In her opening remarks at last week’s runway show in Forsyth Park, Savannah Fashion Week president Heather Kaney Burge emphasized the diversity of styles that the attendees would see.
And she was sure right about that.
Over the course of the show, lucky ticketholders saw the work of 18 local boutiques and independent designers. It was a bold, energizing program with a heady mix of styles.
This year’s runway show was significantly different in a variety of respects from the 2013 show, which was held at the Lucas Theatre.
However beautiful, the Lucas is not really set up for a fashion runway show. Even with the stage extended, the fixed seating is a real problem.
And only boutiques participated in the official SFW runway show in 2013, while a group of local designers displayed their work the following night at Dollhouse Productions.
Both of the shows in 2013 were successful, I thought, although they had different vibes and attracted different audiences.
It always felt odd to me that the boutiques and independent designers were separated like that, and both groups surely benefited this year from the added exposure of a single show highlighting everyone’s talents.
Of course, the sheer volume of talent on display last week posed a little bit of a problem. At two hours, the runway show probably needed to be tightened up a bit.
And last week’s wet weather was disruptive. The show was originally scheduled to be under the oaks north of the Forsyth Park fountain, but the event was moved to a big tent just south of the band shell.
The location turned out to be lovely, but maybe next year we’ll be able to enjoy Forsyth at its finest.
The damp weather didn’t seem to dampen spirits, however, and glorious photos from the show have been all over social media in recent days. I’ll be curious in the coming weeks to hear from Savannah Fashion Week retailers and designers about sales generated by the runway show and the high visibility of other events.
Savannah’s fashion scene has developed fairly dramatically in recent years. The successful 2014 Fashion Week will likely spur continued growth for a variety of reasons, including the choice of Savannah Arts Academy as this year’s charitable partner.
Savannah Arts Academy received a portion of ticket sales from the runway show, and SFW has launched the Savannah Style Fund to encourage area students pursuing creative fields. SAA student Troy Allen was the first recipient of the SFW’s new scholarship program.
I’m expecting similarly ambitious steps from Savannah Fashion Week in 2015 and beyond.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.