Vicky Milner on growing Canadian fashion, at home and abroad

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Vicky Milner is on a mission to help boost the profile of Canada's fashion industry and shape it into a global force. Four years ago, alongside her business partner Brittney Kuczynski, the Russian-born, Toronto-raised impresario parachuted into the country's style landscape with a juried awards gala. The Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards (CAFAs) are a lavish production designed to honour and celebrate the best Canada had to offer.

Since Milner and Kuczynski were virtually unknown by the country's fashion cognoscenti, there were cynics who wondered whether they'd be able to sustain the momentum and spin the awards into an annual affair. Happily, the pair proved they weren't just one-hit wonders. Year after year, the CAFAs have been presented at sold-out galas, and last year, even attracted Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau as an attendee. This year's event will be held on April 7 at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York hotel.

Besides establishing these coveted awards, the CAFA organization has also been responsible for a variety of other initiatives, including the bi-annual FashionCAN shows at Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre, which offer Canadian designers the opportunity to both present and sell their wares directly to the general public. I spoke with Milner recently about her idealism, her relentless passion and support for Canadian designers, and how she's determined to raise awareness for our homegrown talent on both a national and international stage.

You weren't from the fashion world, yet you decided to take the ball and run with it. Why?

After I finished school, I used to rep lines with an agency called Millennium on Toronto's King Street West. I did that for a few years, so I kind of dipped my toe in a little bit. But then I went into the music industry, because I wanted to do entertainment, music and marketing. Then I had children and I went to work at Sick Kids for five years doing events there. I wanted to see what the not-for-profit world was like and learn a little bit there. Then I came back to fashion. I've always been entrepreneurial and it was upsetting to see that other arts, like music and film and TV, always got recognition. I couldn't understand why the [fashion] industry here didn't have the same swell of support and camaraderie. So I started doing research. I did a bunch of round tables and it was clear that people wanted something to unite them. It wasn't so much about recognition but about bringing people together. I believe in strength in numbers. And if you don't make noise about your own, how do you expect other people to take notice?

Do you find it enigmatic that there's not one united voice for fashion designers in this country, the way there is in America or France or Britain?

It does seem a bit scattered, but I think it has to start with the government and respecting the art of fashion. If you look at Europe, the treatment of the fashion industry is very different to how we treat it here. The fashion industry has gotten so much respect, not only from the government, but from other industries who donate money for funding, grants or prizes. It's part of their history to support fashion. It's a no-brainer for people to regard fashion and the creative talents behind it as just as important as anything else. Those councils and agencies in other countries have always been very strong in their support and showing how important fashion is. We've never had that in this country. Maybe that part of the fractured state that we have right now is because there was never one strong, united voice.

But is it because our federal government never supported the fashion industry wholeheartedly, or is it because the designers were never together to begin with?

I feel that if they were given support that would change. In Europe, for example, emerging designers start out the same way. A lot of them are creative, but they don't have any of the business sense. They need mentorship. They need support. So it's a bit of a cycle, because without certain support and funding, they may not get to that professional state where they can launch a global brand. If everyone came together, buckled down and said, "Okay, from this point on we're valuing this industry. We are going to provide support," 10 years from now, you'd see an emergence of more businesses that are ready, that are more globally successful. As Canadians, we lead in so many other ways. But when it comes to fashion, can we be risk takers and adopt new brands and get buyers to buy new brands? I'm not talking about the really green brands but ones that we see potential in. Can a department store take that risk and invest in a few seasons and nurture a designer to help them grow and build a bigger brand? Can consumers invest in those designers? There's also the challenge of Canadian designers not being found everywhere. And the marketing dollars aren't there so it's not front and centre. So it's a huge combination of things: it's accessibility, it's awareness, it's the support from the government. It's us having a different state of mind. We have to all come together and say "We want to wear Canadian! We are going to support these guys because that will help them grow and become bigger and better brands and more internationally known."

What's in all this for you? Organizing all that you produce has become a formidable job, but how do you explain your personal passion?

What I really love are the people behind this industry. It's such a difficult one. It's so competitive. My passion comes from the designers' stories, their successes, the struggles. Some choose to invest all their money into certain fabrics over eating certain foods every day, because that's their passion, and they want to make sure their collection is what it needs to be. There's so much personal sacrifice. And I want to champion that because I want them to be successful. I have so much respect for all of them. Putting yourself out there, collection after collection, to be open to criticism… sometimes it's great and sometimes it's not so great. But then they come back time and time again. My heart bleeds for them. CAFA has such an important role to tell their stories properly, to tell the world who we have in this country and how great it is. I will be their biggest cheerleader, because I believe in their talent. I just believe they need more help in showcasing who they are.

How do you feel about the current fragmentation of these different local fashion camps? Is this all good or potentially dangerous?

That's a good question. As far as CAFA goes, it's a neutral body. We support all of these organizations. Because we're national, it's not just about what's going on in Toronto. CAFA is there to tell everyone's stories and support the industry wholeheartedly. It's funny because when Toronto Fashion Week got cancelled, it reinvigorated passion in other people who thought that they could now also jump to the forefront to still provide some type of platform and not leave people hanging. It is a bit of an interesting time now because there are all these different groups popping up and it's a small market: There are only so many designers to go around and only so much money designers have to get involved. I think it'll come down to the biggest return on investment for designers to see which group they'll associate themselves with, and who will tell their story best. It's confusing, most of all for the designers, because they don't know who to go with, so it would be nice to have more of a unified showcase. But it's nice there are so many people wanting to support the designers and create platforms. I'm all for that.

Why do you think people should wear Canadian designers?

There's a trickle-down effect. When you're investing in Canadian fashion, you're helping the economy and you're helping that designer go to the next level of their business. If we don't support our own people, then we won't have anyone inspired to do anything, and the next generation of students eventually won't go into fashion. They won't see a point. To me, that's really sad because you're squashing such great potential. If we don't make a conscious decision to support our own, we're going to regret it because we won't have any creative talent left in this country.

This interview has been condensed and edited.