As Toronto Fashion Week invites poured into inboxes across the city, one catching the attention of the fashion throng was Nada Sheppard’s invitation to view her label’s (NADA) 3D short film, Future Fashion/Fashion Future, featuring her fall/winter 2010 collection. Billed as the industry’s first ever stereoscopic 3D short film, guests were told this viewing would be an action packed experience combining “futuristic martial arts meets Gladiator vibe in this world-wide fashion first.” How could anyone resist that description especially when movies, such as Avatar have breathed new life into 3D technology.

The host for the evening was Fashion Television’s Glen Baxter who told the packed movie theatre, “This is not a regular fashion event, no one was fighting for seats” – which I have to admit was a good change to the normal fashion shows.

With 3D glasses on, Future Fashion/Fashion Future took the audience into a sci-fi world reminiscent of the video game Street Fighter. Fembots dressed in NADA designs fought each other in three battle scenarios. Model, Madison Schill starred as the Red Warrior and fought her opponent using high flying wire work, martial arts and weapons.

At the start of each fight scene Schill wore an outfit from NADA’s collection presented in carousel format rotating to provide viewers with a glimpse of Sheppard’s designs for fall/winter 2010. Sheppared's inspiration for this collection derived from a recent trip to China where she encountered and was shocked by the power and enormity of mass production in the country; thus, igniting the idea of focusing her designs on this theme combined with the figure of the fembot – exaggerated proportions of the female form driven primarily by technology.

The idea of showing fashion in film and using the concept of the video game was a natural progression for Sheppard who feels this is the direction “entertainment is going.” From a marketing and business perspective it’s a smart move, reaching a larger audience with rapidly increasing access to the Internet.

I applaud Sheppard’s progressive efforts to branch out and try something new and different, incorporating fashion with film and technology. However, after leaving the screening of Future Fashion/Fashion Future I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed by not having the opportunity to see her latest collection in real life, or having the film show the clothes in 3D detail which would have given a more in depth look into her collection this season.

To watch Future Fashion/Fashion Future in 2D go to Fashion Television or watch it in 3D at http://nada3d.com/.

Print images from NADA’s f/w 2010 campaign. Pictures of the film taken by Kimberly.