The Story Behind The Toronto Film School Students Showing at Toronto Women’s Fashion Week

On Saturday, March 11, a selection of students and recent graduates from the Toronto Film School’s Fashion Design Diploma will have the opportunity of a lifetime, having been chosen to have their garments featured on the runway at Toronto Women’s Fashion Week.

Toronto’s inaugural Women’s Fashion Week was created by Jeff Rustia, who’s behind Toronto Men’s Fashion Week.  It will welcome both new and seasoned Canadian talent. Among the runway shows planned for this event is the Toronto Film School fashion show titled EMERGENCE which takes place at Waterworks on March 11 at 4 p.m. Waterworks, located in the heart of downtown Toronto at 505 Richmond Street West, is a luxe industrial space, which will feature a 100-foot runway, a 24 x 20 foot LED screen and a fashion environment, a stunning backdrop for equally as stunning designs.

EMERGENCE will feature more than 70 garments designed by the students and alumni you see below. This remarkable collection ranges from clubwear to evening wear—avant guard to classic. But, equally as amazing as the clothing are the stories behind the designers themselves, which we are pleased to feature here:

Nana Bediako

Nana Bediako also known as Mr. Tailor is a Canadian Artist, Fashion Designer, and a Bespoke Tailor. He is a recent graduate of the Toronto Film School’s Fashion Design program and the University of Waterloo’s Fine Arts program. He is currently taking a multi-disciplinary approach in melding together a career in painting and bespoke tailoring

Throughout his adolescence, Nana Bediako spent the majority of his time with his grandmother whom he assisted selling African fabrics at the market. His mother was a seamstress, who taught him how to sew buttons and hems for her and her small business. While growing up in Ghana, Bediako explains, there was not a roaring clothing industry for high-end fashion, and what did exist in the field of clothing production was dominated by women. Thus, Bediako did not see fashion or fine art as a direction; rather he decided to study the mathematical precision of architecture. The artist began his art training at Accra Academy, Ghana. By the age of sixteen, he started his clothing brand by the name of Loggiz Wear. In 2005, he immigrated to Canada, and it is at this point that Bediako began to build a keen interest in art and fashion.

Bediako’s suits and costumes combine Western and African cuts by melding European attire and African power dressing. His clothes are well tailored and are embellished with elements of traditional African power culture that is the symbols of kings and warriors. Bediako’s collection juxtaposes the costumes of different cultures and highlights the way that all cultures use dress and cloth to create an immediate and visually identifiable social hierarchy.

Through his work, Bediako attempts to put on display all aspects of high fashion and the international fashion industry. His themes include glamour and beauty, as well as the ugly, unseen, and consumerist aspects of fashion. His paintings are meticulously executed and based off of collages that the artist himself collected and assembled from International fashion magazines. Bediako’s paintings are not portraits; rather the figures in his paintings are ambiguous and representational and are aimed at making the viewer question the role and position of the fashion industry.

Proshat Sarabloo

Proshat Sarabloo is an architect by trade and certified Feng Shui consultant. She has travelled extensively, showcased her artwork, taught Feng Shui workshops, and consulted with many architecture firms worldwide. After moving to Canada in 2010, she took time off to pursue some of her other interests in the world of art. Through sketching and multimedia artwork, she discovered her passion for sculpture. Using textile and modelling paste as her medium, she exhibited a series of shirts and pants that were moulded, painted and installed on canvases.

Using her expertise in art and architecture, her eye for detail and her transferable skills, she found the opportunity to design the women’s ready- to- wear line for Canadian company Miik. After successfully designing four seasons for Miik, she decided to go back to school to study fashion design. She has a fashion design diploma from Toronto Film School and a buying certificate from George Brown College.

Yanis Allen

Yanis Allen is an award winning Toronto based fashion designer. Her eponymous label can be described as architectural with geometric influences.

Yanis received her formal design education at the Toronto Film School, but her path into the field is far from traditional. Growing up in Canada Yanis was surrounded by Toronto’s high-end fashion and Carribean cultures and always enjoyed the multicultural aspects and diversity of Toronto. Yanis always loved fashion and had a flair and interest in the process of creating art. Whether through fine art on canvas or by clothing as a self- expression of art, she would always create. However, because of her practical nature, she did not go into a creative field right away for fear of becoming a starving artist. She went on to pursue a career in mathematics education and taught math for many years at the college level. Nonetheless, there was always this burning desire to become a fashion designer that she just could not escape.

