The Artz4Fashion show Saturday night was a new event at this year’s 24th annual Sooke Fine Arts Show. It featured locally designed and made and environmentally friendly clothing and accessories.

The vibe in the SEAPARC Leisure Complex, transformed into a gallery with dividers, banners and clever lighting, was one of community and appreciation. Women in floral summer dresses, men in sandals and kids of all ages chatted and packed in for the show after perusing the art and snacking on veggies and a variety of local smoked salmon.

“That was a blast,” he recounted from a taxi in Toronto on Friday afternoon.

“It was 6,000 people at Nokia Theatre, and 2,000 of them were teenage girls who won tickets on radio contests. Any time there was a kiss all the girls would scream. It was very Frankie Goes to Hollywood, it was really cool.”

Next up: Doug Coupland’s own “pop-up” Roots store.

The Nanaimo photographer decided to create a Facebook group to provide a place for artists to network with one another.

In December, Parks developed Vancouver Island Models and Photographers, otherwise known as VIMP.

“It became a handy tool for models looking to update their books by posting their availability,” said Parks in an e-mail, “and for photographers looking to cast for particular photo shoots.”

A year ago, Parks took up photography as a hobby, but was soon inspired to seriously pursue fashion photography.

She said with the number of photographers and models on the Island growing daily, the region is making a name for itself in the fashion world.

Last year she submitted her designs to the Telio Design Competition, as part of her coursework for the fashion design program at Vancouver Community College.

Judges were taken by  the casual sportswear sketches she put forward, and she became one of only 25 Canada-wide who will see her creations — finished with some Telio fabric —presented at a runway show during Montreal Fashion Week March 4.

“I completely never thought I would get chosen as semi-finalist, because the theme this year.  Art-a-porter— Traditional artisan and couture techniques, so think embroidery, beading, needlework — was so outside of my normal style as I have been heading in a more minimal, sportswear-like direction lately,” Obidowski said.

Gong, of mixed-race heritage and raised on Indian reservations in Washington and British Columbia, combines the traditional crescents and form lines of Coast Salish art with the contemporary styles of Vans shoes.

The result is eye-popping custom-designed footwear that sells for $200-plus a pair and on which customers are free to express their own identities — like the Irish customer who wanted to incorporate a clover leaf into her shoe design.

This week, the 36-year-old will be one of eight Native designers from across North America participating in an aboriginal fashion show during the Olympic Games.

Ivan Sayers is well known in Vancouver’s fashion community for his historical fashion shows and lectures. As curator for the Original Costume Museum Society, a group dedicated to preserving historical clothing from around the world, Sayers is able to bring expertise and humour to his presentations.

Not only will Ivan present an in-depth visual commentary covering this unique century of costume, but will also bring actual designer original garments from this period to teach students about changes in design in the past century.