Brandon Campbell has a hard time believing it has been seven years since he founded and introduced what has become one of the more anticipated events of the summer: Little Rock Fashion Week.
"It goes by fast," he says. "It seems like yesterday. But then ... when you start seeing some of your models [and other participants] that you remember from 2009 graduating from college and getting jobs and [starting] families, you're like, 'Wait a minute, hold up now' -- it feels like it's more like 18 years.
"It's a journey. And so I've learned to ... love and enjoy the journey."
Now it's time for Little Rock Fashion Week 8, with events scheduled for July 20-23 at various venues in the city. This year's event bears the slogan "Great in Eight."
Not only has it brought together people from different walks of life, Fashion Week has provided a valuable education for young people, Campbell says. "Since 2009, through our internship program, we've trained, developed and prepared students for the high-paced fashion, entertainment and media industries," he says. "Several of our interns have gone on to have successful careers as journalists, producers, publicists, buyers, department store managers" for such employers as E! Entertainment, Black Entertainment Television, CNN, Dillard's and Belk.
The event has also been a vehicle by which local designers could move beyond Arkansas' borders. Several Little Rock Fashion Week designers have shown work at New York Fashion Week as well as other fashion events all over the country and internationally. Models, meanwhile, have gone on to modeling contracts and other paid opportunities in the field.
Since starting Little Rock Fashion Week, Campbell has branched out. He also established Oneofakind Baton Rouge Fashion Week, held each February in Louisiana; Oneofakind Talent Inc., a boutique model and talent firm; and the T-shirt-dominated iME line. He produces the Re-Fashion Bash, a recycling-theme fashion show held in Benton, and hosts the "Fashion Forward" segment on KLRT-TV, Channel 16's Good Day Arkansas. "It's fashion, but it's always something bigger than what meets the eye sometimes," he says.
This year's Fashion Week will feature a troupe of more than 50 Fashion Week models headed by Bridgette Jones, 2015 Model of the Year. Clothing lines will include Balloonatic Fashions of Shreveport, Cross World Creations, Rosavrai by Cecilia Rosa, iME and several new designers as well as boutiques.
The Big Night started out big, but has been getting smaller and more intimate since its debut. Campbell says he wanted a more intimate setting, "where you kind of feel the crowd." For the second year in a row, this event will take place outside ... on Main Street, between Third and Fourth streets. Guests are asked to wear light pink and blue in keeping with the 2016 Pantone colors of the year, rose quartz and serenity.
The schedule of events:
• Giveback, 10 a.m. July 20; Pinnacle Pointe Hospital, 11501 Financial Centre Parkway. Fashion Week staff, models and designers will speak and share life stories and lessons with the youths.
• For Kids by Kids Fashion Show, 8 p.m. July 21; Doubletree by Hilton, 424 W. Markham St. A fashion show produced solely by kids, featuring the latest children's fashions. Includes refreshments. Doors open at 7. Business attire. Tickets: $30.
• Bare fashion show, 8 p.m. July 22, Hillcrest Hall, 1501 Kavanaugh Blvd. All natural fashion show. Doors open at 7. Semiformal attire. Tickets: $30.
• Big Night fashion show, 8 p.m. July 23, Main Street, between Third and Fourth streets. Haute couture fashions by Balloonatic Fashions, Cross World Creations, iME, Rosavrai and more. Check-in begins at 7 at Club Level, 315 Main St. Light pink/blue/white cocktail attire. Tickets, $60, include hors d'oeuvres, complimentary drink and swag bag.
An All Week Exclusive VIP Pass, $100, offers entry to all events and includes reserved seating. Tickets are available at lrfw.ticketleap.com. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Oneofakind Fashionment Foundation, which helps outstanding individuals seeking to further their careers in the fashion, media and entertainment industries.
For more information, visit Littlerockfashionweek.com.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
After a couple of announced, then missed, dates since its March 2014 shows, Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week is working toward a comeback. The organization is undergoing some restructuring with a new artistic director, Robin Wallis Atkinson, on board.
"Some of the stakeholders from the last event ... had been trying to keep the organization alive for the last couple of years, but had faced some difficulties in terms of manpower," she says. Eventually, she was asked to take over as "somebody who had the power to do large-scale events come in and reboot the thing."
A native of the area, Atkinson has lived in New Orleans as well as in New York, where she was a curator of contemporary art. She's also one of the founders of Art Amiss, featured prominently during the last Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week.
The next such week is planned for 2017. The goal is to have a fall show in Fayetteville and a spring show in Bentonville. Meanwhile, Atkinson is currently at work rebuilding the core leadership and reforging creative bonds with designers, boutique owners, hairdressers, photographers and makeup artists. In addition, she's shooting for a fall pop-up shop in Fayetteville involving a handful of boutiques.
In rebooting, organizers hope to be more approachable to the public, Atkinson says, and much more inclusive of upstart designers in Arkansas and beyond. "Because my background is in art, my focus will be very strongly on finding talent and helping find opportunities for designers, because it is such a difficult thing to do."
Atkinson can be reached at robin@nwafw.com or the Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week Facebook page.
GIVE A SUIT
Celebrity Nick Cannon and Men's Wearhouse have teamed up for the ninth annual National Suit Drive. Through July 31, gently used professional attire, both men's and women's, will be collected at all Men's Wearhouse locations, which can be found at menswearhouse.com/store-locator.
Donations will be distributed to more than 180 nonprofit organizations that provide job skills, training, and clothing to unemployed and underemployed people re-entering the workforce. Donors -- who will receive 50 percent off their next purchase of regular-priced items at the store -- are also encouraged to share a photo of an empty hanger in their hometown, identified by a unique backdrop, on social media using the hashtag #giveasuit.
Dressing Room appears monthly. Send Arkansas fashion-related tips and news releases to:
hwilliams@arkansasonline.com
High Profile on 07/10/2016