Fashion Week Downtown delivers strong debut
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Like the old cliche says, first impressions are lasting impressions. Fashion Week Downtown made a good one with its debut runway show Wednesday night at the Union Trust Building, Downtown. with small pouches stuffed with their business cards. There also was a special elevated section for VIP guests.
My stilettos stopped in their tracks when the main event started on time! (Fashion shows are notorious for running at least 20 minutes late.) In fact, opening remarks started a couple of minutes early, and the show flowed from designer to designer with few pauses. Miss Pennsylvania Elena LaQuatra served as the emcee.
The theme was “Where Fashion Meets Art.” Our first taste was an edgy contemporary dance by choreographer/artist Pearlann Porter and two of her resident artists from The Space Upstairs in Point Breeze. They slinked down the runway in dresses made from newspaper and foil, while Ms. Porter wore a sexy black skirted outfit with dark paint smeared across her skin.
Each of the 14 designers showed three or four looks — just the right amount. It made for a nice sampling of styles, from exquisite evening wear to artsy pieces skillfully crafted from shredded paper. It also was great to see such diversity in the designers and the models.
John Valentine (Pittsburgh Downtown Community Development Corp. executive director), Kari Kramer (assistant event organizer/creative director) and the host committee have a lot to be proud of. They executed a well-paced event with just a couple of months to plan it and attracted a smartly dressed crowd, including many faces that aren’t regulars at fashion events.
Next year, Fashion Week Downtown hopes to grow to four nights. It’s imperative that organizers figure out what will make it different from the hundreds of other fashion events each year. One thing that’s long been missing is an event that connects serious designers with buyers from local boutiques and regional department stores. Pittsburgh needs something that will give its designers not only social media exposure but also sales — and more respect from other cities’ fashion scenes.