The first real hot ticket in Toronto this year, in my opinion, was the @Style panel discussion, part of the international event Social Media Week.  You had to get up pretty early to grab a spot on the RSVP list – naturally I’m a lark and signed up on 5:30am on January 29th, third on the list, seconds after Susan Langdon tweeted about it for the first time.

Four speakers, invited by Jyotika of exshoesme, brought four very different perspectives to the effects of social media on fashion.  At first I was a little skeptical – other than Cherie Federau of Shrimpton Couture, none of the speakers are bloggers – and even Cherie is primarily an online retailer, not a blogger.  So what sort of insights could an audience populated mostly by fashion bloggers expect?

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The first speaker was Susan Langdon of the Toronto Fashion Incubator (full disclosure – TFI is a sponsor of Final Fashion).  Susan introduced the new Social Media Guidebook (available here) that the TFI commissioned, and that I had a small part in contributing to.  The guide is made for fashion entrepreneurs who are unfamiliar with the current social media landscape and want to be able to use the tools available to help their brand. I haven’t seen the book in full yet so I can’t comment on it other than the brief overview Susan gave us; while the bullet points seem a bit jargon-y (what the heck does authenticate even mean?) the interviews with many interesting bloggers and entrepreneurs would be well worth the cost of admission.  The questions I answered for the guide were good ones and I gave very candid answers.

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The second speaker was Cherie Federau of Shrimpton Couture.  I was looking forward to hearing Cherie speak the most – the scribbly notes in the moleskine above are from her presentation (I don’t own a mobile, and I don’t live-tweet, ever). Of all of the speakers, I identify most closely with Cherie – not only do I admire her as a tremendously successful online entrepreneur, she is also enthusiastic and genuine with a great sense of humour.  Cherie is self-taught by trial and error (like me) and abides by a similar philosophy of relating to people online – essentially, be open to the world, stay on top of your correspondence, be a decent human being, and be true to yourself. Cherie’s talk offered the most real, applicable advice to living and working online.

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The third speaker was Dr. Alexandra Palmer, costume curator of the Royal Ontario Museum.  She began her presentation discussing buttons on 13th century jackets – and I was wondering what the connection was (because surely it wasn’t to buttons on mobile phones).  Over the course of her talk, her insight became a bit clearer – that the application of technology to fashion is what makes new fashions possible – for instance, the development of stretch fabrics made the innovation of pantyhose possible, and pantyhose in turn made it possible for women to wear miniskirts in the 1960s.

However, when it came to the application of social media technology to fashion, Dr. Palmer seemed dubious of the advantages – she expressed cynicism that the greater speed and dissemination of trends could do anything for the development of modern fashion, that somehow the overwhelming preoccupation with speed represented a sense of loss and “waste” to her. She drew some thoughtful parallels between social media and the development of the Jacquard loom, the first computer, which put many weavers out of work. She also discussed a bit about how technology is affecting the modern retail business – such as how prolific communication makes retail innovations like pop-up shops possible.  Another revelation on retail was about how shopping for clothing is so dependent on tactility – and how now bricks and mortar stores are being used by customers to try on clothing, and online stores are used to find the best price.

During the question and answer session at the end of the talk, I was able to ask Dr. Palmer whether she had any insights on how the invention of the printing press effected the fashion industry, and whether there are any parallels from that period of history now.  Her response was somewhat surprising to me – though she acknowledged that printing sped up the trend cycle, she dismissed that the technology of printing had a significant effect on fashion, which seems unlikely. Now I am more curious about this than before. Dr. Palmer is an esteemed historian and I have enjoyed reading her admirable work on costume history, but on media, she seems uncharacteristically uncurious.

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The fourth and final speaker was Lisa Tant, editor-in-chief of Flare Magazine. Lisa is the only EIC of a fashion magazine in Canada who is a prolific tweeter with a significant following online. She can seem surprisingly unguarded on twitter sometimes – just over a week ago she got some flack for “Sobbing to think that a 13 year old gets a front row seat to cover couture. No justice in this world.” which she obliquely alluded to in her presentation by saying that its best to avoid being “cute or sarcastic” on social media. I couldn’t help but find it a bit ironic that Lisa Tant would be telling a room full of fashion bloggers about social media the very next week – seating assignments really do seem unfair sometimes – and wondered if I could think of a slam-dunk question to ask her, but somehow I couldn’t.