During her education, Yanis spent time travelling to different places such as South Korea, India, and Thailand, and all these experiences have an influence on in her design aesthetic; but none more than the career she left behind; mathematics. “I will never regret the years I spent learning and teaching mathematics,” says Yanis.   She goes on to say, “Sometimes I will look at an arbitrary presence in natural and then use its mathematical sequence as the inspiration for the design.”

Through her travels she experienced the mountainous landscapes of the far east, and became inspired by the way the hard mountains meshed with the soft clouds from the overcasted sky in the distance; she translates this type of inspiration with hard lines seen in architecture contrasted with a softness of organic nature. When you look at Yanis’ design, you will see all these elements with a hint of art and crafts, which is evident in her recent 1st place win in Heart of Fashion Scrubs Design Challenge in May 2016.

Yanis’ one-of-a-kind ready to wear designs are aimed at women who want to be fashionable and stylish, but not compromise modesty to achieve it.

Diseiye Thompson

Growing up in Nigeria, a society that cherishes custom tailoring, Daniel Thompson was inspired by his mother’s seamstresses, watching them create something so beautiful from a piece of cloth. Daniel Thompson still makes use of some techniques he learned from the seamstresses.

At 15, he moved to Toronto to study law but started designing clothes to feed his creativity. He taught himself how to sew and began making garments for himself. Joining the ArtStarts program and learning more about design, he left his law undergrad to pursue fashion design at  Toronto Film School, graduating with an eveningwear collection inspired by a dying bird.

During his time at Toronto Film School, he gained design internships at Greta Constantine and Susan Dicks & Co, where he honed his tailoring skills while learning how to design periodic costumes for TV and movies. He also participated in competitions like Creative Catwalk Festival (1st runner-up) and The Heart of Fashion Scrubs Design Challenge.

His brand DISEIYE is all about soft, feminine silhouettes that feature intricate detailing and attention-grabbing fabrics and textures.

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Jessica Sarkodie

In Grade 3, when a teacher asked, “What do you want to be,” Toronto-based designer Jessica Sarkodie’s immediately thought a fashion designer. Fashion design combined all the things she loved: creativity, fashion and colour theory. All through high school, she continued to sew knit tops, create fashion illustrations and short stories to narrate.

Upon graduating from high school, she decided to turn her love of fashion into a career. She studied fashion design at the Toronto Film School.

Using symbolism through details and silhouettes, Jessica Sarkodie used her first collection as a ready-to-wear narration of Ella Fitzgerald’s life and her legend.

Jessica Sarkodie uses symbols to tell the story through details and classic silhouettes. JS is for the inspired and creative soul, who enjoys sophisticated lines with a touch of fun.

Carine Agasaro

Carine Agasaro born in Congo and raised in Rwanda. Growing up in a society that cherishes custom tailoring but disregards fashion design as a career choice, Carine Agasaro has always been inspirited by her Grandpa seamstresses, watching him create pieces using upcycled materials and alter most of his clothes.

At the age of 15, she moved to Toronto and graduated from Etienne Brule High School. Carine has always been passionate about anything relates to fashion and art and have always been attracted to small edgy details, sharp trims and tailored shapes.

Through this, she decided to pursue Fashion design at Toronto Film School where she studied all aspects of production, developed a wide range of skills, from trend forecasting to pattern making, construction and fit. Graduated with a sportswear collection inspired by the traditional royal hut from her home Country, highlighting the elongated silhouettes and tailored shapes.

During her time at Toronto Film School, she gained a design internship at Greta Constantine where she gained a strong understanding of the operations of Fashion Industry. Her brand KARINE RWASIBO defines a modern woman who is concerned with looking sharp in a uniquely feminine way.

Justin Moon

Seoul-born Toronto-based, Justin Moon is an emerging fashion designer. His drive for creative design and expression have continued to develop and expanded from visual arts and graphic design to audio and film production to culinary arts.  As a second generation Korean-Canadian, his parents’ conservative approach to education directed him into fields that were initially interesting but quickly became the opposite. As a result, Moon’s post-secondary education route often changed from business administration to biology to electro-mechanical engineering.

After years of working in various professions, Moon eventually took some time off where he was free to research and explore new possible skills and pursue his desire for creative expression. Soon after, Moon focused on fashion design and enrolled hometown Toronto Film School. Although a novice designer, Moon continues to demonstrate a strong development in his style identity and preferences, ranging from minimalism to experimentalism and functionalism in both womenswear and menswear. Moon’s Férose 2017 fall/winter collection thesis, called ‘Cosmos’, is an awareness and a tribute to the universe. His collection of coats with classic silhouettes and modest design details reflect the brand’s principles of elegance, timeless aesthetic, and effortless style.

