Saskatchewan Fashion Week celebrates creative collaboration
It’s more than a fashion show. The reinvented Saskatchewan Fashion Week (SFW), which takes over the Sound Stage in Regina from May 10 to 12, will showcase a combination of artist collaborations, solo artists, film, music, as well as fashion design.
Fittingly, the theme of this year’s event is Art Unleashed.
“Raw passion and uncensored creativity come to life on a platform to awe and inspire viewers,” according to SFW organizers.
Opening night will feature youth, student and artist prodigies on stage. A mentorship award will be presented to an aspiring fashion designer. Friday and Saturday evenings, fashion designers will share the stage with various artists – from musicians and dancers to a standup comedian.
Each evening, a Black Market shopping area will be open free to the public, featuring one-of-a-kind local works of art and an array of treasures.
Saskatchewan Fashion Week was founded seven years ago by three creative young Reginans: hairstylists Chris Pritchard and Candyce (Bakke) Fiessel, who are cousins, and their friend Chelsea (O’Connell) Petterson, a fashion retailer. Together, with the help of a team of hardworking volunteers, they created a provincial showcase that has grown and evolved annually.
“Every year, we evaluate the previous year and do some soul searching about our purpose and do some roundtables and get some feedback,” explained Pritchard, SFW’s president. “What we kind of were exploring this year was the original purpose of putting this event on. It was a reason and a way to bring different creative industries in the community together, and give them a reason to work together, celebrate together, create relationships (and) friendships.
“A fashion week was a really great way, because it required so many different industries and branches working together in order to put it together,” he said. “So we had everything from the hair and makeup, models, photography, videography, to stage (and) interior design, stage management, lighting and graphic designers.”
Prior to the introduction of Saskatchewan Fashion Week, it was often challenging for people in the province’s creative industries to reach out to others in their industry because they were typically competition, Pritchard said. “But this is a way we can bring the walls down and have a really great reason to get together and get to know each other, and learn from each other, and form relationships.”
Although fashion designers have always been a major part of this event, the focus has not been exclusively on them. “A lot of our feedback was it didn’t feel like a typical fashion show, because it really was a celebration of all of the industries involved, all together,” Pritchard said.
This year, Saskatchewan Fashion Week organizers decided to revisit the event’s main purpose.
“We felt that it was a natural time to evolve and continue our original goal and purpose to celebrate different industries in the creative fields and work together with more,” Pritchard said. “So we decided to open our stage up to not only fashion designers, but any artists in the creative industry.”
Artist collaborations, for example, may feature a fashion designer, a dance performer, musician, live artists and videographer working together to put on a show.
Solo artists will also be showcased, everything from dancers and local musicians to a standup comedian. Indigenous pow wows, singers and spokenword poets will also be featured.
“It’s going to be a bit of a roller coaster of entertainment,” Pritchard said. “The audience can expect to see everything from things that are entertaining, things that are funny, things that are thought provoking, some things that are serious. We encourage our audience to respect the artist. Some things will be funny and entertaining, but some things will need complete silence to be appreciated ... It will be quite the unique experience!”
To better showcase performances of all kinds, the SFW stage has been reimagined. The traditional catwalk has been replaced by a square stage with access to walking paths down on the floor throughout the seating area.
Like fashions, SFW continues to evolve.
“Today, Saskatchewan Fashion Week is an annual attraction that showcases an industry that had been one of our best-kept secrets for far too long,” said Tracy Fahlman, president and CEO of the Regina Hotel Association. “Our city is nationally recognized as a strong sport and convention host, and events like SFW are diversifying our city’s image as a vibrant arts and cultural destination as well.”