Nashville Fashion is Moving Forward

BUILDING AN ECOSYSTEM:
NASHVILLE FASHION IS MOVING FORWARD

It's been a very productive few weeks. Last week, Nashville Fashion Week hosted and collaborated with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) President, CaSandra Diggs and CFDA Connects Consulting Director Elliot Carlyle to align and build the foundation for a viable fashion industry ecosystem in Middle Tennessee.

Nashville Fashion Week has invested over $1.4 million into Nashville's fashion community over the past twelve years. This was accomplished with the heart and hustle of an all-volunteer led and run organization that has relied solely on sponsors and ticket sales to produce events and activations while providing experiential opportunities to nine Nashville Fashion Forward Fund recipients through The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

Fashion is one of the most influential drivers of culture, a beloved art and entertainment form, but we have not taken advantage of the fact that it is also one of the largest economic forces in the world. Now is the time for Nashville to change that.

The Nashville Fashion Week team, including new Nashville Fashion Forward leadership team member David Fischette of Go West Creative, invited and met with a curated group of community leaders, elected officials and organizations at W Nashville on Wednesday, May 4. The focus of the event was to present a proposed new direction for Nashville Fashion Week and to lobby for the Nashville fashion industry securing resources and financial support to build the foundation for a fashion industry ecosystem.

The following community and industry leaders attended the event with commitments to continue the conversation on how to support moving Nashville fashion forward. The individuals highlighted below in pink made statements to the group in support of the mission of moving Nashville fashion forward:

Office of Mayor John Cooper
- Courtney Pogue - Director of Economic & Community Development
- Mrs. Laura Fitzgerald-Cooper

Metro Nashville Council Members
- Kyonzte Toombs, District 2
- Jeff Syracuse, District 15
- Freddie O’Connell, District 19
- Joy Styles, District 32

Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation
- Heather Middleton, SR Vice President Of Marketing

Nashville Chamber of Commerce
- Hannah Holmes, Manager of Member Value
- Victoria Quigley, Director of Small Business Growth

Supermodel, Entrepreneur, Artist, & Activist
- Karen Elson
- Bonnie Dee Bowden - Karen Elson, Inc.

Launch TN
- Ashley Currie, Marketing & Communications Director

BrainTrust
- Sherry Deutschmann, Founder & CEO

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee
- Amy Fair, Vice President of Donor Services

OJAS Partners
- Lizzy LeBleu, Real Estate Advisor

oneC1TY
- Caitlin Arnold, Marketing & Development

Middle Tennessee State University
- Rick Cottle, Associate Professor of Fashion & Apparel
- David Foster, Director of Marketing & Communications

Vanderbilt University
Deanna Meador, Director of Entrepreneurship, Wond’ry - Vanderbilt’s Innovation Center

Go West Creative
- David Fischette, CEO & Chief Creative

Nashville Fashion Forward Fund Recipients
- Megan Prange, Prange Apparel (2019)
- Maria Silver, Black by Maria Silver (2017)

Nashville Lifestyles
- Alison Abbey, Editor In Chief
- Brian Barry, Publisher

Tennessean
- Sherah Ndjongo - Business Reporter

In addition, both Kelly Helfman, Commercial President of Informa Markets Fashion - Organizers of MAGIC, and Fern Mallis, the creator and founder of New York Fashion Week and long-time Nashville Fashion Week advisor, shared their support through written statements. MAGIC Fashion Events also made a significant monetary contribution to support the vision of moving Nashville fashion forward. The gathering was a pivotal moment for the future of Nashville Fashion Week and for Nashville's fashion industry. Followup meetings and planning are in the works. The Nashville Fashion Week email list will receive updates as progress ensues.

View photos from the Meeting HERE.

The conversation was continued at an in-person fundraising event and live stream recording of Moving Fashion Forward - A Conversation with NFW + CFDA featuring CFDA President, CaSandra Diggs and NFW Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Marcia Masulla on Thursday, May 5. The interactive and engaging program included a dynamic customized Nashville Fashion Week branded set with high-level professional production presented in partnership with Go West Creative. Guests also enjoyed savory bites from The Pink Hermit of The Hermitage Hotel and refreshments from Tito's Handmade Vodka and Love & Exile Wines while they mingled prior to the recorded conversation.

