Email
Print
Tampa stepping up with a Fashion Week of its own
Photo from Whitebookagency.com
The second Tampa Bay Fashion Week, featuring 16 local designers, runs Wednesday through Saturday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: September 18, 2009
Related Links
TAMPA - Places such as New York, L.A. and Miami come to mind before Tampa when you hear the words "Fashion Week." But Tampa broke new ground last year when it debuted Tampa Bay Fashion Week.
Next week, Tampa is doing it again.
Tampa Bay Fashion Week runs Wednesday through Saturday and will be filled with fashion shows by local designers. There will also be boutique areas with fashion vendors, after-hours parties and maybe, just maybe, a celebrity (perhaps a "Project Runway" designer from Season 3). Proceeds benefit Best Buddies Tampa and the YWCA of Tampa Bay.
The event is modeled after New York's biannual runway presentations: a week of back-to-back fashion shows featuring the spring or fall collections of top U.S. designers. The shows take place under tents erected in Manhattan's Bryant Park for an audience of media, buyers and celebrity spectators.
Locally, the event will take over the Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk, and the runway shows and all the schmoozing will take place in an "intimate space," said Vaughn.
"We have a lot of people who are very interested in fashion," said Nancy Vaughn, senior event publicist. "We're not like the bigger cities, but we have our own style and that's what Tampa Bay Fashion Week celebrates."
Sixteen designers will showcase their collections including Essence Flowers, Ivanka Ska, Bebe Ziegler, Ben Chmura, Audrey "Pat" McGhee, Adjanys Marrero, Helen Gerro, Sana Hassan, Troy Anthony, Michael Della Penna and Nina Verklas.
Most of the designers have been in the Tampa Bay area a long time, but don't get the attention until they get to bigger cities such as New York, Vaughn said.
Tampa Bay Fashion Week aims to do just that.
"These designers end up going to New York or L.A. and get to show at fashion weeks there," Vaughn said. "If we support them here, they'll remember that and continue to pay it forward."
All the designer runway shows are open to the public, but fashionistas need to check the Web site because some events, such as the opening party, are by invitation only (much like they do in New York).
Visit fashionweektampabay.com for a schedule of events, featured designers, showtimes and ticket prices.
Reporter Cloe Cabrera can be reached at (813) 259-7656.
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online ©2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company. | Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
