Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week Returns

Courtesy Photo by Meredith Mashburn
Selina Aguirre models a dress by Label for a Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week photoshoot.

The once defunct Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week has been brought back to life for 2017, and there are high-end events aplenty coming to Bentonville the week of March 1-4.

Robin Atkinson, the organization’s new CEO, hopes to reinvent the organization as a force for promoting and highlighting the community’s designers, brands and boutiques.

“You can’t make five ball gowns, put them on a rack and try to sell them at Cattywampus crafts,” Atkinson said. “There aren’t really any avenues for designers to show off their craft, and we want to provide them an exhibition space.”

The main Fashion Week event will take place March 1-4 in Bentonville with various events at Record and 21c Hotel near the downtown square.

The Gala

Wednesday, March 1, the Fashion Week kicks off with a free panel discussion event presented by Artinfusion at the Great Hall at Crystal Bridges. The panel will feature some top makeup artists, designers, and creatives from the Northwest Arkansas Fashion week team.

The next night, The Gala event at 21c Hotel 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.

Chicago R&B Hip-hop duo Jason Maek and Zaena will open the event with an unveiling of their newest project “Fashion Week: The Visual Album.” Local classical duo Sophia-Odelia Bauer and Christian Davis Serrano-Torres are planned to play live music along to the premier of the NWA Fashion Week full-length Marie Antoinette video project.

Tickets to The Gala are $100 per person, and VIP ticket pricing available is available at nwafw.com.

Courtesy Photo by Meredith Mashburn
(from left to right) Selina Aguirre, Dylan Turk and Charlotte Edsall pose together during a Northwest Arkansas Fashion Show, wearing looks by Label and The Independent Denim and Essentials. Hair was done by Micayla Killham, and makeup by Joshua Odom, Pa Xiong and Genoa Falar.

The Fashion Shows

There will be two days of runway shows Friday and Saturday at the Record, which will feature local models walking down a runway and a slew of local and regional designers 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 at the shows.

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.

General admission tickets to the fashion shows are $50 plus fees, and VIP seats in the first few rows range from $130 to $80.

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.

“We give you an event to dress up for, and we can tell you who you can go to find what you want to wear,” Atkinson said. “In this area, there’s not a ton of options if you wanted to get something completely different and you wanted to try it on. It turns out there’s all these people in the area who make custom gowns.”

For more information about Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week, visit nwafw.com.