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In the wide-ranging Canada International Fashion Festival, the wedding section showed styles for all in the bridal party including the littlest groomsman.
Photo by Canna Studio courtesy David Chen
Beauty comes in many shapes and sizes at local fashion show
I didn’t know what expect from the Canada
International Fashion Festival “Power of Love” spring show in the Pacific
Gateway Hotel at Vancouver Airport ballroom Saturday. The printed
program, too, was a little vague alluding to many organizations, a college of
art and design, an imaging academy and iPOP! Canada.
There was also a page dedicated to Miss
Wheelchair Canada 2018. That, and the cancer society fundraising desk should
have been clues.
The packed house saw the start of the fashion
show, complete with glistening runway and throbbing music to which the models
strutted their stuff. The parade of models, at first the normal tooth-pick
thin, leggy women you’d expect, gradually became women and men of all ages,
sizes and abilities.
There were fashions designed for people in
wheelchairs. A kid’s roller skating group modelling Gap gave an enthusiastic
display of skills learned at Richmond’s Skate School.
The evening’s designs ranged from wedding
wear, with a bride, attendants and the youngest models of the show, who won
everyone’s hearts, to designer jewelry to sports wear, daily wear, wheelchair
wear, and leggings.
The leggings, designed and made in Kelowna by
Sweetlegs came in plain and a multitude of designs from large plaid to subtle
geometrics. To prove they really were for everybody, the models ranged from
young, to mature, from curvy to thin, and all looked fabulous. It proves that
if designers want to sell their clothes, they have to show people of shapes and
sizes that their designs look good on them.
In between each designer, whose names remain
a bit of a mystery since the program didn’t list who they were or in what order
they would appear, was an act. A wheelchair ballroom dancing group swooped,
spun and really cut a rug. Two girls performed modern dance with grace, a woman
sang, Harman Maddhar sang music from one of his two albums and sang from his
wheelchair. A woman danced in her wheelchair in a gown of her own design as
another sang “You are the Wings Beneath My Feet.”
Lastly, there was a video projected of a
beautiful woman playing organ music with skill and grace. I and my guest were
mystified as to why there were Christmas decorations in the video. Then
organizer David Chen took the mike, explaining this was his wife playing at a
Canadian Cancer Society fundraiser a couple of years ago. Two months after the
video was shot, she died of her cancer.
Suddenly, everything came into focus. Chen relayed
his wife’s words, “There are only two things in life. The first is love and the
second is art.” Chen said he now
lives his life by those words and thus the name of the fashion show, “The Power
of Love,” was a tribute to his late wife. The Cancer Society fundraising table
was busy accepting generous donations as the evening drew to a close.
Many thanks to Tourism Richmond for putting
me onto this show of high style with heart.
And many thanks to all who participated,
donated and created this show that clearly demonstrates the wide range of
normal.
The name of the show, “The Power of Love”
said it all.
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