The niche-market designs unveiled at the grad show for Kwantlen University College’s latest crop of fashion students said a lot about how the industry is changing.

Construction-trades wear for women; crash-protectant snowboarding-gear designs for men; hip-hop–inspired pyjamas for aspiring Snoop Doggs; rockabilly looks for thirtysomething scenesters; glamorous couture-style pieces for petite sizes; and hand-screened wet suits for female divers and surfers: these were just some of the innovative collections that were aimed at tightly targeted clienteles.

“The niche market is also described to us at school as an underserved market,” explained grad Esme Smith over the phone before the show, held at the River Rock Show Theatre on April 2. “The whole question is whether the world really needs another fashion designer, because it’s so saturated. By finding these niches, we’re saying it does.”

Smith’s own collection, called Smoke Signals, is inspired by her mother’s shopping quandaries. It zeroes in on aging baby boomers, who, as the emerging designer puts it, are forced to either “dress like their teenage daughter or dress like an old lady”. Her solution: stylish pieces like the “wet look” Diva Jacket, a black-leather-like, hourglass-shaped coat with a dramatic collar.

“The look is pretty sexy—it’s about wanting to look attractive and appealing, but not to the point where someone would consider them a cougar,” Smith says.

Rosanna Reid, on the other hand, was one of several students who chose to fill gaps in the plus-size market. In an interview before the show, she pointed out that the average dress size of North American women has shifted to about 14. Her Pearl Clothing line offers stretchy athletic wear designed for women with curves. Their only choices currently, she says, are too-tight yoga-wear labels or unflattering oversized T-shirts. Reid has developed comfortable yet high-style cuts in stretchy materials that offer more control. The zippered jackets and leggings are colour-blocked in a palette of neutral grey, purple, and cream.

Each student had to do extensive research and create a business plan to prove to their instructors the gap in the market they wanted to fill. Fashion may bring to mind the creative fantasies of Christian Lacroix and John f, but for the majority of today’s emerging designers, the increasingly competitive field is demanding as much hard-nosed practicality as imagination.

Says Reid, “To survive in the fashion industry, you not only have to be creative, you have to have business savvy.”

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