Fall Ushers in Amazing Things for Fashion Design Diploma: Guest Blog By Keith Richardson

The summer term began with the sad news that Toronto Fashion week would be cancelled, and that same term ended with the news that it will continue! It just goes to show how fast things happen in the fashion industry. The news that the team at Toronto Men’s Fashion Week (TOM*) will take over the duties of showing women’s fashion was welcomed news to students and faculty of the Toronto Film School. We have always been a part of both events, with many students volunteering backstage at fashion shows and events, as well as many of our graduates, alumni, and faculty showcasing their collections at both events, and we hope the new format is a success.

This season saw Toronto Film School Fashion Design alumnus Muhammad Alamgir the designer for L’momo, showcase his second menswear collection at TOM*. Muhammad is already a very successful and well-known designer of women’s wear and is proving to be equally talented at designing menswear. The show opened with hunky models wearing the briefest underwear and continued to show engineered prints on suits, jacket, pants and shirts.

L’momo, who has been featured in Italian Vogue magazine, recently dressed Sanghita Patel of ET Canada, for the live broadcast of this year’s Emmy Awards red carpets show. Alamgir is also responsible for the stunning red carpet dress that actress and award-winning documentary filmmaker Elena Semikina wore at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Another graduate featured at TOM* was Jason Meyers, who hosted a photo exhibit featuring his new custom suits. Jason, who until recently was exclusively a womenswear designer has switched gears and is creating his custom suits for many of Toronto celebrities. The event was attended by many of our current students, graduates, staff and faculty of the Toronto Film School.

For the second season in a row, the Toronto Film School hosted the very successful media lounge at TOM*. Students and alumni from the Film Production Diploma program, filmed VIP’s designers and celebrities in the lounge, as they were being interviewed by acting students

Fashion On Yonge Update

Every year the Yonge-Dundas B.I.A. hosts a fashion show, and for the second year in a row, the Toronto film School was pleased to be a part of the highly anticipated event. This year the shows were held at the Church of the Holy Trinity. the pulpit and antique organs were an extremely dramatic backdrop for the fashion shows that showcased three of our recent graduates.

Lama Hajj showed her collection of evening wear with and edge, consisting of a black and white dramatic gowns, featuring cutouts, laser cutting and asymmetrical trains.

Lana Kuidir featured her graduate collection of navy burgundy black and white, with chiffon capes, pleated bustiers, jumpsuits, and separates.

Daniel Thompson presented a collection of black mixed with reflective fabrics, laser cutouts, feathers, and beaded fabrics.

In the park adjacent to the church, Toronto Film School was host to the media lounge, that was decorated by one of our very talented visual display instructors. He used an assortment of current fashion design students designs as a backdrop to the visually stunning booth.

Students from the Marketing for Fashion and Entertainment, with their instructor who took care of the social media. the students planned the strategy and executed it brilliantly. they used twitter, Instagram, facebook, and periscope to broadcast the event live.

The media lounge also hosted students and alumni from our Film Production program who filmed the celebrity, VIP and designers interviews. Acting graduates performed the interviewing and hosting assignments. A highly successful cross collaboration involving many of the different programs within our school.

Students Help With Nordstrom’s Launch

The New Nordstrom’s, Eaton Center opened with a big gala event, and many of the students from the Fashion Design and Marketing for Fashion and Entertainment programs volunteered to help with the launch party and got an early preview of the store’s design, fixtures, and designer merchandise.

Also in Nordstrom’s news, stylist and Alumna Elissa Contino is pleased to announce that she has joined the Nordstrom’s team as a stylist, and personal wardrobe consultant. Elissa has been working in the fashion industry for many years as a stylist.

Alumni in Upcoming Shows 

July 28 to August 6 is Mississauga Fashion Week, and Toronto Film School recent Fashion Design graduate Daniel Thompson presented his collection.

Oct 9 is Start up fashion Week, an event that focuses on new designers, that are just starting out, Lama Hajj, and Lana Kuidir is both showcasing their collections at this event.

Exciting New Fashion Design Faculty

Toronto Film School (Academy) alumna Nada Sheppard will join our team as a colour theory and trends instructor. Nada was a successful Canadian designer for many years, before taking a break to have children.

Diego Fuchs is one-half of the highly acclaimed design team Diego Helder. Diego is also a graduate of our fashion design program and will bring his extensive knowledge of Gerber, computer assisted patternmaking to our students.

Everybody in Canada has heard of David Dixon, the award-winning designer of women’s fashion, accessories and shoes. David has joined out team as an illustration instructor

Ross Mayer is the designer owner of his self-named retail stores throughout Canada and will join the T.F.S. team as an instructor of collection 1 classes, where the students will design their graduate collections.

Christopher Punil is well known throughout Canada as an eveningwear and bridal designer. Christopher will be teaching construction 1, the first level of many sewing classes.

Some of the upcoming contest  students are participating in:

Creativ festival project runway challenge. the event is held at the Creativ festival, a sewing and craft trade show at the International centre. One week prior to the competition the students are given a theme or inspiration to work from, they are then expected to compete for an outfit during the tradeshow, using equipment, material, and supplies purchased from vendor booths. The competition culminates with a runway presentation where a winner of over $10,000 work of equipment and supplies is chosen, Toronto Film School expects to do well at this event, of the previous 9 years competing against all the other fashion schools, we have won this competition 7 times, Good Luck #TeamTFS.

The remix fur competition requires each student to design a fur garment, coat, jacket dress, whatever. The Fur Council of Canada will arrange for assistance in the construction of the garment and the winning Canadian designer will go on to compete with the other worldwide contestants in Milan, Good Luck #TeamTFS.

For the second year in a row, team TFS will compete in the Adorable Coat competition. the student must design an outerwear coat utilising reflective and visibility fabrics and trims. Last year the Toronto Film school had two Finalist in this event, Jessica Sarkodie and Olanike Gbadamosi who showcased their designs at Toronto Fashion Week.

Toronto Maple Leafs fashion Challenge is a competition to celebrate the centennial season of the hockey team. Judges will select two winning designers, one women’s and one men’s capsule collection that is inspired the new Toronto Maple Leafs logo. the prize for each category is $25,000, Good Luck team #TFSFASHIONDESIGN.

Keith Richardson is the Core Faculty for the Fashion Design Program at Toronto Film School. Keith spent 10 years working in Miami, for numerous sportswear companies, and after returning to Toronto, began to teach at the Academy of Design. Keith has won numerous awards for his work in fashion, he continues to design and has published a textbook “Introduction to Stretch” a patternmaking manual for knits and stretch fabrics.