Annie Qu

After graduating from the University of Toronto with a double major in Economics and Psychology, Annie Qu took on an office job working with numbers. She soon realized that she needed more creative stimulation, so she quit her job to pursue her childhood dream.

Annie is in her last term of the Fashion Design Program at Toronto Film School. She is currently interning with renowned Canadian designer Greta Constantine, and Grayes. In her second term at school, one of her pieces was selected as a finalist for the Art of Fashion Must Have Summer Dress Competition.

Annie has had an eye for fashion since she was a child. One day, she interlaced ribbons around a handkerchief to create a dress for her doll. Her mother was impressed and said she should become a fashion designer. That was when Annie went head first down the rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland, and she hasn’t come up since.

Annie’s designs reflect preserved innocence by embracing childlike imagination. She wishes to fulfil a simple dream of making clothes that allow women to feel effortlessly beautiful, inside and out. Inspired by the many bedtime stories her mother read to her, Annie’s FW17 Collection is a reminiscence of her childhood imagination. She hopes her Bedtime Story Collection charms its audience with the same nostalgia that inspired her and reminds them of a world full of possibilities.

Sara Umar

Bibi Faateh is a luxury line of ready to wear and custom made women’s wear by designer Sara Umar. The name Bibi is Sara’s nickname while Faateh is her middle name.Bibi means lady of rank, and honorific while faateh means conqueror and victory. Thus Bibi Faateh caters women who are strong, elegant, romantic, feminine and modern. Her work i all about using ancient embroidery techniques and blending them with modern western cuts. Originally from Pakistan, Sara migrated to Canada in 2012. She has always been interested in arts and crafts, especially in intricate embroideries. Known to her friends and family as a passionate artist since her younger days, Sara created her first piece of artwork when she was only five years old.

By the age of eight, she started doing embroideries on her dresses and indulged in art.Her designs display a natural spread of her love for art, painting and designing. She has been participating in various competitions and in 1997 she won all Pakistan poster painting competition. Soon after she participated and won the International Japanese poster competition. Sara wanted to study fashion design but because of non-availability of fashion schools in her hometown, she joined Textile design course. After marriage, she established a home-based business of custom made clothing, which was a success. Once she immigrated to Canada, she decided to follow her passion for fashion designing and completed her graduation from Toronto Film School and established her brand BB “FAATEH”.

Sara’s work has been inspired by beauty, history and traditions of her rich culture.She is trying to revive the age-old techniques of embroidery that are no longer available in the market. Her mission is to spread awareness about slow fashion and advantages of buying quality over quantity.

Theresa Aning

Theresa Aning was born in Ghana (West Africa), and as a child growing up, she always wanted to be a fashion designer. At the age of 14, her mother sponsored her to Canada. In grade 12, she did her co-op training at Valencienne Bridal Salon, Toronto. While there, she learned how to make garter belts, ring pillows, as well as how to put the comb and stones on veils and how to hem wedding dresses.

After high school, she attended George Brown College as a fashion design student, but a lack of confidence prompted her to switched program to laboratory technician after her first semester. After a couple of years, Theresa decided to go back to school to finally pursue her passion in Fashion design.

She completed the Fashion Design program at the Toronto Film School in 2017. Her favourite quote is from Roy T. Bennett, “The Light in the Heart Always believe in yourself and always stretch yourself beyond your limit. Your life is worth a lot more than you think because you are capable of accomplishing more than you know. You have more potential than you think, but you will never know your full potential unless you keep challenging yourself and pushing beyond your own self-imposed limits”.

Katherine Collesano

Katherine Collesano is a current student in the Fashion Design program at Toronto Film School; where she is studying many different areas of design, and expanding her knowledge and skills in areas such as pattern drafting, knitwear, grading, textiles and more. In this last school term, Collesano has developed her first evening wear collection; Dried Capsules, to be presented to a panel of industry professionals. This marks the beginning of an exciting future.

For more nine years Katherine has been a vegetarian and is strongly against animal cruelty/abuse and passionate about reducing pollution in the environment. During her journey at the Toronto film school, she learned about sustainable fabrics and alternative fabrics available other than furs and skins. For future collections, she plans to be more sustainable and hopefully spread awareness. The Dried Capsules collection does not use any skins, furs, or any fabrics that come from animals. Each design is made from Cotton, Polyester, and Viscose.