Screen the conversation from your laptop or mobile device at NashvilleFashionWeek.com.

View photos from the Conversation HERE.

Thank you for your continued support and feedback as we plan to make an impact for the future of fashion in Nashville together. Stay tuned! #WHYNFW

How Can NFW Best Serve The Middle Tennessee Fashion Community?

Nashville Fashion Week was conceived in 2010 to foster Nashville's heralded community spirit and concentration of creative, fashion-forward and entrepreneurial talent, to create a one-of-a-kind five day event that is uniquely Nashville. Since then, the world and our city have changed. The fashion industry has changed. And we have changed. Rather than moving forward with "business as usual" with our schedule of events in April, we are working to determine and restructure what will best serve our fashion community now and in the future.

Over the past twelve years, Nashville Fashion Week has:

• Supported 180 Designers

• Awarded Nine Nashville Fashion Forward Fund Recipients

• Booked close to 700 Models

• Showcased over 60 Unique Locations

• Hosted nearly 430 Retail Events

• Scheduled timely Learning Labs and Other Educational Opportunities

• Become a Member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America CFDA Connects

• And Invested over $1.3 million in our Fashion Community

LET'S BE CLEAR: We aren't going anywhere. We are evolving Nashville Fashion Week's scope of work with a renewed focus that best supports the future of Nashville fashion.

Your feedback is invaluable. Please take 5 minutes to click and complete the survey above by Tuesday, March 8 to insure that your voice is heard. We appreciate your support and insight as we rethink and navigate this new phase of our Nashville fashion community together. Thank you!

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NOW ACCEPTING:
NASHVILLE FASHION FORWARD FUND 2022 APPLICATIONS THROUGH APRIL 8

All Fashion Professionals With Ties To Middle Tennessee Are Encouraged To Apply For This Award.

Designers, Photographers, Stylists, Models, Hair and Makeup Artists, Retailers, Content Creators
and MORE!

Nashville Fashion Week invites you to submit your application for the 2022 Nashville Fashion Forward Fund award to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee now through April 8. Established in 2011, the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee is an endowed fund that supports the next generation of fashion industry professionals with ties to Middle Tennessee by providing a financial reward and resources for experiential professional development opportunities each year with proceeds from Nashville Fashion Week. ALL fashion industry professionals with ties to Middle Tennesse are encouraged to apply.

Previous recipients include small batch manufacturer Megan Prange; fashion photographer Brett Warren; accessory designer Ceri Hoover, content creator Elise Joseph; and apparel designers Van Hoang, Maria Silver, Eric Bornhop, Lauren Leonard Phelps and Julianna Bass.

Detailed instructions for application submission can be found at NashvilleFashionWeek.com. Applications must arrive at The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee's office at 3833 Cleghorn Avenue by 4:30 p.m. CST on Friday, April 8, 2022. The 2022 recipient will be announced early summer.

Award recipients are selected by a committee of the Community Foundation board based on pre-established criteria inspired by the CFDA/VOGUE Fashion Fund to advance the career of select local talent with demonstrated experience in a fashion-related field. The Nashville Fashion Forward Fund ensures that Nashville Fashion Week is not just a signature high-profile event to celebrate creativity, but also an ongoing, sustainable focus for philanthropic support. #whyNFW

Digital Designer Runway Collections Are Now Live!

Today is the day everyone has been waiting for.

The Nashville Fashion Week 2021 designer portfolios and runway show videos are NOW LIVE on the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Runway360 global platform! This is our first foray into producing an extensive digital program, but we can't wait for you to experience what these talented designers have been creating. Much gratitude to Middle Tennessee State University, our video production partner, for all of the hard work and dedication they poured into executing this programming.

