“Inaugural Indiana Fashion Week Connects Local Fashion Creatives to Global Fashion Industry”
Indianapolis, IN (May 30, 2019) Indiana Fashion Week (INDFW) is taking a non-traditional approach to the fashion week model by presenting a multi-faceted event that includes opportunities for education, exhibition, and entertainment. INFDW is a catalyst to fulfilling its mission of “Connecting the World of Fashion. Strengthening the Industry of Fashion. Securing the Future of Fashion.” Scheduled for June 18 – 22, 2019, the week will include a youth designer challenge, a press preview party, an industry day conference, and a runway show featuring a group of talented emerging designers hailing from cities across the state of Indiana.
As home to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the NCAA Hall of Champions, the Indiana Pacers (NBA), the Indianapolis Colts (NFL), and multiple NCAA Division I schools, the state of Indiana is most widely recognized as a sports hub. However, Indiana has a rich fashion history, having been the home of fashion greats such as Norman Norell, Bill Blass, Stephen Sprouse, and Halston. To this day, there is a budding fashion community in Indiana that, until now, has not centralized its efforts to embedfashion into the narrative and legacy of the state. This is why Indiana Fashion Week (INDFW) was created, to aid in achieving the vision of a unified fashion industry in Indiana.
The week opens with the INDFW Youth Designer Challenge on June 18 & 19. A partnership with Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana, this Project Runway styletwo-day challenge features six (6) students who aspire to be a part of the fashionindustry but have little-to-no experience designing. Day one of the challenge includes a 20 minute, $20 shopping spree at a local Goodwill Outlet store followed by an ideation session. Day two is a fish bowl-style challenge where the press and public have a the chance to observe as the students design their looks made entirely from materials purchased during their shopping spree.
INDFW has partnered with Saks Fifth Avenue to host an invite-only press preview party on June 20 and the Making it INFashion Industry Day Conference on June 21. The conference is an educational opportunity for Indiana-based fashionprofessionals that will feature a combination of interviews and panel discussions that will provide them with insight and actionable steps to launching or elevating their careers. Featured speakers for Making it IN Fashion include Tyrie Rudolph (Indiana native gone international fashion model), Chris Lavish (Global Digital Director for Fashion Week Online), Elliot Carlyle (Director of Cultural Diversity & Inclusion for NYC Jewelry Week), Channing Hargrove (Fashion News Editor for Refinery29), and Sarah Chiwaya (Fashion Blogger & Plus-size Fashion Brand Consultant). The conference culminates with an interview with award-winning creator of New York Fashion Week, Fern Mallis, after which she will be honored with the first-ever INDFW Legendary Trailblazers of Fashion Award, presented by First Lady Janet Holcomb, the wife of Indiana’s Governor Eric Holcomb.
Indiana Fashion Week concludes with The Runway Shows featuring the INDFW Emerging Designer Competition. The 2019 emerging designers are Dontae & Chey of Unfollowed Creator, Jennifer Felts of Tokyo Twiggy, Codi Banks of Witty by Codi, Yemi Sanni of Stylenspire, Maria Mauro of Mau et Cie, Chloe Greenwell of CHLEEN, Monique Burts of Mo Gio, and Misty Dodson of Bond Girl No. 9. The judges for the competition include local and international fashion industry experts with Fern Mallis at the lead. The Runway Shows will also feature IN Vogue designer, Barbara Riordan of Indianapolis-based fashionbrand, Pariah.
Tickets for INDFW are available at www.IndianaFashionWeek.com/ticket-options.
About the Indiana Fashion Foundation
The Indiana Fashion Foundation (IFF) is an organization dedicated to uniting fashion professionals from across Indiana in an effort to mobilize the fashion industry in the state. Focusing specifically on positively impacting economic and environmental sustainability, IFF endeavors to INvoke industry leaders, INspire all, INvest in emerging talent, foster INnovation in the areas of thought & design, and to establish INdustry by creating opportunities for growth and stability in fashion statewide while being a bridge to connect globally.
