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The Anatomy of Dayton Fashion Week(Part 2): The Success Stories

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International Fashion House Azucar

The bar was set high for the Inaugural Dayton Fashion Week, what started out as just a fun idea grew and grew and in the age of social networking word soon traveled outside of the city, outside of the state, and oh yeah outside of the country!!  Who would have thought that little old Dayton, OH would cause such a stir in the Fashion World that even the people at Italian Vogue’s party during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Miami would be talking about us and watching us…after all this was just the first one! The designer submission for DFW 2013 have already started rolling in starting with South Africa’s International Fashion House Azucar who has already signed on!

In this first year, we faced it all controversy, skepticism, criticism, and attempts of sabotage, yet we were lifted up each time by friendships, support, faith, determination, shared visions, encouragement, opportunity, and outreach, making dealing with the negativity from a handful of individuals much easier to ignore and here we stand today with success in our hands.

In the days and weeks leading up to and following Dayton Fashion Week, I experienced a rollercoaster of emotions from a huge sense of accomplishment to asking myself if I ever wanted to be a part of something like this again…especially since I wasn’t in it for personal gain; I was and still in it because I love this city!  Each time I thought about throwing in the towel I was reminded and motivated by those who stood behind me and had my back when we faced adversity, next to me when there was work to be done, and in front of me when it came time to take the lead and show the world just who and what Dayton Fashion week was and is all about.  I found that the support far out numbered the naysayers…and I can proudly look back at our first year with ABSOLUTELY NO REGRETS!!

The success stories that have followed in the past couple of weeks speak for themselves and have made it all worth it, starting with:

“The Face” of Dayton Fashion Week

Celebrity photographer Rich Jackson was in the building during Dayton Fashion Week doing some scouting.  Rich has been credited

DFW Model Olivia Nichols wearing designs by Dlang Ferguson, Jewelry by Serket, photo by Rich Jackson

with discovering some of the today’s top models and entertainers.  During his stay here in Dayton he hand selected 9 models from Dayton Fashion Week that caught his eye during our Kids Couture and Ready To Wear shows. Including Jessica Ventus, Kayla Holts, AjA Howard, Ashley Jones, Grace Langshaw, Dana Langshaw, Erica Skrylac, Jeanne Kinne, and Olivia Nichols who was named “The Face” of Dayton Fashion Week; Olivia has gone on to do other shoots with Rich for national campaigns!

Abercrombie & Fitch signs Dayton Fashion Week Model

Model Josh Reid signs with Abercrombie & Fitch

Joshua Reid was discovered while walking the runway of Dayton Fashion Week by scouts from Abercrombie & Fitch who were in attendance and as of today Josh is officially the newest face of A&F!

“The Hidden Gem”

According to McKinley Pierre, the Executive Producer of Miami, FL based fashion series Inside Couture Dayton designer L’Amour Ameer stole the show! From his creative runway presentation to his multipurpose multifunctioning designs—“Look!  Up on the runway!! It’s a bag, it’s a—wait for it…wait for it…Wow it’s a jacket??”  Mr. Ameer’s  showcase during DFW had  people cheering in their seats and left the people from Inside Couture in awe naming him the “Show Stopper” and “Hidden Gem” of Dayton Fashion Week!

Sew Dayton Opens for Business!

What can I say about Dayton designer Tracy McElfresh other than the fact that she was a God send during DFW!  Not only was she one of our most popular designers appearing with us on Living Dayton, FOX 45 In The Morning,  and appearing in F.I.Q. Magazine but when Junda suffered her stroke days before the kickoff of DFW Tracy stepped up, took over some of my duties and became my right hand woman when it came to answering most of the contractual questions being asked of me by designers.  So, I’m super excited for her new business Sew Dayton;  in conjunction with Activated Spaces Tracy and her business Partner Jesy Anderson will open their own clothing shop complete with original designs from Tracy, hand bags designed by Jesy, and they will even offer sewing lessons!  Located in the Oregon District across from Thai 9, Sew Dayton will open its doors this Friday Sept 7!