Watching Lisa Tant speak, she seemed much more lucid and insightful than she appears on Twitter, which I think does reveal a limitation of micro-blogging. The major message I got from Tant’s talk was how magazines are concerned with the broader strokes of culture and celebrity – while what is important for bloggers is a sense of individual personality. Flare can be commended for recognizing the work of Tommy Ton before he became a phenomenon – but for the most part it seems like the publication is concerned with using the existing momentum behind individual brands – such as Lady Gaga and Perez Hilton, to drive the growth of the Flare brand.

This supports my own conclusions when it comes to the new-media vs. old-media discussion – that mastheads are becoming less valuable than individuals. Flare as a brand is not only hampered by its very corporate-ness (unsupportive Rogers policy tries to discourage the use of social media), it is more and more dependent on the brands of individuals to drive its own brand. Online, Tommy Ton is a bigger brand than Flare – and his fans will follow his work whether its under the Flare masthead, or Style.com, or on his own site.  I think that editors and old media say that the holy grail online is speed (Tant says “readers expect immediacy”) but the real prize we’re all after is actually an individual brand (Tommy often posts photos months after they are taken).  I think Tant knows this whether she says it or not – her own personal influence is getting pretty close to equal in numbers to that of Flare’s – I would even argue that it is more valuable in qualitative terms to Flare, and especially to Tant herself.

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All in all it was a terrific, thought-provoking morning, and the various perspectives provided some fascinating contrasts. If you attended, what did you think? I’m up for a discussion.

This is rather short notice but I know a lot of you might find this interesting – if you’ve got some free time downtown it would be fascinating to learn more about how to get a TV or radio show from an idea to a reality.

GREEN LIGHT – How do new shows get chosen and developed at CBC?

Find out from the experts about the inner workings of the national public broadcaster and how they choose what goes to air.

OCTOBER 29 at Noon
Inside CBC radio with Chris Straw, Manager, In-House Program Development and Chris Boyce, Programming Director, English Radio

November 4, at Noon
Inside CBC-TV with Christine Wilson, Deputy Director, English Television Network Programming and Jennifer Stewart, Senior Director, Acquisitions & Development, English Television Network Programming

CANADIAN BROADCASTING CENTRE – Front Street Set 250 Front St. W

FREE EVENT – NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED
For more info: www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/visit

Dermalogica sent an invitation for me and a “significant teen” to go rollerskating and learn a bit more about their new line for teens, Clean Start.

I invited the only teenager I know in town, Vanessa Faulkner.  Vanessa interviewed me for a school project last spring and is entering Fashion Communications at my old school, Ryerson, so I thought she might be into checking out a press event.  She gamely skipped out on orientation activities to come along, thanks Vanessa!  I asked Vanessa to contribute some thoughts – her comments are indented.

When we entered Scooters we were all given name tags and funky roller socks from American Apparel, and were then asked to take a photo with our ‘teen’ (which I guess would have been me). The place was decorated like a 60’s diner, with all sorts of fun, colourful decorations, and was filled with all sorts of Dermalogica products; face washes, moisturizers, masks and toners.  As soon as most people arrived we all sat down with our burgers and chicken fingers and snacked while listening to their presentation. I enjoyed the video presentation we watched, as although I found it corny at some parts, it was very cute, fun, and was a good video to market towards teens.

It was fun to be roller-buddies with blog friend Monica of Beauty Parler (who took the photo) and hang out with friend-of-a-friend and freelancer Felicia (on the right).

I had never rollerskated before, so obviously the first thing I did when stepping out onto the rink was fall down.  Ow. Vanessa says:

To my surprise roller-skating was a lot harder than it looked! At first we were all wobbling around, and for the first 5 minutes Danielle was clinging onto my arm for dear life.

Thanks for saving my life, Vanessa.  After a few I was able to wobble along on my own.

Soon enough we got the hang of it and by then Dermalogica had begun to organize fun games for us all to participate in, giving away Dermalogica products as prizes. They had us doing all sorts of things from the Macarena to the chicken dance, to musical chairs (and don’t forget this was all while on roller skates!).

