MAD for “Fashion, Arts and Entertainment”. This acronym now defines Groupe Sensation Mode’s various projects, including Festival Mode+Design, which will now be called Festival MAD, and MAD Shoppe, an online platform and pop-up stores for Quebec designers. This change, announced on Wednesday, aims to reflect a transformation initiated in recent years.
MAD Collectif is the name of Groupe Sensation Mode, which has been producing and designing experiential events in Canada and abroad since its inception in 1999. “It’s a reflection that started some time ago,” says Jean-François Daviau, President and Co-Founder of MAD Collectif. Why is this happening now? It is that we have the impression that we are on our X in our transformation into the future. It is also the overall development of our environment that has led us to this new attitude. From the time we started until today we are in two completely different universes. »
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VISUALLY PROVIDED BY MAD COLLECTIF
The new image of MAD Collectif
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VISUALLY PROVIDED BY MAD COLLECTIF
The new image of MAD Collectif
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VISUALLY PROVIDED BY MAD COLLECTIF
The new image of MAD Collectif
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This transformation is reflected in particular in the programming of the Mode+Design festival, which over the years has opened up to other artistic media. “Fashion is the medium we were born with, we grew up with, but it itself has evolved,” observes Chantal Durivage, co-founder of MAD Collectif and VPE, creative evolution. Now she is everywhere. It is in music, in the cinema, in the opera. »
The new name will allow the event to further assert its entertainment aspect and irreverent approach without betraying its DNA.
Our promise is clearer and we can explore many more forms of expression, be it through dance or music, without expecting fashion shows. We know that’s not what people want to see at our event first, but they still come for the fashion.
Jean-François Daviau, President and co-founder of MAD Collectif
As far as the English sound of this new name is concerned, the founders declare their desire to also appeal to an international clientele. “As digitization becomes such an extremely important aspect, we wanted this commitment to eventually be heard from an international perspective,” notes Chantal Durivage.
An online platform for fashion from Quebec
Under this new umbrella we can also find MAD Shoppe, an online sales platform for Quebec designers whose launch is scheduled for spring 2023. The project, announced last January in the presence of Minister of Economy and Innovation Pierre Fitzgibbon, received $2.8 million in financial support from the Quebec government.
MAD Shoppe will also host physical pop-up stores at different times of the year. The first will be presented on November 24th at the PVM gallery on Place Ville Marie.
Finally, XP_MTL, the only branch of the group to keep its identity, will continue its animation activities to attract local and tourist customers to downtown Montreal, a sector badly shaken by the pandemic and the popularity of teleworking. Choirs and acoustic shows are included in the program that will be presented next Monday. From the very start of XP_MTL in 2019, work on Sainte-Catherine Street, icy sidewalks and suburban competition was talked about as a response to the “ambient slump”. “There are still a lot of people to get, admits Jean-François Daviau, but the signals are positive. »
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