WHO TO CALL:
Fashion Editor
Layne Christensen

985-2131 (118)

Se:

: "NEWS photos Mike Weketleld
FEIZAL VIRANI shares the
; spotlight with model Janette
De Vries, who is wearing a sitk
organza dress in a Matisse-
inspired print from Virani’s
spring line. The kiwi green
woofl/iycra jacket and dress
(above) is also for spring, while
the sand-colored wool faille
jacket, blouse and skirt are fer
fall °96. Virani is carried by
Phoenix in Park Royal and
Rilalrose Ave. in Lonsdale Quay.

JEWELRY
WINDOW

Sunday, February 18, 1996 — North Shore News — 13

#2 STORIES

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FEE ee tea so heta ae REDE ET

THE LABEL may not be as recog-
nizable as an Alfred Sung or a Mr.
Jax — yet — but Feizal Virani is fast
becoming a name to watch.

By Layne Christensen
Fashion Editor

Just back from the Toronto ready-to-
wear collections where he showed his fall
line to national media and buyers, the
North Vancouver designer was in town
briefly to accept a grant from the Matinée
Fashion Foundation before jetting to
Scottsdale, Arizona, for a trink show and
to Europe to buy fabrics.

Virani is perhaps better known south
of the border, where sales account for
60% of his business, than he is in his
home-town. But that is changing, thanks
in large part to the Matinée awards.

Since it was established in ‘92, the
foundation has signed away $1.7 mil-
lion in grants to 57 Canadian designers.
Of this year’s 20 recipients who share
$300,000 in grants, five are from

OUIS

Vancouver: Roze Merie Cuevas, Patricia
Fieldwalker, Nancy Lord, Carole Sinclair and
Virani. The amount each designer receives is not
made public but grants are reported to start at
$25,000.

Virani used part of his booty to show his
spring 1996 collection at the ready-to-wear
shows in Toronto in September, where his cit-
rus-bright city. suits, natty pinstripes and tropi-
cal florals were well received by the media and
buyers.

The rest will be used to promote his fall line
through a national advertising campaign.
Virani’s goal is to increase his profile in Canada.

His bold designs and bright colors have
already found a receptive market in California,
Arizona, Texas and even Nebraska. -

While Nebraska may not rank up there with
the style capitals of the world, Virani doesn’t see
it as an anomaly. “They have money and they
like to shop.” says Virani of his Nebraskan fan
club.

Though fame and fortune may beckon,
Virani is quite content to remain in his Gastown
studio and his Lynn Valley home.

“I love it on the North Shore. Once you live
there, you can’t live anywhere else,” he says.

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