I wasn’t about to start hopping around on wheels so I took some photos during the games and couldn’t resist making a GIF out of these two girls – they were so full of energy I couldn’t tear my eyes away from their impressive, and self-consciously beautiful, performance.

I think the girl on the left won a prize pack of the complete Clean Start collection.

Finally we were given our gift bags, thanked for coming, and were about to board the school bus to take us back to the city when they announced that there was one more surprise. Waiting outside for us all was an ice cream truck where we were each allowed a complimentary ice cream – any kind we wanted. It was a great way to end the day, however I couldn’t help but find it somewhat ironic that they were promoting a skin care product to help clear acne, while feeding us junk food all day long – one of the major causes for oily skin and breakouts. Overall I enjoyed participating in the event and it was a great learning experience for me.

I guess its in Dermalogica’s best interest to promote topical stuff rather than addressing the internal aspect of skin health – but it does seem a bit disingenuous for a company that emphasizes education.  The scooters experience was fun and teen-appropriate but considering it was such a gorgeous late summer day outside, maybe an opportunity for a slightly more wholesome event was missed? *had an idea in the comments.

So what about the products?  The packaging design is really clean and gender-neutral.  The products themselves are just as good as Dermalogica’s adult lines – quality botanical ingredients, fresh scents and nice textures – but with the added bonus of being delivered in a simplified way.  Personally, I would buy the Clean Start stuff for myself – I don’t think it will only appeal to teenagers, but also to people like me who are looking for a less fussy kind of skincare.

I’ve been experimenting with the samples all weekend – especially enjoying the welcome matte spf15 which is the least slippery and fastest absorbing face moisturizer I have ever used.  I also really liked the bedtime for breakouts “stealth treatment”.  My skin is not easy to please these days so it was really a delight to get to use such nice products.  What did Vanessa think?

I have yet to actually try out Dermalogica’s Clean Start samples I received in my gift bag, but I will be sure to do that soon, and I will update you all when I do!

Ok, we’ll follow up with her soon – I am pretty sure she is overwhelmed with her first few days of fashion school right now.

Thanks to Dermalogica Clean Start for treating us to such a fun day!

Like I wrote last week, “Watching the clothes come down the runway at LG Fashion Week is only half the fun.”  The other half is peering across the runway watching the reactions of the other attendees, and of course checking out all of the reviews, responses, and coverage that results.

Since I had no media accreditation, I was a bit surprised to find that the original post was tacked on the wall in the Media Filing Room.  I had more than one editor come up to me insisting that they go to more shows than I see them at.  Well how am I going to argue with that – we have a competitive spirit in this town and the real winners are the designers.  Here is a collection of the best of LG Fashion Week media.

Ok, so maybe all of the columnists really did get a memo from their bosses to join the twitter train.  Still, having everyone on twitter for fashion week made it a lot more fun – and a bit more competitive.  Best – @AndrewEs and @DerickChetty having a tweet-down for the Heart Truth show.

Sponsorship does a blog good, if BlogTO’s coverage is any indication.  The city blog was fast with the photos and videos, plus party pics and show reviews.  Congratulations to the (big) team, great job!

Torontoist’s dishy dailies delivered (while frustrating the fashion-illiterates) – Sarah Nicole Prickett’s style satisfies fashion mediaphiles like me.

The Subadult Years learned the lesson I learned the hard way two seasons ago – the people you write about do read your blog, and respond.  Especially when your opinions are very candid and your facts are off.  On the other hand, for those without sensitive egos, the peek into someone’s show notes without editing and softening is a very refreshing read.

The Yuppie Activist wants it both ways – you be the judge.

Calgary Fashion came to the tents for the last few days, her first ever “official” runway beat and she did a terrific job with a lot of enthusiasm.

Fashion in Motion used her all access pass well, bringing daily videos and reviews of the shows.

New discovery (for me) Carelessly Clothed took pictures and posted daily.

Toronto Street Fashion has lots of party pics, outfits, and Daniel’s daily diary.

Other blogs to add?  Tip me in the comments.

