http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/new ... 6e70f9e0db
Fashion incubator to nurture fledgling designers
Joanne Sasvari
For The Calgary Herald
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Sleek yet rustic, modern yet retro, the Macnaghten building was the perfect space for Calgary fashion designer Lara Presber to shoot her architecturally inspired Fall 2008 collection.
"It's an interesting mix that's really polished, but it's still got these rough elements," she says.
You could say the same for Calgary, a city that is going through a seemingly endless financial and cultural boom, and the growing pains that go with it.
Now the Macnaghten -- with its vintage tile floors, exposed sandstone walls and a sweeping, industrial staircase -- is at the heart of a project that has come to represent everything the future could be.
The project is called Fashion Central, and while it comprises a major bricks-and-mortar renovation scheduled for completion in fall 2009, it is already more than that to the city's growing community of designers.
"There's a hunger here for people to bring art and fashion and culture together," says designer Jodi Opsahl, the fashion-leasing representative for the project.
Fashion Central is the brainchild of the Neill family, who also created the phenomenally successful Art Central concept a few blocks away.
At Art Central, galleries, studios, cafes and boutiques share a space -- and a lifestyle community -- that attracts an eclectic crowd of shoppers and browsers.
Among the tenants at Art Central are a handful of local designers who, president David Neill says, are the project's most successful tenants.
"There's quite a developing community of fashion designers in the city and they don't have a proper outlet," Neill says. "What we're doing is creating a place for them that is not too expensive, where they can create and display their designs."
To that end, the Neills' company, Encorp, is repurposing three heritage buildings at the corner of Stephen Avenue Walk and 1st Street S.W.: the Macnaghten Block, the Hull Block and the Alberta Block.
"I think we have the hottest corner in Calgary for sure," Opsahl says.
The three buildings will be combined into one connected space housing a number of local and international designers; the big names (who are still to be finalized) will be on the main floor facing trendy, pedestrian-friendly Stephen Avenue Walk.
"They'll pay much higher rent so they will essentially be subsidizing the local designers on 1st Street and the interior of the building," Neill says, noting that they already have about a dozen local designers eager to rent space in Fashion Central.
But Fashion Central won't be just about having a studio or storefront. It will become an incubator of sorts, a resource centre where designers can find fabric suppliers or get help with financial issues.
As Opsahl says: "The creative side is natural for all of us, I believe, but the business side is not innate."
Already, Fashion Central has become an important supporter of the local scene. It provided space for last year's Calgary Fashion Week, when the project was first announced. And it's helping designers like Presber, seeking space and assistance in presenting their collections.
"It's exciting for us designers," Presber says. "It gives you something to look forward to. It makes me want to invest more in Calgary, to be based here as opposed to flying the coop."
The Neills wouldn't be going ahead with Fashion Central if the timing wasn't just right. They'd already tried a similar project once, about eight years ago, but found there weren't enough local designers to support it.
Since then, though, the Alberta College of Art & Design introduced its wearable art course, Olds College amped up its fashion program and such local designers as Paul Hardy and Evalina Schmidtke have found international success despite staying at home.
At the same time, Calgarians are demanding more and better fashion options, which is why the luxury retailer Holt Renfrew is undergoing a massive renovation and expansion just a few blocks west of Fashion Central (also scheduled for Fall 2009).
"People travel so much, and you have such an influx of foreigners now (whether they're from Toronto or China)," Presber says. "Their expectations are so much higher for what architecture should be, what fashion should be, what restaurants should be."
And a large part of that means supporting homegrown talent.
"I think this is the first step to establish a fashion community in the city," Presber says. "It's creating an excitement and an awareness in the city."
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For More Information
To learn more about Fashion Central, go to fashioncentral.ca or call Encorp at 403-543-9900.
To learn more about the Calgary designers mentioned in this story, go to the following websites:
- jodiom.com for Jodi Opsahl's yoga and leisure wear label Jodiom
- larapresber.com for Lara Presber's upcoming fall collection of fashion and accessories
- evalinacouture.com for Evalina Schmidtke's bridal and evening wear
- paulhardydesign.com for Paul Hardy's vintage-inspired collection of day and evening wear.
© The Calgary Herald 2008
