Montreal Fashion Week cancels winter edition

MONTREAL - The upcoming edition of Montreal Fashion Week has been cancelled.

On Thursday, organizers announced plans to 'temporarily put a hold' on the semi-annual event, originally scheduled for February.

They will instead be investing resources towards merging Montreal Fashion Week with the city's annual summer Fashion and Design Festival. Plans to combine the two events - both organized by Montreal-based Groupe Sensation Mode - were announced in September.

At that time, organizers still seemed intent on staging the winter edition of Fashion Week.

'We thought that it was very important to make (the summer event) happen well,' Groupe Sensation co-founder Chantal Durivage said Thursday in an interview.

'Three productions a year with big events, it's a lot of time. We're always running. And if we want to develop, we need time. And this is what we realized.'

Groupe Sensation Mode has a new board of directors and a retooled business plan as they seek to help boost the profile of local designers, while also connecting with fashion fans through new channels.

To promote the summer event, Durivage said they're planning to build a web platform to facilitate 'a conversation about fashion and design,' which will also allow the public to share content and opinions.

'Ultimately, people will be able to buy,' said Durivage. 'It will be a redirection to the different sites of the designers or retailers that we're going to present.

She added: 'Everybody's going to be in the same conversation at the same time and in the same place - even around the world. Because with the web platform we're going to show them what's happening. The new festival will be a live community experience.'

Held each August in downtown Montreal, the Fashion and Design Festival includes fashion shows, live art installations and musical performances.

The most recent edition of the festival held last August featured famed French designer and artist Jean-Charles de Castelbajac as honorary chair.

The Fashion and Design Festival has previously been staged in Toronto and Durivage said they have always seen the event as an 'exportable product.'

'It's a market we think will be interesting to develop.'

The newly merged Fashion and Design Festival and Montreal Fashion Week event is scheduled to take place from Aug. 20-23. Programming for the showcase will be announced in March.

Staged twice a year, Montreal Fashion Week has offered a platform for local designers to showcase their collections to buyers, media and members of the public who were able to attend in person or access the shows through online streaming.

The semi-annual event celebrated its 25th edition in September. Its absence on the upcoming Fashion Week calendar will leave a noticeable gap among Canada's homegrown style showcases.