Sophie Jones

Sophie Jones is a Toronto-based fashion designer. Her designs reflect her upbringing in the English countryside. She brings understated elegance with a playful twist both sophisticated and timeless. Surrounded by an artistic family, she was always designing while painting and creating crafts to sell at the local markets. At the age of 15, she attended a fashion class where she worked with a team to create a collection that was shown at the local department store. The dress she worked on was made from recycled materials and tea stained to give it an old, time-worn aesthetic.

After completing A-Levels, she realized that her love was in fashion design. So, after careful thought and planning, she packed up her belongings and moved to Toronto to enrol in Fashion Design at The Toronto Film School where she gained a design internship with the Canadian designer Greta Constantine. This invaluable experience helped her design skills. Perfecting her accuracy and paying close attention to quality became important to her and is an essential aspect of her brand. Being away from all things familiar was a huge blessing-in-disguise. This forced her to embrace who she was and what she wanted truly. Her designs are a true reflection of her nurtured ideas, which she gathered since she was a young girl picking flowers in the garden. B I O P A P E R . R O S E by S O P H I E . J O N E S Understated elegance with a playful twist. Sophisticated and timeless.

Olanike Gbadamosi

Olanike K. Gbadamosi was born in Lagos, Nigeria. She moved down to Canada to pursue a postgraduate degree in Occupational Health after studying Environmental Health Management in the United Arab Emirate.

While in Dubai, Olanike witnessed a fashion evolution amongst women, which triggered her interest in fashion design. She noticed how women dressed fashionable and trendy while still holding down their value of modesty.

Her final year as an undergraduate, Olanike took a part time course in fashion design alongside her major. This is where here journey into fashion began. She later enrolled in the Fashion Design program at Toronto Film School.   She took part in the Visibility by Design contest initiated by Adorable Outerwear that presented at the 2016 Toronto Fashion week alongside other talented designers. Her fashion brand, MOSI, embodies simple elegance for women who value comfort and sophistication.

Jordana Buchholz-Seguin

Clothing designer Jordana Séguin blends dressmaking and streetwear design to create elegant ready-to-wear inspired by the freshest trends in music and conceptual art.  Her brand celebrates femininity through colour, comfort and versatility.

Jordana is French Canadian, born in 1995 in Squamish, BC.  She began her career at 18 showing in Vancouver International Fashion Week and afterwards gained styling experience working with an independent film group before moving to Toronto in 2015 to further her education in Fashion Design at the Toronto Film School.  She is now showing her first collection since graduation merging inspiration from the heydey of Japanese Bosozoku biker gangs and the coincident glamour of 1950’s Hollywood.

Eileen Dery-Kpebesani

Eileen Dery seeks to balance Afrocentric fashion with Western designs. Eileen was raised in Ghana where she discovered her talent as a clothing designer when she sketched garments for local tailors to make clothes for her friends and family during the Christmas season.

She was so successful that at age 14, Eileen abandoned her long-cherished dream of becoming a newscaster and decided to pursue a career in fashion design. While in college she developed her skills in garment construction and pattern draping and she started making custom-made clothes. Eileen was encouraged by the admiration and interest she received, and upon completing college, she set up a fashion studio in her father’s home and embarked on the business of making African wear for her numerous clients.

By 2001 she blended new Western fashion trends with her designs. With the help of her fiancé, she opened a store in Ghana for custom-made garments. The follow- ing year she sponsored a contestant for “Miss Ghana Beauty Pageant” by designing her outfits. Motivated by the exposure garnered from the pageant event, a year later Eileen designed and sewed costumes for eight contestants of “The Face of Miss Legon Pageant” organized by the University of Ghana.

In 2004, Eileen designed and sewed her wedding gown. The asymmetrical ball gown, embellished with lace, beads and crystals, attracted many clients leading to her bridal wear debut.

While running her bridal business, Eileen continued to dream of becoming an inter- nationally recognized fashion designer, and so when she eventually relocated to Canada with her family in 2015, she seized the opportunity to further her education at the Toronto Film School (TFS) in order to sharpen her skills in fashion and design. At Toronto Film School she had the benefit of developing her skills in various areas such as garment construction, pattern draping, digital design and trend forecasting, among others. Her graduating collection on was inspired by Sea Goddess.

Eileen’s brand ‘Eileen Dery’ focuses on an elegant and sophisticated evening and bridal gowns.

To purchase tickets to the EMERGENCE visit tw-fw.com and use the promotion code STUFW30. Also, for all the behind the scenes photos and live coverage of the event on March 11, follow Toronto Film School on Instagram.