HEAT is the feeling of your knees skidding across scalding concrete as the board flies out from under you, the screech of tires and fresh track marks on your new clothes. HEAT is clothing designed by hand, with heart— adorned with unapologetically flashy colours, leather, denim, and love. Clothes that make people turn their heads, get you chased down the street, and get soaked with sweat by sundown. HEAT highlights the clothes made by, and for, the movers: those who feel the heat.
This is the second fashion show I’ve directed in 7 months (what?!) and it was an absolute fever dream. Unlike Artificium which was a year in the making, HEAT came together in 2 months, with a tallllll budget, 0 funding, and fully orchestrated by yours truly. A massive thank you to the volunteers who made the day possible, and made this show which lived in my head, overheating for months, happen.
This was not a traditional fashion show. It was not Pharrell’s expensive fake beach Louis Vuitton presentation. It was the beach. Not Mark Zuckerberg’s new Meta skateboard-themed store, baby: it was the skatepark. As I attend more “traditional” fashion shows and cook-up more “non-traditional” ones I’ve realized that you gotta bend the rules to execute what you want to execute.
Case in point was Nitro, who DJ-ed the runway on the fly. This was a must, as I wanted the songs to blend into one another, leaving the viewer disoriented like biking headphones clad, on a hot summer day. Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, Soulsonic Force, J Dilla, Illa J<3. A lot of the inspiration for this show, especially the music, came from Spike Lee joints. I really hope this show felt like a love letter and thank you to the Black and Brown communities that created so many of these subcultures’ styles.
The Runway:
The 0dds Against Us
The 0dds Against Us, is built around overcoming adversity and turning setbacks into something meaningful through self-expression, resilience, and creativity.
Sonder Studios
The word Sonder means the Profound realization that every individual is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. Sonder Studios was founded by and ran solely by Bodhi LaPerriere since 2024. Sonder Studios is heavily inspired and influenced by 90s street-ware, vintage military clothing, and 2000s high fashion.
Mayflower Textiles
Mayflower Textiles is a clothing project created to share Anna’s love of sewing and fashion with the community in a sustainable way. She has a love of sourcing vintage fabrics and materials to create one of a kind pieces that are both cute and durable. Many of Mayflower Textiles pieces are inspired by Anna’s favourite designers, characters and early 1900’s fashion styles.
Scrapped Studios
Scrapped Studios is a reworked clothing brand focused on elevating and prolonging the life of second-hand clothing. Each piece is thoughtfully designed and upcycled in British Columbia, transforming existing garments into unique, one of a kind pieces.
Ette Designs
Named in memory of Kiara’s late Aunt Jeanette, Ette (eh-tt) is a brand built from love, legacy, and purpose. It’s more than just clothing — it’s a movement rooted in confidence, ethical artisanship, and the celebration of African heritage. These are the three core values that guide everything Ette does.
Pollyanna Cowgirl
Pollyanna Cowgirl is a sustainable fashion brand that focuses on creating one-of-a-kind pieces from second-hand materials. Blending a playful and sensual design style that prioritizes versatility, Pollyanna Cowgirl encourages its wearers to explore what it means to have "personal style.”
Fashion Show Field Notes:
The behind the scenes of the runway: a time-stamped look at running a fashion show
8:00 AM: Wake up with friends from Toronto who flew in for the show the night before. Freak out together and consume Haribo gummies, Cool Ranch Doritos, and Yerba Mate for breakfast.
10:00 AM: Zoom to Long & McQuade with Dad (shoutout Dad) to pick up hundreds of dollars worth of equipment. Duking it out with other event organizing homies over renting gear, getting what we need, exchanging guest lists to our respective events, and putting my goated sound guy (JP) on the phone with the goated Long & McQuade folks (who later attended the show and offered to assist with equipment on the fly) because my brain has already left the building.
11:30 AM: Print a totally legit number of fashion show brochures (ZINES!) at the public library hours before the show (made two nights before). So proud of these. Viva la print!
12:30 PM: Load chairs (neighbours lend some extras), equipment, and finish the custom Vic Fits tattoos that arrived the night before. Fold all the zines (shoutout Mom and Toronto friends), shower, spray paint tons of shit, and spray paint “vic fits” onto my grandfather’s (sorry Dad) white tank top about 10 minutes before leaving (paint was still wet in the car).
2:00–6:30 PM: Set up. This... was a blur. My blueprints and spreadsheets actually paid off. My volunteers, models, vendors, and friends were seriously the BEST and so on top of everything. Couldn’t have done it without them
The show: If you haven't gathered already, I was pretty stressed before the show, but as soon as the runway started it all melted away. I realized what a FUN with a capital F this show I created is, got to take in the amazing designs and models do their magic against a golden hour backdrop, enjoy the sight of my friends/family/dog (dog!) hollering in the crowd, and dance to all the tunes Jude was laying down. When the runway wrapped the vibes were still high. Before the volunteers and I could even clear the chairs out of the way folks were skating, biking, rollerblading, and playing basketball. BLAC ASPHALT was DJing and From Underground were playing Al Green tunes. I couldn’t have dreamt up a more perfect afters. Having folks come up to me later and tell me they were playing volleyball, or sitting in their home, or walking their dog, or leaving work, heard the music and came out to the runway as a surprise was incredibly heartwarming; was my intention for this show. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again—community is the most overused word by this generation —but all kinds of people coming together for a free arts event and celebrating eachother: that's THE POINT.
Next Day: Sleep in, pay all of my amazing designers, models, musicians, volunteers (let’s normalize this). Go to the beach, go to another beach, cry (its not a gabrielle elhav production if i don’t cry from gratitude and overwhelm the next day), eat cupcakes and pick orange flowers with friends to celebrate. <3
THANK YOU! I am beyond grateful for you all for sticking around on all of my wild adventures—the zines, the shows, the blogs, all of it. I’m beyond proud of the featured designers, the models, the musicians, and the COMMUNITY for showing up. I love it when Fernwood Fernwoods. If you want to learn more about this show there’ll be an article in the local newspaper The Martlet soon. And if you ever want to run something like this with me or are looking for assistance, head over to my professional portfolio gelhav.com and reach out.
Thank you for bringing the HEAT.