Fashion and Diversity LIVE from Urbani_T

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The fashion industry is often one to lead cultural change. The issue of diversity in the industry as it relates to race, body and gender is a hot topic and Sage Paul, Haley Elsaesser and Adrienne Wu are leaders in the industry and activism inclusivity. This episode of Fashion Talks was recorded in front of a live audience as part of the Urbani_T festival in Toronto, ON.

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Fashion and Sustainability: Fashion Revolution Week

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April 2018 marks the 5th year of the deadly collapse of Rana Plaza. A massive garment factory in Bangladesh that shocked the world over with its appalling working conditions. Fashion Revolution is a global movement rooted in demanding transparency for the garment industry around labour conditions, fair wages and environmental impact. Kelly Drenann, founder of Fashion Takes Action, and its creative director and longest collaborator, Sarah Jay, discuss the broad strokes of fashion and sustainability.

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Gersha Phillips from Star Trek LIVE at Toronto Fashion Week

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Fashion and Designing for the Future with Gersha Phillips, Costume Designer Star Trek Discovery - from pop culture and historical references to existing Star Fleet heritage to technological advances what does fashion look like in star date 2250.

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Oscar Nominated Luis Sequeira on The Shape of Water

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Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, a fairy tale of a 1960s janitor and her relationship with a sea-creature captured in the name of science experimentation, earned 13 Academy Award nominations and numerous accolades and awards including: Best Director and Best Score 2017 Golden Globes, BAFTA winner for Best Production Design, Best Original Music, Best Direction, AFI Film of the Year and more. Costume design incorporates intensive research, character development, garment construction and more to bring to life the story on the screen. Costume Designer Luis Sequeira (nominated for Best Costume Designer by dozens of organizations including the Academy Awards

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Jordan McKay of Hendrixroe

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It was a chance encounter with a complete stranger that inspired Jordan Erin McKay to leave law school and follow her dreams to become a fashion designer.   Inspired by the vintage rock & roll and old Hollywood glamour icons, Jimi Hendrix and Marilyn Monroe, HENDRIXROE embodies the epitome of “glamorous rocker couture” with close attention to construction, fabric and fine lines, combining an innovative and unique perspective on the affluent ...

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Nikki Yassemi of Narces

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Designer Spotlight episodes are the origin stories of fashion designers.  What kind of kid were they growing up? What did they submit to design school? When did clothing and fashion start to be an important force in their life? Donna Bishop asks about them, not their collections. Nikki Yassemi is a Canadian, Austrian born, raised in Iran designer with a long family history of couture, dress making and visual arts. Her label Narces, which she runs with her husband Stefan.

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Counterfeit, Piracy and Knock-offs

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The fashion industry is fraught with copy cats and big business legal battles. While the notion of IP (intellectual property) protection within fashion is a relatively modern notion, fashion and branding lawyer Ashlee Froese discusses why it is a critical issue to designers and consumers alike.

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The Evolution of Online Luxury Shopping

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In a relatively short time period, consumers have gone from having to visit a store to touch and feel an item in order to purchase it, to purchasing off a website, to purchasing pre-production through sites like Kickstarter. Christine Carlton, founder and CEO of The September, discusses the evolution of the luxury consumer.

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Fashion and Status

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With a Masters from Polimoda, one of the top 10 fashion institutes in the world, Trend Forecaster Emily Miller Palmquist discusses the evolution of fashion as status and how what we wear holds more meaning than taste.

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Carly Stojsic: Who Makes the Trends?

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Carly Stojsic, former Market Editor at Worth Global Style Network and internationally sought after Trend Forecaster, shares insights into how items become the “it thing” for a season and what exactly is a “trend” anyway. Carly is is known as being one of Canada’s...

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