FASHION Magazine

“It’s fashion week here?” says the taxi man, pulling away from Paddington Station. “That’s good.” For the cabbing business? Of course. Fashion week heels and London cobblestones don’t mix.

Luckily I’ve got razor-grips on my Camilla Skovgaards, which have already been photographed, in early Jak & Jil style, more times than my face. Er, I won’t take it personally. After all, I took the red-eye quite literally; if I were any more bloodshot I’d be Charlie Sheen. Crimson was the colour du jour at Jean-Pierre Braganza, too. The Ryerson grad and ex-Montrealer is one of my favourite Canadian expats, and that’s saying a lot, because there were loads of them here by my last count. Homeboy has got a wicked way with tailoring, envelope-folding, laser-cutting… even the LBD is interesting in his hands.

By Rea McNamara

Luxury is in real time: Livestreamed runway shows, style blogs, personalized shopping apps and expanding global markets. Aggregating this conversation has been the Business of Fashion, an industry must-RSS read. At the helm of the site is Imran Amed, a McGill-educated Calgarian. We caught up with the London-based founder and editor, a Harvard MBA that the Independent calls an “inspirational, interesting, and influential” player, to discuss these changes.

I remember reading a couple years ago that you had heard, as an assessment of Canadian fashion, that “Canadian designers lack the confidence to push forward their own ideas, choosing instead to be ‘inspired’ by major international designers.” Fast forward to this spring, and you reported a “Quiet Canadian Fashion Revolution in London.” What do you think happened between now and then?

“Wherever I travel, I am always on the look out for interesting stories to tell; stories that will be of interest to a global audience and from which our readers can draw lessons and inspiration. Naturally, I want to tell stories from Canada as well.