Phoenix Fashion Week

Is Phoenix the Next Fashion Mecca?

by Hermann Plank

The week of Oct. 1 will prove once again that Phoenix is more than just a city in the desert. With the recent absence of L.A. Fashion Week and with Phoenix being the fifth largest city in the U.S., are we positioned to be the new style Mecca of the West Coast? This year marks the fifth anniversary of Phoenix Fashion Week, and the Valley is getting some well overdue exposure in the fashion world.

Phoenix Fashion Week's mission is to bridge national and international designers with premier retailers and prestigious fashion media. The organizers' ultimate goal is to garner global exposure for Arizona's fashion industry. Modeled after 1950s Hollywood, the stylish Hotel Valley Ho will serve as this year's host for a week of fashionable workshops, designer sample sales, established designers, local celebrities and, of course, fashion shows.

Established in 2005 to bridge sales of talented, emerging designers with retail buyers, Phoenix Fashion Week has quietly become the leading wholesale fashion event in Arizona, and industry leaders are taking notice.

This national exposure is why Kiss The Girl (KTG), an upscale women's T-shirt line based in Scottsdale, chose Phoenix Fashion Week last fall to launch its line not just to local buyers but to the fashion industry as a whole. And soon after KTG used Phoenix Fashion Week photo images and runway video in its marketing collateral, Bloomingdale's came knocking.

In fact, this local brand was able to achieve the nearly impossible, selling 235 pieces at KTG's first Bloomingdale's trunk show in Orlando, Fla., and outselling competitor T-shirt brands four to one. As a result, KTG tees are now in over 300 stores across the U.S., including Bloomingdale's and Macy's.

LENDING SUPPORT

In honor of its fifth anniversary, the creators of Phoenix Fashion Week are paying attention not only to fashion but also to industry education and to charity, hosting a series of seminars and charitable events.

The seminars help prepare designers and others to achieve success in a competitive industry. Brian Hill, executive director of Phoenix Fashion Week, says the goal is to produce programs that educate those in the local industry to help them develop successful and stable fashion businesses in Arizona.

"Fashion education is one of the keys to move fashion forward in Arizona," Hill says. "Many students of fashion leave our state to study fashion with the thought that only in L.A. or New York could you learn how to establish and run a successful brand. We bring in fashion experts from both coasts to teach effective fashion seminars and workshops year-round."

In addition to its educational mission, Phoenix Fashion Week will kick off breast cancer awareness month by providing support for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Phoenix affiliate. Over the past 25 years, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, with over 100,000 survivors, activists and even more supporters, has become the largest network of people with the common goal of putting an end to breast cancer.

Phoenix Fashion Week is lending its hand to this important mission by hosting "Fashionably Pink"-a celebrity fashion show at the Hotel Valley Ho. Thirty-six featured designers have designed outfits inspired by the color pink that will be worn on the runway by celebrities and breast cancer survivors. The pieces will be sold at a silent auction and the proceeds donated to the local chapter.

One of this year's most anticipated Fashion Week events is the "Inspire Fashion" emerging designer contest. For this debut event, hundreds of designers throughout Arizona were called to submit samples and look books during the application process.

"The second component to pushing Arizona fashion forward is success," Hill says. "We need a homegrown global brand that we can call our own. That is why we launched 'Inspire Fashion' this year at Phoenix Fashion Week. Ten emerging designers based in Arizona compete for a $10,000 prize of products and services meant to ensure the winning brand a successful launch."

What else could help make Phoenix a fashion Mecca? "The state and city governments will need to support building our own garment district while attracting fashion manufacturing back to Arizona with tax incentives, like they do for the motion picture business here," says Hill.

Through educational fashion seminars, year-round fashion events and charitable partnerships, Phoenix Fashion Week is gaining rapid acclaim for its community service efforts and for infusing world-class innovation into the valley. "Phoenix is by no means lacking in the area of local talent," Hill says, "but these designers need our support. And Phoenix Fashion Week's goal is to inspire them to put their best looks forward."

Hermann Plank is Public Relations Director and an adviser for Phoenix Fashion Week.