Kind of hard to believe that until now my great country of Canada was not formally recognizing and celebrating the achievements of our great talent in the fashion and arts community. But last week CAFA (the Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards) announced that there will be an inaugural gala which will take place in the historic Fairmont Royal York Hotel in T.O. early next year. Gearing up to the awards presentation – which will also include a gala dinner and uber exclusive after-party scheduled to be held on Feb. 1, 2014, there will be a handful of CAFA evens scattered across the country in order to help hype up the event and shine some light on the selected nominees.

Besides Dean & Dan Caten from D Squared, there are successful designers who have made their mark in the international world of fashion, yet many might be unaware of their Canadian roots; Erdem Moraliioglu – creator of eponymous label with unique prints Erdem, Andrea Lenczner and Christie Smythe the designers of cult fave jacket line Smythe, and Jason Wu just as an example. But like myself, I guess Canada’s fashion community thought about what can be done to assist the designers who are less known on the global fashion stage or just emerging in the Canadian market such as; Lucien Matis, Pink Tartan, Caitlin Power, Christopher Bates, Line Knitwear, Rudsak, DUY…and I could go on. Perhaps with this new organization, Canadian design talent will finally get the recognition, spotlight and encouragement they deserve.

Lucky winners will receive this original designed awards by Canadian industrial designer Karim Rashid

Thankfully we won’t have to wait to long to her the list of nominees…they will be announced early this Fall in October, who will be competing to win top prize in these 10 categories. The list of CAFA jury members reads as the who’s who in Canadian fashion, as one would imagine; Jeanne Beker, Suzanne Rogers, Lisa Tant (VP Fashion Editor Holt Renfew), Noreen Flanagan (E.I.C. Elle Magazine), Bernadette Mora (E.I.C. Fashion Magazine), Tiyana Grulovic (Fashion Director of Flare Magazine), Robert Ott (Chair of School of Fashion at Ryerson University), Susan Langdon (Executive Director at TFI), Dr. Sara Diamond (President of OCAD U), Glex Baxter (Canadian television journalist and emerging photog), Carolyn Quinn (Head of IMG World Canada), Bronwyn Cosgrave (Luxury Brand Consultant and author), Hands Koechling (Fashion show producer and Creative Director of “The Image Is”), Angela Campagnoni (Diretor of Atlantic Fashion Week), Tyler Udall (Photographic Artist & Fashion Director Blanche MacDonald Centre), and Jean-Francois Daviau (Producer of Montreal Fashion Week).

Think it’s safe to say that this gala and dinner will be one HOT ticket come February that every fashionphile will be wishing and hoping to get access to. For more information on CAFA and to stay abreast of the list nominees list later this year, head to www.cafawards.ca.

XOX,
Sash