Doing The Charleston - Charleston Magazine

Q U I N T E S S E N T I A L
S T Y L E
This page: A design from
winning emerging designer
Charlotte Hess. > Opposite:
Fern Mallis celebrates her
birthday while judging the Emerging Designer Competition
at Charleston Fashion Week.
Doing The Charleston
by
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/ SPRING 2011
Fas h i o n Wi re Pre ss (r u n w a y)
J o sh ua D ra ke ( f ro n t row ) /
When people
think of Charleston, South Carolina,
the common associations tend to be historical: the Battery, the
Civil War, The Citadel, maybe the College of Charleston. As
a frequent visitor myself, I always find a delicious new restaurant, an unknown chic boutique, or a gorgeous new home. But
it wasn’t until my most recent trip this past March that I found
my best discovery—Charleston Fashion Week.
Charleston Fashion Week got its start the way so many
dreams do—you see something amazing, you get inspired,
and that spark becomes the drive into reality. For Ayoka Lu-
Jessica Zaganczyk
cas of Charleston Magazine that’s exactly how it happened.
After attending the 2007 fashion shows in New York City,
she and her colleagues, with the help of local P.R. maven Vail
Duggan, decided it was time to try their hand at producing
their own version of Fashion Week. They saw the potential
for their economy and knew they could tap into the wealth of
local talent. Within six months of returning from that visit,
Charleston Fashion Week was born.
Marion Square Park, located in the center of Charleston’s
bustling downtown, became the center of the action. With-
Q U I N T E S S E N T I A L
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This page, clockwise from top left: designers from the Emerging
Designer Competition; makeup backstage; a dress by Troubador; a model
wears an ornate flower arrangement at a bridal show. > Opposite,
clockwise from top left: “Eavesdrop” mixed media on canvas by Jason
Davis; the conclusion of a bridal show; a model gets prepped; backstage;
a look from Charlotte Hess; a coat from Troubador; artist Jason Davis.
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/ SPRING 2011
fer an inexpensive and competitive platform for undiscovered
talent. Past participants include the 2008 winner Carol Hannah Whitfield (later a finalist on Project Runway), 2009 winner Marysia Dobranska Reeves, (whose swimsuits were picked
up by Barney’s and featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit
Edition), and 2009 finalist Lindsey Carter, of Troubador, who
was dubbed a “designer to watch” by Women’s Wear Daily.
It was this success that led a very established fashion posse down to Charleston to be judges for this year’s Emerging
Designer Competition. Led by the Grande Dame of Fashion
Week, founder Fern Mallis, this was a group that had seen
its fair share of international front rows. The panel consisted
of nine fashion veterans, including Elle’s Anne Slowey, Gilt
Kar s o n P ho t og ra p h y /Fa sh i o n Wi re Pre ss
in days, the large white tents you see at New York’s Fashion
Week went up. Retailers, young designers, models, and a slew
of sponsors jumped on board. All shows and parties were
made available to the general public through ticket purchase.
By shedding the longstanding myth of exclusivity typically
associated with fashion week, Charleston engaged the entire
community. For three years, the team behind the effort worked
on a shoestring budget and a skeleton crew, but produced
solid and respectable designer, retail, and bridal shows season
after season.
In 2008, Charleston Fashion Week created an Emerging Designer Competition specifically for up-and-coming fashion designers living in the eastern United States. The goal was to of-
J o na th a n B al li e t/ Cg y le Su e z/ J o sh u a D rake /
> Center, from top: a model wears pheasant feathers; Van H Design rings.
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This page: another extraordinary knitwear look designed
by Charlotte Hess. > Opposite:
Charlotte Hess walks the runway
in celebration of her win of the
Emerging Designer Competition
Groupe co-founder Alexis Maybank, VMan’s Derek Blasberg,
and Janie Bryant, the costume designer for “Mad Men.” The
panel unanimously chose twenty-eight-year-old designer Charlotte Hess as the winner. Each judge was impressed at the level
of talent and execution exhibited in her collection of handmade knitwear and women’s ready-to-wear. The win awarded
Hess a prize package valued at over $35,000 and included a
free runway show at Charleston Fashion Week next season.
Not to be treated like a step-child to the designer runway
shows are the bridal presentations (which sell out year after
year). Charleston is the second most common wedding destination in the U.S. (behind Las Vegas), and these presentations are
just as much of an integral part of the week, sharing an equally
important role in the marketing and promotion of the week.
In the “Style Lounge,” local retailers, artists, and accessories
designers also exhibit during the week in a Bazaar-like setting. It
also gives attendees a nice place to take a break from the action,
get a drink, take a seat, or listen to the DJ. On one of my own
runway breaks, I discovered two incredible local talents who
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I’m now obsessed with—jewelry designer Annie Van Harlingen
of Van H Designs and contemporary artist Jason Davis.
Charleston Fashion Week embraces multimedia in its shows
by heavily integrating growing trends in technology. Live tweets
are simultaneously projected onto the runway, edgy documentary shorts play for the crowds in between shows, and live
musical performances keep the energy high. With iPads now
outnumbering notebooks in the front row, Charleston Fashion
Week didn’t seem like it was going to have any trouble keeping
up with the new 4G generation fashion flock.
I left the Lowcountry awed by the potential for Charleston
Fashion Week and the city itself. It might one day find itself as
relevant to the fashion community as a Los Angeles or a Miami,
maybe even surpassing them in a few years. No matter what the
future holds for this young-gun of a Fashion Week, there is one
thing it has already succeeded in doing—Fern Mallis celebrated
her birthday here. Watching from the front row, smiling with
delight as the audience serenaded her with “Happy Birthday,”
the message was clear: Charleston Fashion Week has arrived. u
Fas h i o n Wi re Pre ss (m o de l o n r u nw a y )/ Cyle Su es z (H e ss)
at Charleston Fashion Week.