Vancouver Fashion Week FW18 - Lasalle College Vancouver Fashion Design Student Showcase: Rethink, Restyle, Repurpose


AHH - fashion design student shows at Vancouver Fashion Week (VFW). They are one of my favourite parts of the line-up each season. And I love that the students gain valuable experience working with backstage hair and make-up teams. It's also a plus that instead of presenting their work to a supportive group of friends, family and teachers, the students are putting their ideas out for the general public and media to critique.  It can be an eye opener for them.

This is LaSalle College Vancouver's 17th consecutive season challenging a carefully selected group of the strongest students from the school's design program to create collections for this special show.  Every season a new show theme is chosen that they must incorporate. This time it was: Rethink, Reuse, Repurpose. Students had to think hard about sustainability in the fashion world during their design process.

The five students who were chosen to offer collections on the runway for VFW's FW2018 season included Alannah Anderson (Manitoba), Daniela Franken Dominguez (Mexico), Gurkirat Narang (India), Azam Rezahosseini (Vancouver), and Shuo Yang (China). Each had to create  their runway looks using pieces of donated clothing and textile scraps from Fabcycle - a pick-up service that collects textile waste and diverts it from the landfill by recycling the fabric or using it for community projects.

The results were amazing. In fact I had no idea until after the show that all the garments were created using upcycled textiles. As well, each student brought their own unique design aesthetic to the challenge. No two collections looked the same.

Special thanks again this season to fashion show producer Tracey Pincott, international videographer Trevor Brady and the beautiful Lizbell Agency models for helping the students create such an amazing show. Enjoy!

Alannah Anderson (Canada) -


Alannah is an Indigenous designer. She moved from Manitoba to British Columbia to pursue
an education in Fashion Design at LaSalle College Vancouver. Her inspiration for her
collection presenting at Vancouver Fashion Week is based on the concern for ocean pollution.
The concept was taken from different textural and structural aspects of ocean plant life. She
has repurposed various materials such as drapes and carpets to create her collection.
Alannah hopes to inspire others to understand the negative impact that the fashion industry
has on our environment, and to shine light on our ability to make a positive change.
Alannah is happy to represent LaSalle College Vancouver at Vancouver Fashion Week
along with her fellow alumni.

Daniela Franken Dominguez (Mexico) -


Daniela was born in Mexico and came to Vancouver to study Fashion Design at LaSalle
College Vancouver. She explains her move to Canada has had a great impact in her life and
opened her mind to a multicultural society, which has influenced her designs in many
different ways. Her inspiration for her first collection is based on the concern for lingerie
waste and how this traditionally ends up in landfills. From this concept she decided to use
recycled lingerie materials to produce her collection. Daniela dreams to own a sustainable lingerie brand in the future that will aim to improve the working conditions of people in her home country and make a positive impact on the environment. She hopes her collection representing the beauty in sustainability will mark the beginning of her journey as a fashion designer.

Gurkirat Narang (India) - 


Gurkirat is from India. Growing up, he admits it was not easy for him to study fashion mostly due
to being male and due to the culture in his home country. At the age of 18, he decided to choose
to follow his dream and come study Fashion Design at LaSalle College Vancouver. Since his time
here Gurkirat has faced and overcome many obstacles, and has learned from each one of them.
Gurkirat's designs infuse his Indian culture and his new love for the Western culture and fashion.

Azam Rezahosseini (Iran) - 


Azam received a pattern drafting and sewing certificate while studying Fashion in high school.
She then decided to study Science and graduated with a bachelor degree in Sciences. Since she
moved to Canada 12 years ago she has been wanting to get back to upgrading her design skills,
and now had the change to study Fashion Design at LaSalle College Vancouver since 2016.
Because the theme for our show this year is Global Warming, her designs were inspired by
the concerning thought of our lakes, rivers, and oceans drying up and disappearing. To
emulate the effect global warming and pollution would have on these, she worked to mimic dry,
cracked earth patterns and effects using plastic bags as part of the central detail in her
collection.

Shuo Yang (China) -



Shuo is originally from Zhejiang, China, and chose to come to Vancouver to pursue her education
in Fashion Design. Since the age of eight she has been interested in the world of Fashion. Her
inspiration comes from traditional elegant design. This collection is an ode to water…..most
importantly how many gallons of water it takes to make one pair of jeans. Shuo has worked
with recycled denim in her collection to encourage recycling fashion material and how one can
make something old look new and elegant again.


About LaSalle College Vancouver (www.lasallecollegevancouver.com)

Established in 1998, LaSalle College Vancouver (LCV) is an Applied Arts school accredited by Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) of the Ministry of Advanced Education of British Columbia and which meets the provincial British Columbian Education Quality Assurance (EQA) standards. LCV offers over 35 exciting applied arts programs in the fields of Fashion, Game Design & VFX, Audio & Film, Culinary, Interior Design, and Graphic Design, with credentials ranging from Bachelor degrees to certificates. E-learning programs are also offered in Fashion Marketing, Administrative Assistant, Video Game 3D Modeling, Interior Design, Graphic Design – Branding and Event Planning and Management.

About the LCI Education network (www.lcieducation.com)

LCI Education traces its origins back to LaSalle College in Montreal, which was founded in 1959. Present today on 5 continents, the LCI Education network consists of 23 select higher education institutions, and some 1,500 employees offering instruction to over 10,000 students throughout the world each year. LCI Education is also known as a leader in online training in Canada. LCI Education encourages program harmonization across the various countries in order to ensure greater flexibility, better control over the quality of its services and respect for cultural diversity.

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