Wadria Taylor created Style Week Pittsburgh to be a megaphone for the city’s unsung fashion talents.
Five Style Weeks later, that hasn’t changed. What has, though, is how she plans to do that.
Following a one-year hiatus, Style Week Pittsburgh is back with a new “Business of Fashion” theme and a streamlined schedule. Instead of five or more days of events, festivities will be contained to three days. It kicks off Friday and runs through Sunday at various venues.
As creative director, Ms. Taylor’s philosophy this time around is “less is more,” she says. “I think it’s an aspiration to have seven [days of] events, but there has to be the call for that ... and the capacity for us to be able to support that.”
She halted the multiday event last year because of “personal changes that were certainly very positive but needed my time and attention,” she explains. To keep people engaged, she organized a couple of smaller events throughout the year, including a mixer and a fashion film screening at The Frick Pittsburgh.
For its sixth outing, Style Week Pittsburgh opens with the return of the Style Awards at Hotel Indigo in South Oakland. The event salutes some of the city’s veteran and up-and-coming influencers selected by Ms. Taylor and a team of Style Week Pittsburgh ambassadors.
“We looked at news articles and other publications and looked at what is happening locally in business, fashion and the arts [to see] who are those trailblazers,” she says. There’s also a “people’s choice” category that’s decided through online voting.
On Saturday, the action moves to Union Project in East Liberty for the featured runway show. Models will show off designs by Willie Gee’s, RubyDawn International, ProBantu Style, Lana Neumeyer, Jensine Noir, Felt Happiness and Celeta Hickman. Style Week Pittsburgh wraps up next Sunday with a “Business of Fashion” brunch at Ascender, a co-working space in East Liberty. Local experts in marketing, branding and e-commerce will share insights from their own journeys in business and entrepreneurship.
“It’s about creating an inclusive arena for persons and businesses, whether they’re launching for the first time or they are veterans,” Ms. Taylor says.
A lot of sweat, sequins and in-kind donations have made Style Week Pittsburgh possible over the years. She’s also grateful for stylists, models and designers who’ve donated their time and talents. Money raised from ticket sales help to cover the rest of the costs. Looking ahead, Ms. Taylor is planning to apply for grants for funding to help Style Week Pittsburgh grow, she says.
Those who have participated over the years have high hopes for the future of Style Week Pittsburgh, too.
“My wish is — and not just for Style Week — that people do more collaboration,” says Josy Nkuissi, a model who’s walked in Style Week Pittsburgh fashion shows for several years. “People can be scared to collaborate. I believe that if we really take the time to see and understand [each other], I believe we can do something fantastic for the whole city.”
She credits those opportunities for helping her finesse her modeling skills and boost her resume. “If you do Style Week, you can be taken more seriously with something else. That’s how I see it,” she says.
She hopes that someday events like Style Week Pittsburgh will be able to pay models but being selected to participate is still something she “definitely cherishes.”
Designer Ms. Neumeyer agrees that more people need to come out and support local fashion events.
“We have to find a way to bring in new people, people who do not know that we exist,” she says. She has been featured in several Style Week Pittsburgh runway shows. This year, she’s presenting a new fall/winter collection, which will be paired with hats by Felt Happiness designer Juliane Gorman.
Her idea is to hold occasional fashion happy hours or casual meet-ups at a restaurant or museum so that Style Week Pittsburgh can stay on people’s radar. “Let’s keep in touch the whole year,” she says.
For now, Ms. Taylor is focused on trying to make these three days a success.
“It really continues to be that platform that’s very accessible for artists who might not typically have access to a platform to showcase their work and grow,” she says. “Moving forward, I want to see that grow.”
Sara Bauknecht: sbauknecht@post-gazette.com or on Twitter and Instagram @SaraB_PG.
First Published: August 12, 2019, 12:00 p.m.