The National Post arts blog, The Ampersand, has the fastest reviews by Nathalie Atkinson.  She files them right after she sees them – if she’s too busy to chat in the tents, its because she’s working.  The reviews never disappoint, her impressions are fresh and to the point.

The Toronto Star’s team had all the angles covered – David Livingstone, Derick Chetty, Diana Zlomisic, Bernadette Morra and Erin Kobayashi, and a team of photographers did profiles, opinion pieces, reviews, videos and photo galleries.  What they didn’t do this season was starred reviews – and as a reader I didn’t miss them.  The Star can be counted on to dig out the conflicts, real or not, which makes reading entertaining and a bit maddening.

The Globe and Mail came to some shows and delivered some reviews, six months early by their standards (or right on time if you follow fashion news).   The G&M a paper with a sophisticated readership, and the style section tries to function more like a magazine than a newspaper I suppose, but for my own purposes it isn’t a go-to paper.  Or website, for that matter, as they insist on charging for archived articles.

NOW Magazine has the cutest feature (a take 7?) on The Deadly Nightshades this week.  Online, Andrew Sardone delivered the fashion week special by blog, as pithy as I promised, and with photo galleries.

EYE WEEKLY brought both the up-to-the-minute coverage on twitter, plus a thoughtful article on Toronto’s forgotten fashion week past.  Well done Rea!

Fashion Television had their videos up fast.  Did you even notice that not every look makes it on the runway videos – I wonder why?  Better yet, check all the interviews with the big honchos.

Fashion File blogged LG Fashion Week – skimming over it I see a lot of photos, an interview and a few paragraphs, but not a lot of video for a TV site.  Do we have to wait until it is on “real” TV?

FASHION Magazine gets it – dailies, reviews, and videos all in one handy link.  Plus, they gave my project a bit of link love!

It took a little bit of looking to find it on the homepage, but FLARE blogged LG Fashion Week daily and a few more goodies can be found for the dedicated searcher.

ELLE Canada has videos on the main page and reviews of past seasons in Toronto but not this one yet.

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Did I miss anything?  I love being fact-checked by the best editors in the city, uncap your red pens in the comments.

Watching the clothes come down the runway at LG Fashion Week is only half the fun – the other half is watching everyone else watch the clothes, and seeing what they’re all saying.  With TV, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and twitterers all getting in on the action, I thought I would collect some of the coverage mediaphiles like me watch out for.

Please note this post is continuously revised through the week.

It just seems like a month ago that the fashion niche on twitter was dominated by the fashion bloggers and public relations.  Suddenly in the past few weeks it seems like all our favourite columnists got a memo and joined up – @shinangovani is a natural with a distinct tweet style, @NathAt is neither social nor a networker by nature but she’s giving it a chance, @dzlomislic is conversational, @derickchetty is literally live tweeting every look on the runway and @amyverner is already proselytizing.  Hopefully she can talk David Livingstone into signing up. (Amy tells me he has! and @FashionCanada tells me his handle is @livingdavid – though like me, Livingstone has no mobile.)

The ones to follow for live coverage are the ones with Blackberrys and iPhones.  Myself I have neither so my tweets will be limited to the mornings.  To get it all in one place, drop into the #LGFW channel on twitter search.

Blogs are either stepping it up or easing it up, depending on whether they decided to drop ca$h for an “online media pass” or not.  Guess what – I belong the the latter category.  I am not a journalist or a media company and I am not going to try to be one.  What I do best is doodling and being a very minor part of the scene – and that is exactly what I am going to do.

BlogTO got a sponsor for fashion week and is looking to step up their coverage.  They’re rounding up coverage from around the internet, sending photographers to the shows and encouraging their bloggers to try and dig up some insider dirt.

Torontoist’s daily roundups are being written by Sarah Nicole Prickett – so needless to say, they are a must read.

I want – I got is featuring photos and some interviews from all the shows Anita is going to.  Anita has a day job so these will mostly be evening shows.  She is friends with a lot of designers and the good people at Holt Renfrew so expect a little insider insight (emphatically not dirt).  Plus she’s a twittering fiend – @geekigirl.

The Yuppie Activist is a first-time attendee at LGFW – she has a background as an organizer at Ottawa Fashion Week and a very opinionated writing style so I am looking forward to her perspective.

