How do you feel about fashion in Jacksonville? How do you feel about a Fashion Week in Jacksonville?
I was prompted to write this by searching for "fashion" and "fashion week" on Metro Jacksonville as I am a new designer and have participated in a few local fashion events in the past year, including Jacksonville Fashion Week and most recently First Coast Fashion Week. I wanted to see how much impact fashion is making in Jacksonville.
My search results included one local event featured here in the forums back in 2009, and a feature on Love Brigade in October 2011.
When I meet new people or catch up with old friends, I mention participating in events like JFW and FCFW and the response is mostly the same: "Jacksonville has a Fashion Week?"
Most recently, I described the grandeur of FCFW to a friend: the setting was funky as it was downtown in a parking garage next to the new courthouse, and had great AV production, cameras everywhere, and a full crowd the night of my show. She has a bit of clout in the creative community but her response was, "Wow, that was completely under my radar. I had no idea about it."
My speculation is that it is likely the show was not marketed to the creative community very well. I know fashion is a business, but so is art, and the design involved in fashion should not be left out of the arts buzz.
New York Fashion Week is invite-only, inviting buyers, press, and the hottest celebrities, and showcases only the best, brightest, and profitable brands (most are NY-based). The shows in Jacksonville are fundraisers, selling tickets to benefit local charities. Also, NYFW often goes beyond a week, whereas the "weeks" here are four or three days long. We also have other great fashion shows that are evening events, but are also fundraisers.
The dreamer in me sees buildings downtown becoming a wonderful place for studios, production, retail, and shows, next to salons, boutique hotels, tasty restaurants, bakeries, etc. but I know occupying downtown is a whole other dramatic topic.
This post does not aim to provoke any ill judgments between the two Fashion Weeks, but asks the community on here, Metro Jacksonville, what you think of the concept of a Fashion Week being here.
Feel free to speculate on how it would affect Jacksonville as a whole.
I would love to see a fashion week in Jax and I think it is warranted. Take a look at this article: http://www.citylab.com/work/2012/09/worlds-leading-cities-fashion/3182/ (http://www.citylab.com/work/2012/09/worlds-leading-cities-fashion/3182/) and scroll down to "Top 20 Large Metros for Fashion Designers". You might be as surprised as I was, to find that Jax comes in at #12 (higher than Miami).
My company does event production so I would love to be a part of putting together a legit fashion week in Jax!
Jax. had one now for the past 2 years....but apparently it has been cancelled for 2014
https://www.facebook.com/JacksonvilleFashionWeek
My fiancee would love to go to a fashion festival or participate in one lol