fashioned in our globally connected but locally curious world to put too much stock in a partnership like this. The true test of IMG’s success will be whether they recognize the underdeveloped potential to grow Canadian retailer support for Canadian labels. It’s a goal the FDCC has, unfortunately, been unable to make much headway on.

All these points will be moot of course if IMG’s big scoop is that Mercedes is launching a line of leather dresses but I’m betting that’s not the case.


UPDATE: Better late than never, a spokesperson from IMG finally issued this denial after our story went live this afternoon:

“I’m denying that (the announcement) has anything to do with the ownership position of the event or relationship between IMG and the FDCC or that it has anything to do with the title sponsorship of LG Fashion Week Beauty by L’Oreal Paris.”

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted