Apr
26
Montreal Fashion Week is bidding adieu to its old stomping grounds for a brand new home.
The next edition of the semi-annual fashion showcase will be held Sept. 4-7 at Arsenal, a complex dedicated to contemporary art.
The 3,800-square-metre industrial boatyard from the turn of the century currently houses an exhibition hall dedicated to private collections and includes a main hall featuring about 1,860 square metres of unobstructed space.
Tavan and Mitto.
For the past several years, the bulk of runway shows at Montreal Fashion Week had been staged at its central hub at Bonsecours Market in the heart of Old Montreal.
In an interview with The Canadian Press last August, Sensation Mode co-president Jean-Francois Daviau, whose company organizes Fashion Week, had said a bigger venue for the entire event was a consideration.
Montreal Fashion Week is on the move. After five years at Bonsecours Market in Old Montreal, the semi-annual shows will have a new home at l’Arsenal, the new contemporary art centre in Griffintown.
The former shipbuilding yard boasts 40,000 square feet and will house two runway rooms. The main room holds 800 people, 100 more than at Bonsecours, and an upstairs gallery accommodates another 300.
“The setting complements our vision of fashion week,” said Jean-Francois Daviau, co-president of Sensation Mode, which produces the show. “We are a fashion week of createurs. L’Arsenal is about art. It’s like a museum.”
Fashion week had also reached the limit of its possible growth at Bonsecours, he added, and it was increasingly difficult for people to circulate through the historic market. “We wanted to improve the facilities to give media and buyers the best welcome.”
Bonus: it looks like it won’t be necessary to cover the catwalk with plastic, a ritual that preceded and followed every show for the past five years, Daviau joked.
Montreal Fashion Week, showing styles for springsummer 2013, runs Sept. 4-7, at l’Arsenal, 2020 William St.