You can view all of the designer runway shows, view their lookbooks and even shop their looks for FREE, but we encourage you to please consider making $20, or more if you can, a tax-deductible donation to the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to help underwrite the production costs to create this digital programming and support our Nashville fashion community for years to come.

The future of Nashville Fashion Week depends on it.

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We had a remarkable evening celebrating year eleven of Nashville Fashion Week with our VIP guests at The Westin Nashville and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum! The winner of the NFW + Country Music Hall of Fame Suiting The Sound Design Competition was announced at our Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter event.

Congratulations to all of the finalists. - Braylee Flaska, Any Old Iron and Wear It Out by by Manny.

The designer with the most votes is...Manny Cuevas, President & Designer of Wear It Out by Manny. Thank you for voting!

Couldn't join us in-peson last night? You can watch the full Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter Panel Discussion HERE from the comfort of your home or mobile device and at your convenience.

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DAY THREE | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14

ONLY 10 TICKETS ARE LEFT!

TIKTOK, TECH AND TRENDS:THE EVOLVING BUSINESS OF FASHION

Presented in partnership with the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the WB Collective Powered by WBEC South 

Thursday, October 14 |  4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Location: WB Collective Nashville
613 Ewing Ave, 2nd Floor Nashville, TN 37203

Admission: FREE ticket with registration

Only a few more tickets remain for this interactive panel discussion which will offer varying perspectives on evolutionary business practices in the fashion and retail industry. This event will also include an opportunity to shop a curated selection of #Nashpreneurs pop-up shops and time to network while enjoying light bites and refreshments provided by Titos Handmade Vodka and Blade and Bow.

The panel will be moderated by Phala Mire, President and CEO of WBEC South. Panelists include Steven Romeo, Founder/CEO, Music City Creative; Trinity Wiles, Co-Founder, Where and Share Inc.; and Anna Caroline Toms, Owner, LA Green Nashville.

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SHOP NASHVILLE THIS SATURDAY!

Nashville Fashion Week has hosted Shop Nashville, a city-wide celebration designed to encourage and support the Nashville retail community with creative and interactive ways to support our Nashville businesses, since our inception in 2011. While our runway format puts the focus on apparel creators, for this year we have created an opportunity for Middle Tennessee’s creative maker and retail community as well. Seven NFW designers and a diverse selection of twenty-five fashion-related vendors will showcase their brands at the first Shop Nashville Pop Up Market presented by oneC1TY on Saturday, October 16 from 12 - 4 p.m. 10% of all vendor sales will be donated to the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to show their support for our local fashion community.

Enjoy the outdoor shopping experience with refreshments provided by Tito's Handmade Vodka and Blade and Bow from Kindred Bar Catering while enjoying the tunes of DJ Maggie Wells. Please register for this event at the link above so that we can plan our refreshments accordingly. 

Join the Conversation...

JOIN THE CONVERSATION
AT THE INTERSECTION OF SOUND + STYLE

AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC

The Intersection of Sound + Style: A Conversation + Museum Tour
Friday, October 15, 6pm - 8:30pm
National Museum of African American Music 
510 Broadway
Ticket $35 (limited availability)

Please join us this Friday, October 15 for The Intersection of Sound + Style: A Conversation + Museum Tour presented by the National Museum of African American Music. NMAAM's mission is to educate the world, preserve the legacy, and celebrate the central role African Americans play in creating the American soundtrack. This special engagement with Nashville Fashion Week will also highlight the central role of how these artists and musicians have and will continue to lead the way with their impact on style and fashion trends. Nashville Fashion Week has enlisted Charles Brown and Bentley Caldwell as style ambassadors for the event. Enjoy a cocktail reception, an interactive tour of the museum and engaging conversation that will be moderated by the NMAAM's Senior Director of Education and Exhibition, Tamar Smithers. Panelists include these two stylish Nashville entrepreneurs and the NMAAM's curator Dr. Steven Lewis. Join the conversation on how the prominent influence of black culture and music impacts both style and the fashion industry.