Sarah Tyrchniewicz of Pretty In Dayton

 

Pretty In Dayton gets invited to the Big Apple

Another God send was Fashion blogger Sarah Tyrchniewicz of Pretty In Dayton, like Tracy, Sarah stepped up and took over some of my duties when Junda fell ill and helped us to keep the ball rolling. And in the process, her honest, sincere, and edgy writing style caught the attention of designers who are participating in New York Fashion Week which kicks off this week!  They invited her to sit in the audience and do what she does best give her thoughts and opinions on the latest fashion trends hitting the runway and the streets!  Though she had to decline the late invites we’re pretty confident that Sarah and Pretty In Dayton will continue to capture the fashion worlds attention!

Photographer of the Year!

Dayton Fashion Week Photographer Lamar Pacley has been nominated for Photographer of The Year for the 2012 Ohio Hip Hop Awards!  Lamar played a huge role in the success of Dayton Fashion Week, from scouting models, shooting the cover of F.I.Q. Magazine, and working with the designers to name a few. Lamar definitely has our vote you can vote for him too at http://survey.websitegear.com/launch/29437/173!

Moving Forward

Photographer Lamar Pacley of Shuttereye Photo

These are just a handful of the success stories that have unfolded in the last couple of weeks from members of Team DFW! I’ve been approached about creating a Designer Incubator for the Midwest, Dayton Fashion Week caught the eye of producers from  Naomi Campbell’s new reality show “The Face” and requested some information about several of our models, Dayton Fashion Week models and designers will be on a big screen near you soon after being cast as extras and stylist for a feature film being shot locally, DFW Events Manager Cindy Gaboury is writing for a new magazine called Envision Chronicle, you’ll also see the work of one of DFW’s models on a national hit show soon, and DFW Designer and CEO of Midwest Fashion Week Berny Martin will be showcasing his Spring 2013 designs during New York Fashion Week Emerge Show just to mention a few more!

The Inaugural Dayton Fashion Week has made its mark in the Fashion Industry and Fashion Weeks from across the country and fashion insiders from around the world have reached out to us for support and to help us grow to make it to the next level!  The 2012 Dayton Fashion Week consisted of a lot of educating, trial and error, lessons learned, adjusting, adapting, communication, and corrections.  Coming into this year we only had 3 people who were familiar with Fashion Weeks– myself, Junda, and one other model– now we have 300!  The planning for the 2013 Dayton Fashion Week is currently underway.  Stay tuned for details on how you can become a part of the planning process! For more information on Dayton Fashion Week be sure to “Like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/daytonfashion .

 

 

 

 

The Anatomy of Dayton Fashion Week: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Part 1)

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Lawd a mercy…where do I even start??  When I first heard that someone was trying to bring a Fashion Week to Dayton in September of 2011, I immediately got excited and went to work on trying to find out who this Junda Morris-Kennedy person was, I called, I wrote, I googled, I Facebooked, pretty much I stalked her until she finally responded!!  I offered my assistance thinking that this Dayton Fashion Week thing was just going to be a cute little fashion show—BOY WAS I WRONG because This “Dayton Fashion Week Thing” turned out to be an International Fashion Spectacular that can only be summed up into three categories:  The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly…of course there was more Good than anything else.(que Ennio Morricone please)

The Good

The Friendships: Excuse me while I get a little teary eye’d  and sappy but in the course of the past 10 months I had the opportunity to meet some of the most wonderful people and even better we became more than friends we became a family.

To the models, I want you to know how much I love and respect each and every one of you! As a former model myself, I set out to do for all of you the things that I wish I had accomplished in my career!  Modeling isn’t an easy career to break into and all too often your hard work, passion, and dedication are dismissed and go unappreciated because you are “just a blank slate” and I want you to know that you are more than that. From the very first calls that we made to you after the casting calls and hearing your excitement and even tears of joy made me feel like a Fairy Godmother making a dream come true. And every event thereafter you went out and represented Dayton Fashion Week and let the whole world know that we had officially arrived on the Fashion Scene.

To the designers, WOW is all that I know to say!!  Actually Wow and Thank You!  It wasn’t an easy process finding designers to be a part of the first year of Dayton Fashion Week.  I remember sitting at Junda’s house going over plans for the casting call and being really worried about the lack of commitments that we had from designers and doubting whether or not we could go on as planned with DFW.  But in true DFW style we continued to reach out and slowly but surely you all answered the call, stepping out on Faith and risking your names and reputations to be a part of this Inaugural event.  To say that I was  blown away by your presentations throughout the week would be the understatement of the century!  Your drive and push to make this event the success that it was will never be forgotten.  I’ll be hitting some of you up soon for my custom orders!!

