NFW 2019 To Present Four Nights of Runway Shows at OZ Arts Nashville

Thanks to all that joined us for our Nashville Fashion Week 2019 Kickoff Party last night at Union Station Hotel! We were excited to announce the first details of our 2019 programming to a sold-out crowd and to hint at many more announcements to come. 

The ninth annual Nashville Fashion Week will take place Tuesday, April 2 through Saturday, April 6 in partnership with OZ Arts Nashville. Our second year at OZ Arts will feature an additional night of runway shows for a total of four full nights of fashion. For the first time, local designers will be spread throughout the week rather than being featured in one Nashville Designer Showcase. This is in direct response to our audience's growing interest and support of local designers. The week will conclude with the Fashion Forward Gala on Saturday night to celebrate the unique impact our seven award receipients have made on the Nashville fashion community.

“Our mission since day one has been to educate local and national audiences about Nashville’s growing fashion community and we are all experiencing the results,” said Nashville Fashion Week managing partners/co-founders Connie Cathcart-Richardson and Marcia Masulla. “Nashville Fashion Week and the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund have helped raise awareness of our creative talent by showcasing 173 designers and hundreds of local businesses with an investment of over $1 million in the local fashion community over the past eight years. We had to search for local designers early on that were ready to show and now we have enough experienced designers that our audience knows and supports to fill an entire week. It's our privilege to support Nashville’s fashion-forward and entrepreneurial talent with this volunteer led and run event. We could not continue to do this year after year without the financial support of our ticket holders and dedicated sponsors.”

Forty-five 2019 Nashville Fashion Week sponsors were acknowledged at the Kickoff Party, six of which have been supporters since 2011 and another eight for a minimum of five years. Nashville Fashion Week is fully funded with the support of our sponsors and ticket holders. Please support all of our sponsors listed HERE. 

More details on the Influencer Brunch, Men's Style Event, Learning Labs, Shop Nashville and other special events leading up to and during Nashville Fashion Week will be announced over the next month.

TWENTY 2019 DESIGNERS ANNOUNCED

Twenty designers will have the opportunity to showcase their collections at Nashville Fashion Week 2019. Please check out our participating designer bios HERE.

Tuesday, April 3 

• A Lady of the Lake (Nashville, TN)

• Ola Mai (Nashville, TN)

• Shea Steele (Brooklyn, NY)

• Splashed by DKG (Birmingham, AL)

• Van Hoang (Nashville, TN)

Wednesday, April 3

• Lily Guilder (Nashville, TN)

• Love & Osker (Birmingham, AL)

• Ona Rex (Nashville, TN)

• Paulie Gibson (St. Louis, MO) 

• Rank & Sugar (Nashville, TN)

Thursday, April 4

• Article X (Nashville, TN)

• Barbara Bultman (St. Louis, MO)

• Britache' by Bri (Sunrise, FL)

• Laura Citron (Nashville, TN)

• Truly Alvarenga (Nashville, TN)

Friday, April 5

• Amanda Casarez (St. Louis, MO)

• Any Old Iron (Nashville, TN) 

• Ashe Cain (Nashville, TN)

• Justin Mark Richards (Nashville, TN)

• Lagi Nadeau (Chicago, IL)

“We are delighted to showcase nine of Nashville’s leading designers, five returning favorites from across the country and six new designers discovered through our designer application process,” said Richardson and Masulla. “It’s so rewarding to watch the growth of our designers from year to year. The quality and number of designer applications and interest from around the region continues to increase each year as well."

AMAX TALENT + NFW 2019 MODEL SEARCH FINALISTS 

You can't have a runway show without models! Three finalists have been selected from thousands of applicants for the 2019 AMAX Talent + Nashville Fashion Week Model Search. Chaney Trosper, Kirstin Brower and Sara Lowe will each receive beauty makeovers from Love Salon Nashville before having the opportunity to meet with agents and scouts from top agencies around the world during the upcoming AMAX showcase.

"We had a remarkable group of applicants again this year and are excited to have the opportunity to work with Nashville Fashion Week to find and develop unique and diverse models with high fashion potential from the Nashville area for the global marketplace," said Ginny Maxwell, Director of Scouting & Development at AMAX Talent.

The winner will have the opportunity to walk the NFW runway, as well as win a $1,000 contract with AMAX Talent, a photo shoot with local fashion photographer Ramiah Branch and a gift bag from Love Salons. The AMAX + NFW Model Search has been a launchpad for many successful modeling careers since its inception in 2012. 

Tickets for Nashville Fashion Week 2019 are now available to purchase at NashvilleFashionWeek.com. Individual ticket prices are $50 for general admission and $75 for seated tickets. The four-night Runway Pass is $200 for general admission with VIP access and $300 for preferred seated VIP tickets. The All Acess Pass includes front row VIP tickets to all four nights of ruway plus a ticket to the Fashion Forward Gala. Gala tickets are $250 with tables of 10 available for $2,500. All proceeds benefit the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. 

For more information on the schedule, designers, a full list of sponsors, party pics and to purchase tickets, visit NashvilleFashionWeek.com. Click HERE to see the Hi-Fi Media Co. photo booth antics from the Kickoff Party.

