In an era when diversity is often a buzzword rather than a blueprint, Canada’s smaller, culturally grounded fashion weeks are quietly—and powerfully—leading a revolution. While mainstream events in Toronto and Vancouver still dominate headlines, platforms like African Fashion Week Toronto (AFWT), Fashion Art Toronto (FAT), Ukrainian Fashion Day (UFD) and Canada Israel Fashion Week (CIFW) are redefining what fashion looks like, and more importantly, what it stands for.
For Isaac Ansah, co-founder of AFWT, the mission is clear: “Our platform helps drive visibility for Black-owned brands, vendors and creatives, which directly contributes to their business growth and economic sustainability. It’s more than a fashion show—it’s a platform for entrepreneurship and cultural commerce.” The runway becomes a celebration of identity and an engine of opportunity, giving Afro-diasporic designers and models space to thrive without the need to dilute their cultural authenticity.
That sense of self-defined storytelling runs deep within the NUDO 6/6 Collective, a group of more than 750 Indigenous women artisans from Mexico who made their debut at Vancouver Fashion Week. “We are the guardians of ancestral knowledge,” says Karla Aguerrebere, executive director at NGOimpacto, the organization that has been supporting the NUDO 6/6 Collective. “Our work isn’t just about fashion—it’s about preserving traditions, empowering women and using garments to share the soul of our communities.” Through handmade textiles and adaptive design, NUDO 6/6 bridges generations of craftsmanship and contemporary relevance, reframing fashion as a living, breathing cultural dialogue.
At Canada Israel Fashion Week, founder Franciska Veress sees fashion as a medium for unity. “In today’s fractured world, we needed to create something that meant more. Fashion has always had the power to transcend politics. Our mission is to spotlight hidden brilliance—Israeli and Jewish designers whose creativity has too often gone unrecognized.” Her show, a multicultural mosaic of artistry and solidarity, includes a philanthropic element that directly supports communities in Israel, making the event not just expressive, but impactful.
Meanwhile, Fashion Art Toronto has spent nearly two decades pushing the boundaries of who gets to be seen and celebrated in fashion. “We’ve always centred queer, trans, BIPOC and plus-size bodies, long before it was industry standard,” says founder Vanja Vasic. “At FAT, the constraints of commercial viability are lifted. What we get instead is experimentation, honesty and cultural storytelling that leaves you changed.” The show’s open-call model and artist-first ethos have fostered a loyal, expressive community where creativity comes without compromise.
Ukrainian Fashion Day, led by designer Marta Metyk, delivers an equally potent message of resilience. “We’re not just showing embroidery or folklore,” she explains. “We’re telling stories of freedom, sustainability and identity.” As war displaces Ukrainian creatives, UFD provides a runway for new beginnings—many participants are recent arrivals in Canada. With proceeds supporting Ukraine’s National Guard and local integration efforts, UFD shows that fashion can be both a balm and a battle cry.
What unites all these platforms is their refusal to treat identity as a trend. Instead, they centre culture, community and storytelling—fashion not as spectacle, but as substance. These shows provide an essential counterpoint to the commercially driven runways that dominate the fashion industry, reminding us that beauty becomes most powerful when it carries meaning. As Ansah puts it, “We’re not asking for a seat at someone else’s table—we’re building our own.” And in doing so, these fashion weeks are showing Canada, and the world, what true representation looks like: bold, rooted and unapologetically diverse. —Noa Nichol
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