Race to the runway Putting together annual fashion show takes many hard-working hands Behind the Scenes
By: AV Kitching Posted: 2:00 AM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 16, 2026

A frenzy of activity is taking place behind the closed doors of WAG-Qaumajuq on Monday. It’s the day before Crafted on the Catwalk, the gallery’s annual fashion and design show, and the clock is ticking.

There’s less than 30 hours before the big event and it’s all hands on deck.

A steady stream of people walk in and out of the Memorial Boulevard entrance towards the main hall, which glows in soft hues as technicians test out lighting equipment.

The ground floor is teeming with people lugging chairs and pushing trolleys. A stream of white material unravelling from its roll prompts a shouted “OK to step on this?” and receives an equally loud ‘No!” in reply, voices raised above the metallic buzz of a drill as staff from a local production company put together seats.

Another team starts building the 100-foot long runway where 64 models — local talent, agency hires and eight VIPs — will strut their stuff.

Designers stroll in with their precious cargo carefully zipped in garment bags when the sunny September day abruptly switches to a moody grey. The skies open and there’s a rush to get everything inside before it gets soaked.

Racks roll in swiftly down brightly lit corridors before each designer makes their way towards the woman at the centre of it all — ShopWAG’s Sherri Van Went.

Clipboards listing names and numbers stacked neatly by her arm, Van Went consults her laptop and checks in each person, ignoring for a moment the incessantly trilling phone peeking out of the many-pocketed stylish toolbelt slung around her waist.

But before she can answer, her attention is required by a model wanting to know where to go for her fitting.

A worried security guard looks around the corner — there’s a group in the lobby waiting to be taken to an event room. Van Went consults her lists, shakes her head and instructs the guard to take them elsewhere.

It’s a scene that repeats throughout the day, people wandering in and out of her office — full of more clothing rails, her desktop scattered with new pairs of socks for the shop, floor plans for Tuesday night, and, rather improbably, a pair of neon-green heeled boots with matching luminescent lime fishnets tucked into them — looking for scissors, for tape, for paddles.

Sipping from a can of pop someone’s helpfully placed in her hand, she wonders if she has time for lunch, decides yes, she can grab a few bites of a salad; there’s enough time before one of the VIP models arrives.

It’s the kind of controlled chaos that would faze most people, but Van Went is in her element. It’s her sixth year heading the annual event, which in previous years has coincided with the ShopWAG Crafted: Show + Sale (Nov. 6-8) but was brought forward this year to coincide with the Season 2 première of North of North.

After working together for the first time last year, the team behind the APTN, CBC and Netflix series inquired about the possibility of partnering again on a larger scale and Van Went was happy to oblige. Tonight’s event includes a pop-up installation of costumes featured on the show and a market with pieces by nearly 50 makers from the series.

Nunavik designer Winifred Nungak has flown in from Kangirsuk with a collection from her namesake label, Winifred Designs, and begins to unwrap one of her parkas, which was featured in Season 1 of North of North; she made four for the second season.

For Crafted on the Catwalk she is dressing North of North co-creator Alethea Arnaquq-Baril.

“I asked what kind of style she wanted to wear and she let me choose for her. I am really excited; I cannot wait to see my piece on her because I was inspired by her style,” Nungak says with a smile.

When the Main Hall fills up later, Van Went will be nowhere to be seen, melting away into the background like the consummate professional she is.

But right now, she’s at the centre of it all.

“Some these artists have been coming for the last 12 years, so I get to see them once a year. It’s like a clutch of friends coming together,” she says.

Her job as manager of retail operations and partnerships requires her to attend numerous markets and trade shows, almost all of which would close with a catwalk.

“But I changed things around here — it’s the fashion show first before the market, so people can get excited about what they see and this way it’s easier for the artists to sell,” she says.

“We’ve developed these relationships, we’ve cared about these artists. We want them to succeed with sales, we want their works to be celebrated and with this show, we get to celebrate both of those things together. It’s too good to be true,” she says, suddenly tearing up.

And with that she’s off, toolbelt tightened around her waist, glasses perched atop her head, to sort yet another thing out before she’s pulled in yet another direction.

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Spotlight on three Indigenous Manitoba designers

Fashion Ikwe’s Amy McPherson has been a Crafted regular for the last four years but this will be the first time she’ll be showing her clothing collection, an expanded version of the one she created for Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week two years ago.

The collection was inspired by a piece she made at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity during her Indigenous Haute Couture Residency, where she had presented works made from a repurposed Eaton’s mink fur coat and remnants of a Hudson’s Bay Co. blanket, weaving in part of her own history by including her family’s documents in the piece.

McPherson will be bringing her new jewelry pieces, including a small collection of caribou hair tufted earrings featuring vintage beads, Arctic fox fur or porcupine quill work, to today’s Crafted Market.

“I also have my moose hide mini-stud earrings, as well as a single, one-of-a-kind pair of cobalt blue gauntlets with beadwork and Arctic fox fur,” she says.

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It’s been all go at Sylvie Desjarlais’s workshop on Arlington Street. The designer of Bo Peep Reimagined had 11 pieces on the runway at Tuesday’s Crafted catwalk, and will be at today’s market with more of her creations.

Desjarlais is passionate about staying true to the ethos of her brand. Everything she makes is from reclaimed wool blankets, supplemented by other found materials.

“I use reclaimed buttons that I find, and occasionally, if I’m looking for something specific, I will allow myself to have a new button. I can’t emphasize this enough: it’s very important to me that I try to be true to my brand, which is all about sustainability and reclaimed materials,” she says.

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Wendy Sinclair of Pretty Windy Designs is taking a breather after showing eight new pieces from her latest collection, Sky Blue and Buffalo Hides. This is the first time the designer has worked on an autumn/winter line, and the first time she’s showed menswear.

“The collection to me is a reminder of how simple things can be at the end of the day. We’re right here, right now, under the sky and on the Earth and we should remember not to get lost in the fast pace of our everyday modern lives, to slow down and live in the beauty of the day,” she says.

She is working towards getting more of her pieces ready for the Nov. 6-8 market.

av.kitching@winnipegfreepress.com