Kwantlen student wins award at Montreal Fashion Week
Coat was inspired by Blade Runner and cinema femme fatale
A B. C.- raised fashion student has drawn national attention after winning a grand prize at a recent Montreal fashion competition for a visionary coat she created.
Nicole Boyer, a 26- year- old student at Richmond’s Kwantlen Polytechnic University, took inspiration from the wardrobe of cinema star Myrna Loy and the film Blade Runner in sketching her original design, which beat hundreds of other ideas from students across the country in the lead- up to an annual fashion show sponsored by TÉLIO, a North American importer and exporter of textiles.
“Creating that garment was a real spiritual journey,” Boyer said, adding she spent her entire Christmas break working on the coat. “Fourteen hours straight I would sew.”
TÉLIO challenged young designers to create a textured garment using only black, white or grey fabric. It was no easy task, said Boyer, who was raised on Vancouver Island.
“As a designer you want your thing to shine, but it was the textures that had to come through,” she said.
While some of Boyer’s competitors employed numerous fabrics, Boyer used only two to achieve the abundant details on the coat.
Boyer travelled to Montreal in February with the other finalists and watched as a model walked down the runway wearing her coat in front of industry professionals. Boyer said the experience of seeing her own creation on a runway was “absolutely fantastic.”
Her coat was selected as one of the five best designs and Boyer won a $ 2,000 scholarship.
Boyer said she knew from an early age that she wanted to be a seamstress and a designer, and hopes to produce women’s clothing after she graduates from her program.