Toronto Fashion Week is getting a new name and top sponsor.

World MasterCard will be taking the helm as the semi-annual event’s title sponsor, the Fashion Design Council of Canada announced on Wednesday.

The change will take effect as fall-winter collections are unveiled in March at the newly minted World MasterCard Fashion Week.

The global payments and technology company replaces LG, which had been the event’s top sponsor since 2009.

FDCC president Robin Kay said LG’s sponsorship expired following Fashion Week last season, but she commended the electronics giant for helping to grow the event during its involvement.

Kay said the new title partnership is a six-season deal, and that having the brand on board is a “huge endorsement.” MasterCard will also continue its Fashion Week-affiliated retail program, Stylicity, which works in partnership with local businesses.

With “absolutely zero government funding” to help build the event, Kay said Toronto Fashion Week would not exist without sponsorship support.

“We could call it Toronto Fashion Week for 50 years, but I can’t build it with the City of Toronto or with the Government of Canada,” she said in an interview.

“I have to build it where the money is and with the corporate vision of the executives who run these companies who appreciate the alignment, both as a principle, with creativity and augmenting culture in Canada, and with the alignment of the same corporate values.”

Kay, who is executive director of Fashion Week, has lobbied in the past for government support for the event, which features runway presentations from homegrown and international designers.

World MasterCard Fashion Week is slated to place from March 12-17 under the tents at David Pecaut Square in downtown Toronto.

Judy Inc.’s, Christine Roberts, has been known to create room-sets that transform spaces by executing her client’s viewpoint with creative and inspirational results. Christine has done it again, this time with an unlikely backdrop: the bathroom.

Why a bathroom? To highlight the launch of a new line of bathroom tissue covers. It’s an exciting new collaboration between bathroom tissue brand Cottonelle and designer Jonathan Adler. Adler produced three “groovy” new toilet paper roll covers as part of Cottonelle’s “Respect the Roll” campaign.

On January 18^th, 2012 the Jamie Kennedy restaurant at the Gardiner Ceramics Museum showcased three unique bathroom vignettes that Christine created to accompany Adler’s original designs.  Antique pieces, bold accessories, muted floor coverings, and flowers finished each space and gave it a funky yet functional look. Christine’s ability to research, recover and restore allowed her to use a variety of sources, from antique dealers to online ‘shops’, to give each space its own character. Christine also created a separate seating area for media guests to watch Adler explain his inspiration, via live telecast; replete with tufted white patent sofas, colourful side tables and bright pillow accents.

Christine says that it was “one of the most fun and creative jobs I have ever done and I enjoyed it immensely”. Her practical yet innovative approach to business, along with her creative flare, has provided Cottonelle with an extremely successful and unique platform to showcase their new cover designs.

See more media coverage of this launch at:

www.bizbash.com/toronto/gallery-images/?id=22308

Off figure styling:  Michelle Burca, Judy Inc
Photography:  Vincent Lions, Judy Inc