VANCOUVER HOSTS ECO-FASHION WEEK
Vancouver is noted for its greenery and eco-conscious lifestyle. Therefore it is not surprising that the fashion industry here also is going in that direction. In October of 2010 Vancouver’s first Eco Fashion week was launched to showcase designers who were conscious of the environment. The clothing and accessories they produced were made of organic or sustainable material and produced in an environmentally friendly fashion.
One of the designs of Margarita Angelatos’ Peridot Kiss collection on the runway at Vancouver’s Eco Fashion week. Photo credit: Peter Jensen
Vancouver’s 2nd Eco Fashion Week was held from Feb. 22nd to Feb. 25th 2011. In all twenty-two designers, both local and from around the globe took part in the ten fashion shows. The event opened on Feb. 22nd with an opening night VIP party at the Aveda Institute in Gastown. Aveda did the hair and make-up for all the shows. The opening press conference was held at the Shangri La Hotel at 1 pm on Feb. 23rd, followed at 2pm by the first show by Jason Matlo in the same venue. The other nine shows were held at the Salt Building, at the former Olympic Village in Vancouver. A trade show also took place there on the last day of the event. Each evening also featured an official after party, held at various clubs or bars in Vancouver.
Designer Margarita Angelatos and little model Emmalia at the conclusion of the Red Jade fashion show at Vancouver’s Eco Fashion Week Photo credit:Peter Jensen
One of the local designers taking part in both of Vancouver’s Eco Fashion Weeks was Margarita Angelatos who had won BC Fashion Week New Designer 2009. She launched her own clothing line RED JADE (wearredjade.com) in the spring of 2009. She added a new collection PERIDOT KISS (peridotkiss.com) in 2010. Both of her collections for Fall/Winter 2011 were featured in separate fashion shows on Feb. 23rd. Her Red Jade collection was sponsored by Kendor Textiles of Burnaby.
6 yr. old
Emmalia Katerina Dyck, daughter of designer Margarita Angelatos making her
modeling debut at Vancouver’s Eco-Fashion Week 2011. Photo credit Peter
Jensen
Margarita Angelatos was also invited to take her collections to Los Cabos, Mexico to a fashion show and expo in early March. The organizers felt that her collection would appeal to many living or vacationing in Mexico. Angelatos will also be taking her collection to Oregon in late March and then she will go on to attend the Textiles Expo in Los Angelo to source out new eco friendly and sustainable fabrics for future collections.
Photo credit:Peter Jensen
PHAROS LECTURE – EXPLORING AN UNKNOWN GREEK CITY
The February lecture of Pharos-The Canadian-Hellenic cultural Society took place on Monday, February 28th. As usual the meeting was held in the upper hall of the Hellenic Community Center in Vancouver, starting at 7:30 pm. Professor Margiet Haagsma from the department of History & Classics at the University of Alberta was the guest speaker. Her topic was “Exploring an unknown Greek City: the first six years of Greek Canadian fieldwork at Kastro Kallithea in Thessaly.
Dr. Haagsma is the director of the archaeological and architectural survey at the kastro in Kallithea, Greece. Her specialty is the archaeology of Greece and the urbanization processes and domestic organizations in mainland Greece during the Classical and Hellenistic periods are her special interests.
SUNDAY OF ORTHODOXY – ST. CONSTANTINE & HELEN - SURREY
In all the Orthodox churches the first Sunday of Lent is celebrated as the “Triumph of Orthodoxy”. As well as the liturgical services held at the individual Orthodox churches on the Sunday morning there is in many areas also a pan Orthodox vesperal liturgy. Every year the committee of priests representing the various Orthodox jurisdictions in the Greater Vancouver area meets to decide at which church the pan Orthodox service will be held. This year that service took part in the evening of March 13th at Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Surrey.
Icons have been an integral part of Orthodox faith and devotion but for over a hundred years, from 726 to 843 their use was controversial. The iconoclastic controversy was finally settled in 843 and icons were fully restored to the Orthodox churches. This is celebrated as the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
Icons are venerated, not worshipped. Orthodox Christians do not worship the Theotokos (Mary) or the Saints but we bless, venerate and honour them. When we touch and kiss an icon we are expressing a sense of love and communion with the image portrayed. The Lord, the Theotokos and the Saints, all are invisibly present with us and the icon is a window that makes their presence visible to us. When we venerate the Saints for their life in Christ we worship God who is visible to them. God the Father, who can not be seen, is not traditionally depicted in an Orthodox Icon. Instead Orthodox icons portray God the Son as the Son of God Who became man could be seen and therefore could be portrayed.
There were twelve priests serving during this special vesper service. Four were from the Greek churches – Rev. Demetrios Partsafas from St. George Cathedral (Vancouver), Rev. Evangelos Aravantinos from Sts. Nicholas & Dimitrios Church (Vancouver), Rev. Konstantinos Tsiolas from Sts. Constantine & Helen Church (Surrey) and Rev. Dorotheos Tryfonopoulos (retired). The other eight came from various other Orthodox churches, such as Ukrainian, Romanian, Russian and Serbian, etc. Each priest also took part in the procession of the icons.
Sts. Constantine & Helen Church moved nearly a year ago from the Fleetwood area in Surrey where there was plenty of parking nearby to the Whalley area at 96 Ave and 132 Street where there is almost no street parking allowed within blocks. The church has a seating capacity of about 175 people, including the balcony and every seat was filled for the service. At least another 30 people where squeezed along the walls and the entrances. The basement hall has been renovated and now can seat just slightly over a hundred people but as there were about double that number in attendance not all the people could get into the hall for the coffee and refreshments. The grounds have also seen a lot of changes. The old garage have been torn down, trees and shrubbery removed. The parking lot which originally had a capacity of about thirty cars has now been increased to about fourty-five cars. The community had made arrangements with the church next door for the use of their parking lot for the occasion so at least another fifty cars or more were able to park there. The Vancouver churches had all announced to their congregations that if they wished to attend the service in Surrey they should consider carpooling due to the lack of parking. This probably scared a lot of people into not attempting to attend the service in Surrey. Just as well, as the church was packed and the parking lot filled.
This event reinforced the fact that the church does not have the capacity to serve all the Greeks of the Fraser Valley. The church is too small and there is not enough parking. They can not depend on the use of the parking lot next door as that church needs it for its own services or special events. The Surrey community spent 1.8 million to buy the property which was much more than the property was worth and with the renovations and repairs that have now been pushed over the two million mark and renovations to the building and the grounds are not yet complete. If the community truly wants to serve all the Greeks of the Fraser Valley then they will have to spend a lot more money by purchasing the property next door. Or they could sell their present property to the other church, which had tried to buy the property before the Greeks outbid them, and then look for a more suitable property elsewhere, with lots of room to expand. If neither option is available then the Surrey community will have to accept the fact that it is only a local church serving only a limited number, perhaps fifty to sixty Greek families in North Delta and nearby parts of Surrey. The rest of the Greeks of Surrey, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack and beyond will then have to establish another community and look for a property more suited to support a larger church and community center.
