LG Fashion Week will light up the runway in Toronto tonight at its new home on King West at David Pecaut Square.

Last years venue on the CNE grounds. Photo: Creative Commons, Courtesy of Jareed (Flickr)

LGFW, presented by the Fashion Design Council of Canada, has traded its lakeside CNE location to create a stylish tent city as it returns to its roots in the downtown core.

According to a press release by the FDCC, this year’s runway includes seating for over 700 attendees and a 90-foot catwalk to showcase some of the biggest names in Canadian fashion.

Gail McInnes, creator of Magnet Creative Management and graduate of Humber’s Fashion Arts program, has been involved with the Toronto fashion scene for 14 years and has attended many Toronto fashion weeks.

“[LGFW] has grown every single year and what I’ve noticed is that the talent has grown as well,” McInnes told thedailyplanet.com Monday. “It has totally changed how people view Canadian fashion.”

McInnes represents MICALLA, the first jewelry designers to have a runway show at LGFW, and works with Krane, designed by Toronto’s Ken Chow who is a part of the Fashion Collective for LGFW.

This year marks the 25^th season of LGFW and this year’s theme “Canada-Cool” relates directly to what the FDCC describes as a calling card for designers, sponsors and media. 

Debby Ebgon, a law clerk student at Humber College, had applied to volunteer at LGFW in hopes to gain experience in the field.

“I hope to use LG Fashion week to become more educated in Canadian Fashion,” said Egbon, who said she would apply as a volunteer again next year.

Canadian fashion is well represented with Toronto-based designer Arthur Mendonca making his anticipated return to the runway at 8:30 p.m. Monday and many designers from other provinces, including three Montreal based labels (MICALLA, Melissa Nepton, Caroline Neron and Marie Saint Pierre).

There will also be a strong international influence this year including Germany’s Lala Berlin (9:30  p.m. Monday), although McInnes said the focus of LGFW is to make people aware of the Canadian brands.

“I think we need to stop comparing ourselves to other cities [fashion week’s] because we are so different. We have more originality and diversity – I think we may be ahead of the game,” said McInnes.

Some of the week's most anticipated shows are already sold out, including Canadian Brand Joe Fresh, who McInnes says is one of Canada’s fashion success stories.

LG Fashion Week runs until Friday, Oct. 21. For information about the schedule and to find tickets for shows visit the LG Fashion Week website.

The High Park Zoo was cut from the city's budget in January, leaving area residents angry and concerned that the zoo will have to close.

Petitions and donation boxes have been set up in the zoo and High Park city councillor Sarah Doucette said she has many ideas to help raise the money needed to keep it open.

Second year journalism student Samantha Martin files this report. Video by second year Humber journalism student Marco Di Meo.