Calgary costume designer represents Western Canada on new drag competition series ‘Sew Fierce’

A Calgarian is among eight contestants featured on a new TV show that sees participants battle it out in a drag design competition where the winner receives a $10,000 prize.

Costume designer Benjamin Toner is the lone contestant from Western Canada on season one of the OUTtv series ‘Sew Fierce,’ which debuted on April 14.

The show, hosted by Canadian drag artist and Barbada De Barbades, was filmed exclusively in Toronto.

"I travelled there with just sketchbooks, dreams and hopes," Toner said.

"I was excited and also terrified, it's such a huge honour to represent Western Canada, and that's crazy to me, because we have some incredible designers and incredible artists here." 

Toner has been working in fashion for several years and now works internationally on film, television and stage productions of all shapes and sizes.

He is most recognized locally as costume designer for the Calgary Stampede Grandstand Show, a role that he has held for the past two years. Toner designed several outfits, including the beautiful dresses worn by singer-songwriter and host of last year’s show, Shawnee Kish.

It wasn’t until 2017, however, that Toner began designing outfits for drag artists in what’s described as a new challenge to push all angles of creativity.

Benjamin Toner is the lone contestant from Western Canada on season one of the OUTtv series ‘Sew Fierce.’"It’s so unique, even just the logistics of drag design, you’re patterning and doing the math for a man’s body but for feminine proportions and the way that you pattern and draw lines has to be super different," said Toner.

"Also, many drag queens move so much more than regular people, there's jumping and there's stunts and there's acrobatics, so just even building costumes to last over the course of hundreds of performances is a challenge. They have to be easily cared for and shoved in a duffel bag and come out still looking brand new."

Toner described the demanding circumstances contestants on the show were faced with.  

"Every week, we'd get given our challenge and have the day to kind of design it and start working with fabrics and textiles, and then take photos of those looks to be deliberated and judged on."

When it comes to sharing an entirely new stage now on ‘Sew Fierce,’ Toner says that it’s about more than pushing his fashion limits.

He says it’s about proving to the world that anything is possible when someone follows their passions and dreams in life.

"Our show specifically represents eight unique designers who all have different stories, we all have different upbringings, we all have different clientele, and we all have different ways that we approach the world," said Toner.

"It's something that's geared towards celebrating our independence and our freedom in this country that we're incredibly lucky to have."