Pittsburgh Fashion Week shows improvement; creative director dismissed
Pittsburgh Fashion Week had just wrapped up one of its most successful events this weekend when news came that creative director Elysia Newman had been terminated.
On Friday, the Downtown Community Development Corp. notified Ms. Newman by email that she was no longer creative director, a volunteer position.
“I thought it was a really good show. I thought we’re moving in the right direction,” executive director John Valentine told the Post-Gazette on Sunday. “Like anything else, there are always a few changes to make from year to year, including personnel.”
He declined to elaborate on the record about the reason for Ms. Newman’s dismissal.
This was the event’s third year under the direction of the Downtown Community Development Corp., and it demonstrated its biggest step in the right direction.
Pittsburgh Fashion Week kicked off a week ago with a stylish social at Il Tetto, Sienna Mercato’s rooftop beer garden on Penn Avenue, Downtown. You know your party is a hit when it’s four hours long and remains packed most of the time. It attracted a cross section of the city’s style scene, from bloggers to boutique owners, designers to some of Pittsburgh’s best-known partygoers. Slick video promos (produced by an Art Institute of Pittsburgh student) highlighting the week’s featured designers were a creative, effective touch.
A panel discussion, a new addition to the lineup, added grit to the glamour with a conversation about the intersection of fashion and technology at Truefit in the Union Trust Building. The caliber of the panelists — Amanda Cosco, founder of the fashion site Electric Runway (electricrunway.com); Gemma Sole, COO and cofounder of Nineteenth Amendment (nineteenthamendment.com); and Dee Schlotter, senior marketing manager for PPG Industries — gave Pittsburgh Fashion Week some major credibility points.
The grand finale was a runway show Thursday in the Wintergarden at PPG Place, Downtown. This was a stunning venue, with the inky night sky as the backdrop. The show was wellpaced and benefited from a no-frills approach, without emcees and guest performers as in the past.
Many collections were clean and sharp enough to go straight from the runway to retail -— and a handful of them did because of Pittsburgh Fashion Week’s collaboration with Nineteenth Amendment. The website helps up-and-coming designers produce and sell their garments without requiring them to manufacture a certain number of each piece.
Giving Pittsburgh-based designers a solid opportunity to sell their creations was one of the event’s most significant strides this year. However, the fact pieces in the show could be purchased online wasn’t well promoted at the event. (FYI: You can shop select looks seen on the runway and meet the designers from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Luna Boutique in Sewickley.)
Overall, Pittsburgh Fashion Week seemed to amp up its attention to detail. Lots of greeters (and signage) took the guesswork out of where to go, and models looked polished thanks to a partnership with ModCloth (which provided shoes and accessories) and professional hair and makeup teams. Branding the event as #PGHFW on social media (instead of #PFW) was smart to separate it from Paris Fashion Week, which uses the latter hashtag.
A couple of things to keep in mind for next year: Be sure to include designers’ logos in the official program. When the logos were projected during the runway show (instead of the designer’s name), it was unclear at times whose collection it was. Also, putting media and social media influencers in the second or third rows meant that some had obstructed sight lines.
Some of the improvements can be traced to new event producer Suzanne Mauro, who worked closely with Ms. Newman, veteran co-producer Renee McCafferty, Downtown Community Development Corp. staff and a team of volunteers.
Ms. Newman told the Post-Gazette on Sunday that she had not heard from Mr. Valentine beyond the termination email, nor had she received a clear explanation about why she was let go. She did, however, detect “a growing sense of tension” during the event-planning process, she said.
Ms. Newman founded the Pittsburgh-based fashion council Style 412. By day, she’s a digital brand manager for a local startup. Earlier this year, Mr. Valentine tapped her to replace James Houk as creative director. Mr. Houk, a Pittsburghbased fashion designer from Brookline, vacated the position after just a few months because a new design opportunity required him to split his time between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.
“I thought Elysia and I made a good team,” Ms. Mauro said. “I know nothing about anything that happened” regarding the termination.
“I just think we want to see [Pittsburgh Fashion Week] grow and develop, and I think we really busted our butts to do that, Elysia and I together. Whoever decides to take it over ... should elevate it even more.”