The evening of Saturday February 1st, 2014 marked the inaugural launch of the Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards (CAFA). This award show was created to honour and celebrate outstanding achievement within the Canadian fashion industry. The event played host to some of the industries biggest and brightest stars as they gathered at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Among the high-profile attendees were the likes of Coco Rocha, Dean & Dan Caten, Suzanne Rogers, Tommy Ton, Jeanne Beker, Joseph Mimran and Kimberley Newport-Mimran just to name a few.

As the CAFA mandate states, they were created to celebrate outstanding achievement and emerging talents in the arts and fashion industries across Canada. Who better to nominate these incredible talents than some of Canada’s leading industry experts including our very own Melissa Austria. As a member of the CAFA Nominating Committee and the CAFA Jury Melissa was among an elite group of individuals that helped create the initial list of nominees. That list then went through several voting rounds until each category was short listed down to 3-6 nominees. These artists were announced at a Nominating Ceremony in October; and from there, the Jurors voted on selecting one Award recipient per category.

The 2014 CAFA winners are:

Womenswear Designer of the Year: Jeremy Laing

Menswear Designer of The Year: Travis Taddeo

Outstanding Achievement: Dean & Dan Caten (DSQUARED2)

Accessory Designer of The Year: Dexter & Byron Peart (WANT Les Essentiels de la Vie)

Canadian Style Award: Joe Mimran

Image Maker of the Year: Chris Nicholls

International Designer of the Year: Dean & Dan Caten (DSQUARED2)

Stylist of the Year: George Antonopolous

Model of the Year: Coco Rocha

Emerging Talent Award: Sarah Stevenson

IMAGE CREDIT: George Pimentel