The deadlines for Toronto Alternative Fashion week (FAT) and the Toronto Fashion Incubator's New Labels design competition are approaching but there is still time to submit your application.

Toronto Alternative Fashion week takes place from April 7-11, 2008 in the Distillery District. FAT celebrates independent design and art in the city. I missed last year's festivities and don't plan on repeating that mistake in April. The FAT deadline is December 1, 2007 with a late entry deadline of December 15, 2007.

They're looking for artists in the following areas: Visual Art (Installation, Video, Performance Art, Sculpture, Photography), Music (All Musical Forms Of Expression Welcome) and Fashion Design (Women's Wear, Men's Wear, Wearable Art, Couture). All applicants are encouraged incorporate one of the following themes and relate it to fashion for their entry:

Conflict looks at a continued struggle or battle between opposing forces, a disagreement or clash between ideas, principles or people. The theme is put forward for artists to explore issues that are incompatible, in opposition, or in disagreement.
Urban Experiment focuses on the diversity of the city, different facets of urban life, mixtures of subcultures and a fusion of diverse street trends.
Global Nomad explores issues around travel, mobility, global culture, multiculturalism, and identity. The theme examines specific cultures, issues surrounding exile, Diaspora and cross-cultural movement.
Transitory Space explores the momentary, temporary and passing - spaces which are not permanent or lasting, but existing only for a short period. This theme looks at time and can include influences from history, the present and the future, as well as fantasy, fairy tales, different spaces in the mind and in dreams.

The Toronto Fashion Incubator's New Labels design competition will crown someone Canada's next top fashion designer. The show is in its 26th season and boasts alumni like David Dixon, Joeffer Caoc Juma and Katya Revenko. The winner will receive $25,000 from Elle Canada magazine among other prizes. To be eligible you must be a professional fashion designer with a post-secondary fashion education. You must have been in the business at least three years or less. This contest is only for womenswear designers, which unfortunately leaves menswear and accessories out in the cold.

Applicants need to submit the application, a portfolio, 3 sample outfits from your last collection and 15 full-colour fashion illustrations of your fall 2008 runway outfits with corresponding technical sketches, fabric swatches and story board for the submission deadline of December 10, 2007.

For more information and application forms please visit the TFI website

images: getfat.ca and flickr member Osei Thompson