Mission local fashion designer Tammi Anne Barker has been selected as the first ever Canadian to compete in Portland, Oregon at FashioNXT Week on October 3rd. FashioNXT was named the #1 production in the United States after New York Fashion Week by TIME Magazine. Designers and brands from across the US and the world will be coming to Portland to premiere what's next in fashion and fashion tech.
 
Tammi Barker grew up in Mission; her mother Marlene Maguire was a co-founder of Diggety Dog Grooming before she lost her battle with cancer in 2005. Tammi is a master tailor, trained in fashion at Kwantlen Polytechnic, as well as under Belgian couturiere Helen Lefeaux. After a few years in Vancouver, she moved back to Mission in 2008, putting her creative drive into raising her three children while they were little, until the time was right to re-emerge into the fashion world. 
 
Her technical design abilities caught the attention of the FashioNXT show producers, who invited her to audition in July of this year, where she placed as one of seven finalists who will be sending eight full looks down the runway in the UpNXT Finale on the opening kickoff to FashioNXT Week. In addition to showing in Portland, she has been receiving mentorship in costing, marketing and more through the organization's incubator program. 
 
"FashioNXT along with being a leading international runway showcase fulfills its service to the emerging designers by organizing a leading fashion accelerator, UpNXT", says FashioNXT CEO Tito Chowdhury, "Vancouver BC designer Tammi Anne Barker being the first Canadian designer as an UpNXT finalist shows her trailblazing determination to take her talent to the global competition. I join my friends of my favorite Pacific Northwest neighboring city in wishing tremendous success of her growth".