Meet the trio bringing you the first St. John’s Fashion Week

A burst of creative energy has focused in St. John’s as the city’s first-ever fashion week heads towards weekend events.

So far, the program has sold out every ticketed event, impressing even the co-creators Roger Maunder, David Howells and Jessica Brown.

“People are hungry for it and they want to see it, so we’re just giving them what they want in a lot of ways,” said Maunder.

Maunder said the trio, who are media professionals, were working together earlier this year on a separate film project when the idea formed for a fashion week of their own. Planning ballooned from there.

“My background is in film and television production, and I’ve actually done a lot of travelling to different cities like Toronto and Los Angeles and seeing… the fashion events and just being inspired by that,” said Brown. “And thinking, ‘why can’t we do something like that at home?'”

Each of the co-creators are bringing significant experience and expertise with them, which has already shown in the slick imagery produced for the St. John’s Fashion Week.

Maunder, who owns Up Sky Down Films, has decades of experience producing short films and music videos in St. John’s, while Howells is an award-winning photographer who has been tapped to photograph Henry Kissinger, George W. Bush and Robert Mugabe. Brown is the owner of Ujarak Media and won the 2023 Emerging Artist Award from ArtsNL.

Caption: Photographer David Howells has teamed up with Roger Maunder and Jessica Brown to organize the first ever St. John’s Fashion Week. (David Howells)

Alongside the week’s events, the group is also producing a behind-the-scenes documentary about what it takes to organize a fashion week in the city.

St. John’s is a natural fit, said Howells, who said the city is overflowing with creativity.

“Creative people per square inch here is much higher than anywhere else in the country, I’d argue,” he said.

Friday’s show focused on indigenous designers and models. Brown, an Inuk from Nunatsiavut, said indigenous fashion is having a moment, after being mostly outside the high-fashion industry for years.

“The talent is there,” she said. “So having a space for them to showcase their designs and share that with the community and the rest of the world, I think it’s really important.”

Events continue until Sunday, but the trio thinks they’ve already seen enough proof to bring back the fashion week next year.

“I think we’ve already seen that it’s successful with the sell out shows,” said Maunder. “And just the energy and the vibe that’s going on in the city itself right now is like, off the charts.”