She only learned about it the day before the event, but thanks to live streaming on the Internet, relatives in Croatia and a friend in Australia had front-row seats last September as RozeMerie Cuevas of JC Studio sent her signature curvy dresses and suits down the runway. And it wasn’t just people she knew who could watch, but potential buyers worldwide. Says the Vancouver designer of the Jacqueline Conoir label, “It was fabulous because they could watch it as it happened.” Visit www.arc2.tv/ and you can do the same during BC Fashion Week (March 31 to April 4), where Cuevas will be the first designer to present her fall-winter 2008 collection. (This time, she says, her direction is edgy, glamorous, ’50s-inspired classics.)

Aimed at being a major fixture on the global fashion calendar, BC Fashion Week was the first event of its kind to simulcast shows, beating out even big player New York Fashion Week, says executive director Debra Walker as she prepares for the biannual event. Like the styles it showcases, this spring’s event—the sixth since BC Fashion Week launched in April 2005—is all about change. A significant switch since the first one, says Walker, is “the amount that we’re known internationally. We’ve been mentioned in Women’s Wear Daily and had media inquiries from overseas. We’re in liaison with other fashion weeks in Athens and Moscow, and looking at different ways of partnering with them.” One of the biggest differences now is scope, she adds. Whereas the first season focused on national and international labels, the emphasis is now on homegrown design.

BC Fashion Week is the little event that grew. So much so that, in spring 2007, lack of a suitable venue forced its cancellation. This season, events move from former site the Scotiabank Dance Centre to the Chinese Cultural Centre. In charge of the look and feel of the week itself, as well as its Web site, is Vladimir Markovich, BC Fashion Week creative director, whose responsibilities this season also include overseeing the BCFW Dailies, the daily newsletter that chronicles shows, people, and gossip, which will move from print to electronic delivery.

As many as 100 designers and companies are crossing their fingers that they will have the chance to send looks down the catwalk that will be catnip to sharp-eyed buyers around the world. Decisions as to the final lineup were still pending at press time, but Walker says seven to 10 will be asked to present individual shows, coming from, in order of preference, B.C., Western Canada, the country at large, and overseas. The potential for sales and exposure is huge, she says, but not all designers are a good fit for the showcase. “We look at a lot of criteria. How do they want to reach the market? Are they ready to be in the national or international forum? Is the timing suitable for their marketing plans? If they’re still looking at going into boutiques or doing it on consignment, they’re not ready for it. They need to be on a production scale that can be, or is, delivering internationally.”

Inaugurated last season, Generation Next was conceived as a platform for emerging designers not yet ready for prime time. This spring, Vancouver’s Carny Love, Morena by Marcy Ross from Victoria, and—indicating how this incubator for talent plans to move beyond provincial boundaries—Lara Presber from Calgary will all take their turn in the spotlight. Last season’s winner of Generation Next, Vancouver designer Nicole Bridger, was selected, among other reasons, for her business plan, according to Walker. Winning, says Bridger, opened a lot of doors: “It helped us to be taken more seriously.” Her fall collection, she says, “is all about what women really wear. Tunics, cardigans, coats, dresses, a lot of asymmetrical drapey cuts that you can dress up or down, almost all in a jersey fabric in neutral colours. We’ll show the collection with jeans.”

While this is primarily a trade event, fashionistas can watch the runway shows on their laptops in real time or, to see them in person, buy tickets to Generation Next through www.bcfashionweek.com/ or www.clubzone.com/. Subscribing on-line, says Walker, also gets you first dibs at any tickets that individual designers decide to release. After-parties are typically open to all. (For more insider stuff, read the FAQ section of the Web site.)

We may be hours away from the major fashion capitals, but B.C. has competitive advantages, says Walker, including being “green”. We can produce hemp fibres, she says, whereas hemp production is banned in the U.S. The region also has easy access to larger manufacturing centres overseas. The foundations are there, and so is the talent. “When we first started BC Fashion Week, designers might not show continuity in their collections,” says Walker. “Now they’re more identifiable.”