Charles Brown is a Nashville native and founder of Charles Lord, a design and consulting firm founded in 2005 specializing in custom apparel & accessories, hand-made, sustainable fashion good, fashion, interior and event styling. Charles has worked and volunteered in the local LGBTQI community for over twelve years with Brothers and Sisters United Network, Nashville Black Pride, Vanderbilt HIV Vaccine Trials Network, and MyHouse Nashville.

Retail brought Bentley Caldwell to Nashville, and since that time, he’s been both a singer-songwriter and model traveling the world before combining all he learned to found Bentley Caldwell Styling. When a friend asked for advice on how to dress for a photo shoot, the bells went off. Now, he works exclusively with men and helps them uncover their personal style, take the guesswork out of shopping and access the confidence to elevate their lives and businesses to the next level.

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Nashville Fashion Week needs your financial support and encouragement to continue doing what we do year after year. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation of $20, or more if you can, to further the mission of the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund. Every dollar you give will make a difference within our community for years to come. This is #whynfw!

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While we are excited to gather both digitally and in person for NFW 2021, the health and safety of our guests, participants and team remains our top priority. A full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 test will be required to attend or participate in any Nashville Fashion Week 2021 event.

NFW strongly encourages vaccination. The last day to receive the second shot of Moderna or Pfizer or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson prior to the October events is September 27. For anyone that is not fully vaccinated, a negative COVID-19 test result must be obtained within 48 hours of attending any event. NFW now requires that everyone must wear a mask at all times at indoor events. This protocol is based on current CDC standards. Any changes to these procedures will be communicated prior to each event.

COVID-19 vaccines are now widely available to all Tennesseans 12+ in all 95 counties across our state. Find a location close to you at VaccineFinder.org to insure that you’ve done your part to keep NFW 2021 and our community safe for everyone.

Nashville Fashion Week Kicks Off Today! Why Your $20 Matters...

NASHVILLE FASHION WEEK 2021 IS HERE

Please Donate $20 To Support
The Nashville Fashion Week Runway Shows + Nashville Fashion Forward Fund

DID YOU KNOW?

The Nashville Fashion Forward Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee is an endowed fund that supports the next generation of fashion industry professionals with ties to Middle Tennessee by providing a financial award and resources for experential professional development opportunities through an application process each year. Nashville Fashion Week has invested more than $1.3 million into our community since 2011 to provide an annual opportunity for our community to celebrate and showcase local creative talent while providing financial awards to nine Nashville Fashion Forward Fund recipients. Funds are raised through Nashville Fashion Week, our annual five-day volunteer-led and run event, to spotlight Nashville's growing fashion community with an ongoing, sustainable focus for philanthropic support of our creative community through the generosity and support of donors, sponsors and ticket sales with all proceeds benefiting the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund.

WHY DO WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT NOW?

The devastating tornado and pandemic cancelled Nashville Fashion Week just two weeks before we were to celebrate our 10 year anniversary that featured over 100 community events. When our team came to the difficult conclusion that we still wouldn't be able to safely gather in August of 2020, we planned and executed NFW Digital Experience which garnered 6,874 unique viewers with 132,360 impressions. This was an alternative way to showcase all nineteen Middle Tennessee designers who had originally planned to showcase their runway collections in April. We also realized the residual hurdles that had impacted our fashion community. Despite having no revenue stream or opportunity to sell tickets since April of 2019, Nashville Fashion Week issued each 2020 designer a $500 gift from the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund to help them weather the challenging times, but most importantly, we wanted to remind them to keep going.

HOW DID WE REIMAGINE NFW 2021?

As you know, Covid-19 surged again in the Spring of 2021 which is when we annually celebrate Nashville Fashion Week, but by early summer things were looking up. We felt the weight of the Nashville fashion community - Two years was way too long for our community to be apart, so we knew it was vital to IMAGINE safe ways to showcase and support our fashion community this fall.

