Courtesy Photo
Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week, which has been reinvigorated under new leadership, will commence March 1-4 in Bentonville. The organizers hope to use the funding raised to develop a long term fashion scene in the area and promote the next generation of local fashion industry designers.
Organizers for the upcoming Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week have announced their featured local designers and boutiques for the March 2017 event in Bentonville.
The once defunct Fashion Week has since been brought back to life by Robin Atkinson, the organization’s new CEO. Under her leadership, she hopes to reinvent the organization as a force for promoting and highlighting the community’s designers, brands and boutiques.
Aimz Designs, Alberti&Co., Alyece Lenae, Chavon Shree, Downright Denim, Felix Bui Couture, G by Gavin, Material Concepts, Rc by Richard Cotto, Rosie Rose Designer will be among the NWA Fashion Week spring 2017 designers.
As for the featured boutiques, Elysian Boutique, The Independent, Label, Lola, NA Martin, RiffRaff, She Said Yes, Shop for Mankind, Steamroller Blues and Vesta’s will all be showcasing their new wares.
The main Fashion Week event will take place March 1-4 in Bentonville at various events at Record, the new event space, and 21c Hotel near the downtown square.
There will be two days of runway shows at the Record, which will feature local models, and the aforementioned designers and boutiques.
There’s a gala event at 21c Hotel on March 2 that will operate as a “behind the scenes” experience. There will be as many as five live photo shoots set up in the lobby, where the models will be put through hair and make up in front of the guests. Once they’re ready, guests will be able join in on the interactive photo shoots.
“We highly recommend the guests come camera-ready,” Atkinson said.
The money raised from the spring runway shows will go back into production, paying staff operating costs and raise funds for a fall fashion production in Fayetteville. The organizers hope to also raise $25,000 to give back to the fashion community through grants to fund scholarships and education work within fashion to promising members of the community who are looking to enter production for their designs. They also hope to grant scholarships to students in the apparel studies program at the University of Arkansas.
“Think of it as a Startup Junkie for clothing design in the area,” Atkinson said. “As a long term goal, it would be to recruit people from outside the area to come here because production funding would be here. If we’re raising all of this money off the backs of designers, because we’re using their products, it makes a lot of sense to dump the money back into it to create a more robust community.”
Photo by Sophia Bauer
Jordan Hatwig models designs by Felix Bui Couture, with hair and make up by Andi Wise.
Many more details are still being planned and developed for the main event in March. Auditions for models for the spring runway shows will take place at The Movement Dance Studio in Springdale from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 5. There’s a registration fee of $10 in advance and $15 at the door, and models should be older than 18. For more information, visit nwafw.com.
Following leadership changes and controversy over the organization designating itself as a limited liability company instead of a nonprofit, and pricey pay-to-play registration fees for models, designers and boutiques to join, the organization fell dormant for two years since its last main event in 2014.
Atkinson, who worked as an art curator in New Orleans and New York City before returning to Fayetteville, announced the new vision for NWA Fashion Week in September. There was still community interest in running it again after its successful runs in the past and the group came to her with the plan to reinvent it, she said.
“We looked at the strength of the brand and the community involvement in it and decided that with an investment of a certain amount of time we could reboot it as a proper nonprofit,” Atkinson said. “That’s been the plan, and we filed for our 501(c)(3) status last week, and they’ve been trying to do that since 2012 so I’m really happy we did it.”
Atkinson helped start Art Amiss in 2003, which is a local arts collective that raised funds to grant out to artists and bands.
“The reason why I decided to jump back in is that people love it,” Atkinson said. “Everybody that I’ve talked to about it, even the ones who hate it, love it. The people who had the biggest complaints about it still loved what it did. Nobody in the area does what it does.”
