Philly Fashion Week: Connect the Dots

Frankly, I haven’t been super psyched about covering the new, much-hyped Philly Fashion Week because of stuff like this, which Phashionista puts very well:

We have to admit, we were a little surprised to learn about the money part since typical “Fashion Weeks” are a free, invite-only event for media, retailers and fashion influencers, but in Philly, the idea is to “invite residents and visitors to celebrate the vibrant fashion, food, and arts and culture scene in Philadelphia,” said Kristie Bergey, executive director of PFW.

“Student” One-Day Passes are $35 each, with 3-Day Passes, $100, “Red Carpet” (though they don’t tell us what this means or includes) One-Day Passes are $75 each with a 3-Day being $150. And they also offer “VIP” tickets starting at a staggering $1500.

On the one hand, it does seem a little blatantly “give me money!” even for fashion; on the other hand, it is the first time an adequately funded group of people look like they might get this thing off the ground, so I feel like I should be supportive.

On the other other hand, more than half of the designers (not counting the student shows from Moore, the Art Institute and Philadelphia University, which are scheduled earlier in the evenings) aren’t even from Philly. But if they’re from out of town, what brings them all to Philadelphia Fashion Week?

Let’s break it down by night and see if we can’t find a common thread:

THURSDAY

DESIGNER: Brooklyn Royalty

BASED IN: Williamsburg

DOES: What appears to be mostly screenprinted t-shirt-type streetwear for men and women

PHILLY CONNECTION: Yes! From their About page:

Though always a Brooklynite at heart, brand director and founder Bob Bland is delighted to have recently purchased a new home in West Philadelphia. A longtime fan of Philly, she has scouted everywhere from Northern Liberties to Clark Park for several years, and is looking forward to moving her garment production and printing operations to the City of Brotherly Love. In her spare time, Bob also designs for another Philadelphia favorite, independent menswear label Duke & Winston.

Another connection: their stuff is sold at Philly boutique Matthew Izzo, at 151 N. 3rd St.

ALSO: Wait, didn’t they already show their Spring 2010 collection? In Brooklyn?

DESIGNER: Wrath Arcane

BASED IN: Cleveland

DOES: Men’s streetwear

PHILLY CONNECTION: Just had trunk show at Matthew Izzo, otherwise not obvious

ALSO: We like.

DESIGNER: Love Brigade

BASED IN: Williamsburg

DOES: Men’s and women’s streetwear

PHILLY CONNECTION: Line available at Matthew Izzo, Dave P played the afterparty for their Spring 2010 collection.

ALSO: OK, so they also showed in Brooklyn already.

DESIGNER: Palmieri Jeans

BASED IN: Philly! In Germantown, near the Awbury Arboretum

DOES: Men’s and women’s jeans

ALSO: Who doesn’t love a good Swarkovski crystal, although I am wondering how comfortable some of these are to sit in.

DESIGNER: Delicious Corsets

BASED IN: Philly! Storefront in the Piazza

DOES: RTW and custom corsets

ALSO: Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but if you poke around on Delicious’ website long enough you’re going to happen upon some semi-nude pictures and BDSM terminology that may set off your workplace’s “internet porn!” alarms. So visit with caution if you’re at work.

DESIGNER: Kill City

BASED IN: L.A.

PHILLY CONNECTION: Doesn’t list Philly on its listing of the places it’s sold (those being, nonspecifically, Amsterdamn Antwerpen Barcelona China – Towns Florence LA London NYC Paris Roadtrip Rockshow Silverlake Tokyo Vegas Venice), but it is sold at Matthew Izzo… wait, I’m starting to see a pattern.

 

Anybody else find it a little off-putting that every single out-of-town designer on the first night has a connection to Matthew Izzo but no other boutiques (as far as I can tell, I looked) in Philadelphia? What say you, Philadelphia Fashion Week?

“Philadelphia Fashion Week is committed to supporting designers sold in our city,” said Michael Anderer, creative director of Philadelphia Fashion Week, partner of CMK Entertainment and head buyer for Matthew Izzo. “There will be runway shows of local designers like Commonwealth Proper, but because we wanted this event to be accessible for everyone—designers and guests—we opened up the criteria to any designer based or sold in our city.”

Sold in our city? Or sold at his store?

OK, I guess since Anderer is the sole creative director of this thing, he may have tapped his business contacts to wrangle up three nights’ worth of shows, what with this being the first year and all. But if you’re going to promote your event as a big local thing and a legit Fashion Week, you probably should keep an eye on making it an opportunity for local designers to show the world what they do (kind of the point of a Fashion Week) rather than an expensive party celebrating your boutique’s selections.

Eh, whatever. I’ll do the rundowns of Friday and Saturday nights tomorrow, and perhaps their lineups will be a bit more exciting/local, but for now I assume you all have attention spans. Sorry I’m such a Negative Nancy, but I may have mentioned that PR annoys the hell out of me.