Montreal

I went to Montreal for the ITAA Conference.  ITAA is a professional organization for fashion design and merchandising educators, students, and professionals.  I was attending the conference because I submitted a design for a juried fashion show and my piece was accepted.  While I was in Montreal I attended some conference sessions and managed to do some sightseeing.  The city is beautiful and I had a great time, but I would never survive a Canadian winter.

The view from my room.

Outside of the opening reception ballroom.

 I liked the light poles in the places-des-artes right by my hotel.

 Basilica de Notre Dame

 Some might call it gaudy.

 It was pretty fantastic!

 Old Montreal looks like a little Paris.

 The best crepes ever!!!

I pretty much managed to see the entire city.  I'm suffering now, however, as surfaces like this led to bruised feet.  The city was a little difficult to figure out at first as everything is in French but I managed to figure it out on foot as well as on the subway and bus.  I have a very good sense of direction but was having trouble with my map the first day until I figured out that they don't make their maps with North pointing up.  You have to find the tiny arrow on the map to indicate with direction is North, which is usually pointing toward one of the corners of the map.

My dress on the runway, I missed the front view.  On a side note, those are NOT the shoes that I would have paired with the dress but I didn't get a vote.

I went on a progressive dinner one evening where we visited three different restaurants for different courses and drinks.  Here I'm drinking a beer from a local microbrewery.

My appetizer, it was yummy!

The drinks are starting to set in as we start posing with everything.

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The highlight of the trip was the keynote address by Ralph Rucci.  Ralph Rucci is the greatest American fashion designer.  He is the only American designer asked to show his clothes at the haute couture shows in Paris since Mainbocher.  That's pretty awesome!  I was really impressed with the transparency he showed when talking about his design process and the honesty with which he answered questions.  He was very well spoken, very charming, and he smelled delicious!  He had the best cologne, I'm going to have to go on the hunt for that scent for Brian.

My colleague and I with Ralph Rucci.  My picture turned out fuzzy, but she has a good one on her camera that I'll have to steal from her.