Nashville Fashion Week Announces 2015 Fashion Forward Fund Recipient and Advisory Council

Nashville Fashion Week has named Eric Bornhop of Eric Adler Clothing as the 2015 recipient of the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT). The Nashville Fashion Forward Fund is an endowed fund that supports the next generation of fashion industry professionals with ties to Middle Tennessee by providing financial awards and resources for experiential professional development opportunities. 

Established in 2011 by the co-founders of Nashville Fashion Week, the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund and application process is managed by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Award recipients are selected based on pre-established criteria inspired by the Council of Fashion Designers (CFDA)/VOGUE Fashion Fund to advance the career of select local talent with demonstrated experience in a fashion-related field. Applications are accepted each fall with the recipient announced in January. A committee of the Board of CFMT selected Bornhop from a group of experienced fashion industry applicants with ties to Middle Tennessee. Bornhop is the first male designer to be selected as a recipient of the fund.

“Eric Adler Clothing wouldn’t be where it is today without Nashville Fashion Week,” Bornhop said. “Nashville Fashion Week has provided me with a network of peers and resources, expansive exposure and marketing opportunities and the ability to organically plant my roots in my home city of Nashville.  In a rapidly emerging fashion community, Nashville Fashion Week has provided a springboard for an emerging designer like myself to get their foot in the door, one of the hardest feats to overcome in fashion.” 

Eric Adler Clothing was born in the mountains of Southern Spain and raised in the hills of Middle Tennessee. In 2012, while living in Spain, he was inspired by street culture to create his own line of clothing. After returning to Nashville, he worked as an apprentice under local legend and fashion designer Manuel Cuevas. Manuel taught Bornhop the art of tailoring and encouraged him to explore his own personal style. Eric developed his own clothing line at night and on weekends while working with Manuel. Eric Adler made its debut in 2014 at Nashville Fashion Week after being selected as one of ten featured emerging designers that year. Since then he has opened his own Green Hills studio where he designs and tailors for Alan Jackson, Big Kenny, Shania Twain and more. 

“It is so great to see leaders in the fashion industry and the broader Nashville community coming together to help support the creative entrepreneurs like Eric Bornhop to take their businesses to the next level,” said Mayor Barry. “Nashville Fashion Week presents a wonderful opportunity to showcase the talented and artistic men and women who are the cornerstone of our creative economy.”  

Nashville Fashion Week also announced the formation of the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund Advisory Council. The Nashville Fashion Forward Fund Advisory Council is made up of industry and community leaders that will serve as active ambassadors for the Fund and the Nashville Fashion Week brand. Council members will assist the co-founders and executive team in finding ways to maximize resources and opportunities for NFW events and fundraising efforts by providing objective advice, industry insight and introductions necessary to move Nashville fashion forward. Council members for 2016/2017 are:

Muna Abboud
Lisa Bush
Crystal Churchwell
Stephanie Cohen
Jen Cole
Shelly Colvin
Rick Cottle
Robert Darwell
Vincent Dreffs
Marcy Eskind
Liza Graves
Alizah Greenberg
Malcolm Greenwood
Alex Hughes

Chris Hyndman
David Levy
Kimberly Lewis
Mark Mason    
Erin McAnally
Jodi Miller
Janice Elliott Morgan
Martha Nemer
Elizabeth Nichols
Aylin Ozgener
Ashley Parks
Lauren Leonard Phelps
Elizabeth Pitcher
Ellen Pryor

Sylvia Rapoport
Stacey Rhodes
Olivia Nash Richardson
Linda Roberts
Tarasina Schneller
Poni Silver
Gen Sohr
Stacie Standifer
Cherylann Stephens
Jeff Teague
Brett Warren
Abby White
Barry Wishnow

The sixth annual Nashville Fashion Week will be held April 5-9 in select venues across the city. All Access Passes for Nashville Fashion Week 2016 are now available at NowPlayingNashville.com for $350 through February 21 for access to all Nashville Fashion Week events, including the Fashion Forward Gala. The price will increase to $400 on February 22 when individual event tickets are made available.  

Visit nashvillefashionweek.com for additional information.

ABOUT NASHVILLE FASHION WEEK
Nashville Fashion Week is a city-wide celebration of Nashville’s thriving fashion and retail community and its vast array of creative talent. Featuring local, regional and national designers and industry professionals in an array of creative events throughout the week encourages both Nashvillians and visitors to explore the city’s diverse fashion and retail spaces throughout the week with promotions, partnerships and educational workshops. NFW is founded and directed by a collaboration of fashion, retail and media professionals who have combined their passion and resources to create a completely volunteer-led and run event spotlighting Nashville's growing fashion community with a sustainable focus for philanthropic support of the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

ABOUT THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee oversees more than 1,050 charitable funds, providing customized philanthropic solutions with flexibility for donors, nonprofit organizations and the community. In the past 24 years, The Community Foundation has distributed more than $715 million to community programs and institutions. It is located at 3833 Cleghorn Avenue, #400, Nashville, Tennessee 37215. For more information, call 615-321-4939 or visit www.cfmt.org.