Meet Out Fashion Vanguard Finalist Nicolas Bilodeau

The annual OUT Fashion Vanguard Awards celebrates young visionaries and identifies the next big name in fashion. With 2017's finalists named, the heat is on for this year's OUT Fashion Vanguard Award designers. Three of the industry's brightest LGBTQ new names find themselves vying for the top honorary award that will help jump-start their careers in fashion. Now it's time to meet this year's OUT Fashion Vanguard Award contenders.

Fashion history enthusiast and inspired by its great creators, Nico, an emerging young designer from Montreal, always aspired to reach the top and initiate his own movement in the fashion industry. Born in St-Prime, Quebec, Canada, his career started in Quebec City in the nursing field. After a few years, Nico moved to Montreal to establish his name as a designer and pursue his fashion dreams.

With a flamboyant personality matching his unique imagination, Nico knew how to stand out by expressing himself through his very own style. Unable to shut down his urge to create and looking to fulfill personal and professional needs, Nico decided to dive in a completely different sphere: creation and design. Inspired by Fashion's great names such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Tom Ford, he started studying fashion at Marie-Victorin College.

In the Summer of 2013, Nico participated in the elaboration and confection of UNTTLD's S/S14 collection. Throughout this experience, he learned from their passions, talents and determinations. Since then, Nico has settled in his workshop and presented two collections, from which the S/S2016 collection, representative of the young designer's colorful personality, was released at the Mode&Design festival (Montreal Fashion Week).

Nico specializes in details and is inspired by not only his peers but by the whole world around him. His collection always reflects a state of mind, and his menswear pieces are defined by the fabrics he discovers. "I'm not able to design something without having touched the fabric and feeling an attraction to it. It's like personal development. Every year I'll walk by my fabrics store and just wonder till it hits me." Says Nico. Nico gives to the Montrealers an option to own a stylish menswear wardrobe, stating "I am passionate about fashion, from its history to fabric creations. There's no day where I don't find myself reading about fashion or just criticizing everything that surrounds me. Even if this world is scary, it's teasing me. I am working to achieve my goal to be a designer known for their new ideas and for their fashion. A designer who has a way of being and a way of thinking, not just a new suit amongst many. I want to prove that fashion isn't superficial. I want to prove that fashion and style is our inner reflection and a way of bringing out your inner light. I am in this world because I want to be different and conquer my limits. For all those reasons, I'd be honored to be THE OUT Fashion Vanguard winner.

Meet the other two OUT Fashion Vanguard Finalists Marquise Foster and DaShaun Hightower. Stay tuned to see all three progress as they each design a custom look to be showcased at the OUT Fashion Vanguard Awards in Los Angeles on March 30th.