To the Photography team, Lamar Pacely, Robert Coyle, Pete Bradow, Krissy Mills, Cj Kim, and Cliff Fennell, I don’t know very many if any photographers let alone photographers as talented as you all are, who are willing to give up so much of their time voluntarily. You rose to the occasion with each phone call and yes even the last minute cover shoot calls!! If a picture tells a thousand words then your efforts made it a thousand and one!

To the Hair and Makeup Team— Great job Angelica Ross DFW’s Creative Director of Cosmetics, Elite Hair Academy, Stacia McVey, and The Hair Gallery.  McKinnley Pierre of Inside Couture said it best, “Dayton Fashion Week’s Hair and Makeup team was better than any such teams that I’ve seen in Miami Fashion Week, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, and L.A. Fashion Week, so my hat’s off to them.”  What more can I say?

To Maha Kashani—thank you so much for welcoming me to your hood!! lol   From the very moment that I contacted you about DFW. You jumped on board and worked your butt off to make sure that this event was a success. You are Dayton, you are the bomb, you are the best, you are amazing, you are fabulous, and all of the positive adjectives that you can name but most importantly you are my friend.  Without you and your work there wouldn’t be a Dayton Fashion Week.

To Junda Morris-Kennedy—We did it!!  This was not an easy journey, we climbed up the rough side of the mountain together and I’m honored to call you more than a friend you are my sister.  We put in countless hours in planning, we worked together, cried together, we even disagreed a couple of times, and when push came to shove…we always had each others back and like real sisters we toughed it out, stepped out on faith, kept God first, and kept on climbing to the top of that mountain.  Thank you so much for taking me under your wing and teaching me another side of the industry, for believing in me, and allowing me to be a part of a positive event for the city I love!  I love you from the bottom of my heart.

The Bad

In the days and weeks leading up to Dayton Fashion Week we were rocked by a series of tragedies that shook us to the core.  Junda suffered the loss of several family members back to back and 6 days before the Kickoff to Dayton Fashion Week on July 18 at the age of 37, Junda suffered a stroke.  I was thrown into the leadership position and was faced with answering a challenging question…Will DFW continue? Not knowing all of the details of the business end of things, I called a last minute emergency meeting that was opened with prayer led by DFW Event Manager Cindy Gaboury and the number of people that showed up and the outpouring of support I received gave me the strength to go on and reaffirmed that cancellation WAS NOT AN OPTION!!

On Friday July 20, DFW’s Executive Producer and MTV’s Made Coach Kyle Haggerty, called his best friend to pick him up to take him to the airport to fly into Dayton and help with Dayton Fashion Week’s preparations. The weather was bad that day and his friend never arrived because he had been killed in a car accident on his way to pick up Kyle leaving him completely devastated and cancelling his trip to be a aprt of DFW.

On Sunday July 22, our Director of Public Relations Tamieka Kent had to step down from her DFW duties when she received a phone call requiring her to leave town to be at her mother’s side who had emergency open heart surgery.

The Ugly

I’ll keep this short,in the days leading up to DFW and when Dayton Fashion Week was struggling to survive after being rocked by back to back to back tragedies there were attempts made to kick us when we were down by those who we bent over backwards for the most to help and accommodate.  Did I mention those were FAILED ATTEMPTS??

Back To The Good

Surely you didn’t think that I was going to let the ugly outshine the good right?  As McKinnely Pierre the Executive Producer of Inside Couture told me when he called to check on me the other day.  “Don’t let a couple of barking dogs steal your joy, especially when you have hundreds of silent ones standing behind you who have your back”. This is only the beginning  and you know my motto Dayton Fashion Week #ItJustKeepsGettinBetter 2013 here we come!!  News Flash WE ALREADY HAVE DESIGNERS FROM BRAZIL, LONDON, SOUTH AFRICA, INDIA, JAMAICA, AND YES DAYTON GETTING READY FOR 2013

Stay tuned for Part 2 and be sure to check out our Facebook Page to see all of the wonderful images captured by Dayton Fashion Weeks Photographers at Facebook.com/daytonfashion.