With Toronto Fashion Week – World MasterCard Fashion Week, as it’s officially called – now in full swing, we thought we’d give you some behind-the-scenes insight into who, how and what is driving Canada’s largest fashion production. With the country’s most talented designers in the spotlight, there certainly isn’t a lack of work to be done off the runway.
We caught up with two young professional ladies who are calling the shots on the PR end of the event, publicists Christina Walters-Arseneau and Michelle Easton of rock-it-promotions, the agency of record for the Fashion Design Council of Canada (FDCC), and World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto.
First of all, what are your roles within this massive production? We have the privilege working for rock-it promotions, which heads up PR for World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto. This covers a wide variety of roles and responsibilities, such as press materials, media/industry accreditation, seating in the runway room/studio, handling press requests and securing interviews, handling backstage interviews, handling VIP guests…and much more. Our entire team is on-site for every show all week to support the designer PR teams. This season, we are also running the full PR for five runway shows.
What’s the most exciting part about your job? The most exciting part of our job is getting to be around so many creative and talented people (not to mention, people that dress really well!) from the show producers to the designers to the media members and, of course, the entire FDCC team. We get to deal with so many fascinating people every day.
…and the most challenging part? The most challenging part is finding time to eat ;).
What have been some favourites from this year’s show? We really loved watching the Chloe Comme Parris runway show, and we are very excited to check out all the remaining shows including VAWK, RUDSAK, Dare to Wear Love, David Dixon, Pink Tartan and Rad Hourani runway shows.
What makes Toronto’s Fashion Week notable? World MasterCard Fashion Week is notable because it includes the country’s most creative and stylish individuals, and showcases Canadian designers to the rest of the world.
To follow all of the fashion action, check out World MasterCard Fashion Week’s official website here.
Tweet them @MichEaston / @Christinallison / @rockitpromo