Adrienne Butikofer is reaching the apex of an eight month journey - she and three other exhaustively selected designer-entrepreneurs are about to show their collections as a part of the Toronto Fashion Incubator's New Labels Competition runway event this Thursday.

Tickets for the event are selling out fast - but the show will be repeated for the general public on Friday at the Elle Show, where your $15 ticket will also get you access to other shows, speakers, and vendors.

As you can imagine, all the designers have a lot to do in the last few days before the show, but Adrienne took brief time-out to answer a few of my questions.

Fashion people work long and hard for less money than they want you to think, so every once in a while it feels good to dress up for a party to celebrate our most talented individuals.

The four finalists for the Toronto Fashion Incubator's 2008 New Labels Competition were selected today! My illustration dances across the promotional poster for the event, but my job was easy compared to what the New Labels competitors accomplished over four short months.

Think of the fashion students! Right now they are staying up late every night, sewing and unpicking and resewing the collections that are the culmination of their fashion school struggles.

After fashion school, what comes next? I graduated in 2006 from Ryerson's School of Fashion Design and since then my classmates have scattered far and wide - internships and jobs of all descriptions all over the world.

The exceptionally spunky ones launch their own lines right here in Toronto. What motivates them to become designer-entrepreneurs straight out of school? I asked Janet Hill, a fellow class of '06er, about what inspired her to create her own label.

Janet's designs are currently available at Boutique Le Trou, Pho Pa and TNT Blu in Toronto.

Why did you decide to become an independent fashion designer?

Curiosity is what lead me most to become an independent fashion designer. I wanted to see what I was capable of designing and making; I also felt it was the best way to get to do what I wanted.

If you could dress anyone in the world in your designs, who would you choose and why?

I began this collection with the idea of California; traveling to Japan showed me how wide spread these trends are, however bizarre the interpretation. I would like to see different people wear my line: people with different styles and from different cultures.
I used a lot of color because I want someone who will feel happy when she is wearing it.

This cute little cap looks rakishly skewed at whatever angle you wear it - and features a wee pocket with a condom so you can be sexy and prepared. Stephen Philips, the designer, has created a line of hats, bags and dog-tags to promote World Aids Research, with 40% of the sales donated to charity.

I have been fashion blogging since early 2005. When I started, I had no idea what public relations was. It is fair to say I resisted when PR started to offer me attention. Fashion blogging was so naive. Back then, we posted scrappy little manifestos on how we were so much more credible than old media and big business.

Almost three years later, I have met many people in PR and established media, and accepted gratefully many an invitation and gift bag. The notion that fashion is full of PR flacks and media hacks is too simple to be true. The real system is a lot more nuanced, interdependent, and complicated.