Q & A with Kendra Francis
Sway caught up with the former Project Runway contestant and after her successful Fall/Winter 2008 installation at the L’Oreal Toronto Fashion Week (and we won’t get too far ahead of ourselves, but we’re already saving for a shimmering gun-metal fishtail gown when cooler nights prevail).
S: Many fashion insiders are calling you the comeback queen, especially for the triumphant return of your ready-to-wear collections after the shutdown of your much-loved Franke Boutique on Queen West in 2005. Do you consider the flattery misplaced or feel like you’re now finally being recognized for your talents?
KF: I get that a lot – ‘comeback queen’. For me, it was really was just that I opened the store in a way to express what I was doing instead of selling it on consignment. I felt opening the store, I could say what I want. But it was hard being a creative person and running a business and not having all the business tools to make it happen. But I felt I had made my statement, grew tired, and closed it down. I kept doing collections – I took a break for a year, did two collections, and then I did Project Runway Canada which brought me into the public eye in a grandiose way. But I feel that I’m now at this level where I can keep going forward and make my place in this industry.
S: Last fall, there was a huge out cry during the New York and London Fashion Weeks over the utterly lacking representation of black models on the runway. It seems as if both weeks have responded to the outcry, with designers now featuring more up-and-coming models such as Jourdan Dunn, Mimi Roche and Yordanos. Do you feel that Toronto’s own fashion week has its place in this ongoing dialogue?
KF: No, I think we have our own issues … this season, out of fifteen [runway models], only three of them were black but two of them were Asian. [My Fall/Winter show] had two Asian models and one Eastern European, while the rest were black models.
I think of myself and obviously [Project Runway Canada alum] Shernett [Swaby] and Shawn [Hewson] from Bustle as the only black designers in the [local] industry validated as designers … We don’t talk about [these issues as openly as] Americans, but as Canadians we quietly put it out there visually so people recognize that. So I chose girls that I thought were beautiful and suited my clothes. Yes, consciously I looked for a majority of ethnic models but those girls are beautiful and can walk any runway. It shouldn’t be an issue, but it is.
Originally published in Sway Magazine, Spring 2008
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