Supermodel Coco Rocha on Canadian brands: 'They're there. You just need to find them'

Supermodel Coco Rocha stars in a new 100th anniversary campaign for the Canadian clothing brand Reitmans. Photo by Garrett Naccarato. /Reitmans

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If there’s one question Coco Rocha has heard a lot in her career, it’s: ‘What is Canadian fashion?’

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The answer, she says, isn’t quite so simple.

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“We’re a young country. We’re not coming from, let’s say parts of Europe or Africa, where you’re infiltrated with your past,” she says. “We are such a diverse country, so we’re going to see a range of ideas.”

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Speaking over the phone from her home in Connecticut, where the Toronto-born, Metro Vancouver raised supermodel has lived for quite some time, Rocha is perhaps uniquely positioned to summarize the country’s sense of style.

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As a longtime model and current host/judge/executive producer of Project Runway Canada, she’s seen the country’s fashion industry ebb and flow over the span of a few decades. 

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So, when pressed to answer the query on Canadian style, she turned away from markers or trends (sorry, Canadian tuxedo), and instead pointed to the industry’s makers.

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“It’s not so much that we have an esthetic as designers or that we have this very specific point of view,” Rocha says. “It’s just more the fact that people are aware that Canada has very smart and thoughtful designers.

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“And they want to be taken seriously … they really are putting their heart and soul into it.”

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Canadian fashion, she summarizes, is more about the people than the clothes.

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Supermodel Coco Rocha stars in a new 100th anniversary campaign for the Canadian clothing brand Reitmans. Photo by Garrett Naccarato. /Reitmans

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Pointing to the line Greta Constantine as a longtime Canadian fashion success story, she said it’s an important time for fashion fans to look within the country for their latest style fix.

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“Especially this last year, I did feel the pressure. I felt Canada’s pressure of like, ‘We need to do better here,’ ” she says of the emphasis on supporting local brands. But it hasn’t always been that way.

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“It didn’t feel like I could really make it in the industry until I left Canada to then return and be like, ‘You’re one of us,’ ” she recalls. “And I hear that, for so many designers, especially that they don’t feel like they can really make it there, even though the public and … the press say we have to support our own.”

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In order to help strengthen the situation, Rocha says shoppers, retailers and the government need to show up and show support.

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“Put your money where your mouth is,” she says. ” … If you truly want that, if you really want to support Canada, instead of buying online and shipping from other countries, really go into local stores or local websites. Because they feel it.”

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Recognizing that shopping local can come at a higher cost, she says showing support beyond straight-up purchasing can also be helpful to local designers and businesses while personal spending is tight.