Designers who previously applied and were selected to participate their collections at NFW 2020 but were unable to present their collections on the runway due to our pivot to digital programming in 2020 were invited back to participate in NFW 2021. This week, fifteen Middle Tennessee designers will be given an innovative platform to present their collections and brands to a global audience. As part of NFW's new membership to the CFDA Connects inaugural program, our 2021 designer runway collections will launch digitally launch this week, first for VIP Pass holders and later in the week at no charge to the public. This access will include streaming their runway presentation, viewing their collection, lookbook and with the ability to shop their collection on CFDA's Runway360 website.

THE REALITY?

The runway presentations were safely and professionally filmed a closed set last month at OZ Arts Nashville by Middle Tennessee State University’s Marketing and Communications team with production design by Bright Event Productions. The amount of resources, time and dedicated individuals that have contributed efforts to producing the digital programming is astounding. Nashville Fashion Week would not exist, let alone, produce events and activate programming without these vital people and community partners.

FULL TRANSPARENCY 

REGARDLESS OF HOW STRONG OUR PARTNERSHIPS ARE OR HOW CREATIVE WE CAN GET WITH RESOURCES AND EFFICIENCIES, WE STILL NEED ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO ENSURE THAT NASHVILLE FASHION WEEK KEEPS GOING.

Nashville Fashion Week 2021 has been re-imagined this fall to safely explore, test and shape the future of Nashville fashion in a meaningful way through strategic partnerships and collaborations with both local and global industry leaders. We look forward to connecting with you this week for an engaging schedule of both digital and live programming.

Nashville Fashion Week needs your financial support and encouragement to continue doing what we do year after year. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation of $20, or more if you can, to further the mission of the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund. Every dollar you give will make a difference within our community for years to come. This is #whynfw! 

Thank you for your support! 

Team NFW

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NASHVILLE FASHION WEEK KICKS OFF TODAY!

Nashville Fashion Week IMAGINE 2021 kicks off this afternoon with a special VIP Tour at Prange Apparel followed by two more VIP events at The Westin Nashville and the Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter panel discussion and tour at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum tomorrow. It's not too late to get in on all of these events and experiences. Purchase your VIP Pass NOW!  

Join NFW for three FREE Learning Labs, The Intersection of Sound + Style: A Conversation + Museum Tour presented by the National Museum of African American Music and the Shop Nashville Pop Up Market at oneC!TY. A limited number of VIP Passes and tickets to Friday's National Museum of African American Music event are the only tickets available for purchase this year ($35).. All other events are FREE or are included in the VIP Pass..

Our entirely re-imagined schedule is HERE for you to conveniently access. Available tickets to official NFW events can still be obtained at NashvilleFashionWeek.com, but they're going fast!

DAY 1 | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12 

Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter Panel Discussion 

October 12, 2021, 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6 p.m. for gallery access)
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum 
222 Rep. John Lewis Way Sout

Drawing from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's exhibit galleries and extensive collection of stage costumes and archival materials, Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter — an exhibition curated exclusively for online audiences and free-to-access HERE — examines the dazzling artistry of Western-wear designers whose couture fashions helped to create an indelible image for country music. In partnership with Nashville Fashion Week, the museum will host a program examining the emergence of this unique “rhinestone cowboy” look in the 1940s and 1950s, largely from the tailor shops of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, and how the style has inspired fashion far beyond the stages of barn dances and honky-tonks.

Panelists include acclaimed author, historian and filmmaker Holly George-Warren (How the West Was Worn, Public Cowboy #1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry, Janis: Her Life and Music); modern-day “rodeo tailor” Jerry Lee Atwood, whose bespoke designs for his Union Western label have been commissioned by performers as varied as Americana artist Nikki Lane, Post Malone and genre-blending “Old Town Road” writer-performer, Lil Nas X; and singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Chris Scruggs, who currently plays bass in Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives band and fronts his own group, the Stone Fox Five. The panel will be moderated by Brenda Colladay, vice president of museum services at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Free program access at CountryMusicHallofFame.org, and the museum’s YouTube and Facebook. Limited program tickets are still available with museum admission HERE and are also included in the NFW VIP Pass or click the big pink button above to watch the live stream on Tuesday at 7 p.m. for FREE.