The Dapper Luq collection from RVA Fashion Week’s 2021 virtual show
When RVA Fashion Week takes over venues and businesses across the city, Richmond becomes a lot more fabulous.
“If we can be a stepping stone for creative people to further their careers in fashion, we’ve done our job.” says Jimmy Budd, general manager of 707 Fine Clothing and the longtime executive director of the seven-day explosion of style that began in 2008.
It takes a village to pull off the hair and makeup workshops, vendor markets, charity dinners, wellness sessions and couture showcases that make up the event’s spring and fall soirees. “There are at least 500 people working behind the scenes each time — designers, photographers, volunteers, models,” Budd says.
Chanel Nelson, RVA Fashion Week’s fashion director and the owner of the Liznel boutique on East Grace Street, got involved in 2015 as a designer. She now works behind the scenes to select the week’s designers and pair their designs with the right models. For each installment of the event, Nelson and company pick about 10 local designers but also bring in creators from surrounding areas such as Washington, D.C., and Hampton Roads. “There is no theme each time, no strict rules,” Nelson says. “We make sure we give our designers free will so that they can be as creative as possible.”
SneakerFest returns this October.
The twice-yearly festival for fashionistas returned with a colorful splash in October of last year after going virtual in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions. An affiliated two-day streetwear event at the Hofheimer — SneakerFest — was a sold-out success, and in addition to the grand finale fashion show, there were designer showcases at Black Iris gallery and Quirk Hotel, a fall fashion social, and a “Dinner on the Runway” at Les Crepes that benefited mental health causes.
“There were so many good vibes,” says Heather Marie, the reigning Miss Virginia for America Strong and a spokesperson for RVA Fashion Week since 2019. She’s also the owner of Queen Bee & Co. tearoom, which partnered with the nonprofit A Better Day to host the “A New Me Fashion Show” for 2021’s event. “It was designed to strengthen families and nurture relationships between incarcerated parents and their children,” Marie says.”It highlighted transformations, giving participants a makeover and [a chance to] walk down the runway with their children.”
She’s particularly proud that RVA Fashion Week has grown in recent years to address not only outer beauty but inner health, rehabilitation and education, through efforts such as yoga classes, emotional intelligence workshops and sewing seminars.
Kristin Dukes, started as an RVA Fashion Week model in 2013 while a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, now serves as the event’s logistics director. In her time working on the event, she has noticed subtle changes in focus. “Fashion Week was always organized and very positive, but I would see the same faces over and over. Now what we try to do is bring in new faces from Richmond and also from the outside fashion world.”
The House of Laposh displayed its line at RVA Fashion Week’s finale fashion show.
Budd says that RVA Fashion Week’s 14th annual spring show, slated for the week of April 25, will tease future satellite events, like a one-day condensed version of the forthcoming Fabeaucon. “It’s a fashion beauty conference that will bring together beauty enthusiasts, hair and makeup artists, fashion stylists, designers, boutique owners, creative directors and influencers throughout the country,” he says. The RVA Fashion Week team hopes to launch that ambitious confab as a separate event from the main show in 2023.
Also featured in the spring show will be a clothing showcase at Quirk Hotel highlighting businesses in the downtown Arts District and a photography exhibition at Black Iris. It all leads up to the “RVAFW Finale Runway Show,” slated for the Altria Theater on May 1. “This show highlights the best of the best that the state of Virginia has to offer as far as trendy, high-end, luxury designs,” Budd says.
The Altria finale will also include student designs originating from the Virginia Museum of Fine Art’s long-running “Teen Stylin’ ” fashion program. It’s part of RVA Fashion Week’s ongoing outreach to local high school students, which includes a partnership with the Henrico Career and Education Center that allows students to create their own looks for the runway.
“I want to focus on education as much as possible as we continue to grow,” Budd says. “There are so many people who feel that they can’t make a career in fashion by being here in Richmond, that they have to move to LA or New York or Chicago. But we have some unbelievably talented individuals here. We need to get them recognized.”
RVA Fashion Week happens in various venues across the city April 25-May 1. For more information, visit rvafw.com.