Focusing their cameras on the attendees of fashion week are Toronto Street Fashion and Textstyles.  Frankly, I don’t dress well for fashion week, leaving me feeling like “a noticeable exception” (read: disappointment), but these snappers catch the better dressed and leave me alone.  Fine with me.

The Subadult Years is attending as both an outsider and a patron of Canadian fashion, and she is not one to sugar-coat either.

The Style Box is a regular attendee of fashion week in Toronto from the very beginning, and she has something to say about how it is done.  Don’t call her a fashion blogger!  She also edits the always comprehensive TFI News, and if you follow her on twitter you may get a drop of sweet wisdom here and there.

Kim of Calgary Fashion is flying in to check the last two days of shows and I am thrilled to finally meet her!

Fashion in Motion blogs as a fashion week volunteer.

Reading the F-List is exactly like a sparkling tent conversation – observational, light, funny, and brief.

Fashionistas has photos, fast, and a news feed, plus a members-only area.

Have more to add?  Tip me in the comments.

The newspapers for the most part give us daily coverage with a critical eye.  More than other media, they make the effort to find conflicts in stories and try to be objective with reviews.

The Toronto Star has a lot of people on the job giving a range of articles and reviews.  The must read is David Livingstone’s reviews – he is hard to impress and rarely gives a designer more than three stars.

The National Post’s lean team brings it every season.  Nathalie Atkinson takes her front row seat at every show and then reviews it in the media lounge without missing a beat.  Subscribe to the Ampersand blog to receive remarkably prompt updates on what just walked down the runway.

The Globe and Mail is a bit more low-key.  Besides previews and profiles, they have not attempted to review every show and make a point of waiting six months to show the fashions in editorial.  I will be watching to see if the Globe will be in the tents a bit more – and I’m pleased to report the Globe is in attendance this season.  We love having Amy Verner & Co. around!  Do they review now too?

Now Magazine’s Andrew Sardone specializes in very pithy reviews and the section features profiles of style survivors and other fashion scene fixtures.

EYE Weekly has no coverage as of yet but always sends a couple writers to the tents.  I just found out that Rea McNamara is tweeting fashion week @eyeweekly.

Fashion Television is the major media sponsor and always has a set right inside the tents.  One of the great things about fashion week in Toronto is being able to watch Jeanne Beker or Glen Baxter interview the designers on set minutes after their shows are over.  They work hard!  Beker is Toronto’s own equivalent to Anna Wintour – but much more expressive.  Watching her reaction during a fashion show is one of the great joys of being seated on the north side of the tent – if Beker loves it she smiles wide.  Considering she’s seen every kind of show all over the world, taking her attention away from her Blackberry is no easy feat.

Fashion File, RIP.  This will be the show’s final season.  Adrian Mainella is a charming man.  His enthusiasm is genuine and he works it in the tents, not only doing interviews but also hosting the Ruffian “Inside Out” launch on Thursday.  I hope for Mainella, the best is yet to come.

The three major Canadian magazines all have a presence in the tents.  Mostly they are watching out for items to style with over the next six months.

FASHION Magazine is the powerhouse presence as far as magazines go in the tents – they have a large crew of interns, writers, and editors snapping show-goer styles, reviewing the runway, and blogging.  Of all the magazines, their website is the most open and interactive.  I always wondered where Ceri Marsh was – it seemed last season like I didn’t see her very much – but maybe I was always seated behind her on the same side of the runway?  Anyway, she corrected me in person today which I appreciate as I have no fact-checkers.  She is always at the shows.

Flare’s editor-in-chief Lisa Tant usually shows up to many of the shows.  Flare tries to have fun with fashion week, interviewing attendees and offering insight on who-wears-what.

ELLE Canada’s Rita Silvan is another rare sight, though she is guaranteed to be seen at the Project Runway Canada show.  I can’t find anything about FW09 fashion week in Toronto on their site yet, but its just the first day.  I’ve seen her at Joeffer Caoc and Comrags, looking lovely.

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So there’s my media roundup, but it is in no way complete.  What are your go-to sites for LG Fashion Week coverage?  What other magazines are there?  Are you blogging the shows?  Who do you follow on twitter?  Link it up in the comments.