The second annual Wilmington Fashion Week is currently underway, showcasing local talent from the designer community. Tonight coastal outfitters and surf shops from the area will display their summer wears for 2015 and Friday evening Wilmington retailers will present their best looks for nightlife. Both events will take place at the Wilmington Convention Center, beginning at 8 p.m.
“Community is our main focus,” WFW founder TJ Dunn said. “We want to celebrate and be a launching platform for local models, designers, photographers and make-up artists.”
Fashion Week will conclude Saturday at the convention center with a spring/summer design show at 6 p.m., a North Carolina Designer Showcase Runway Show at 8 p.m. and a special event exhibiting the talents of seven local designers and students from Wilmington’s DREAMS Center for Arts + Education.
“We don’t only have Wilmington designers, but talent from Winston-Salem, Raleigh and Charlotte,” Dunn said. “This is a great opportunity for people to showcase their talent and create relationships with other artists, and network.”
A wrap party and awards ceremony at Bourgie Nights at 10 p.m. includes Designer of the Year, Model of the Year and Best in Show announcements.
“Wilmington has a creative voice that isn’t always heard,” WFW co-founder Khalilah Olokunola said. “We want people to speak together, and loudly.”
Both Dunn and Olokunola agree fashion week is about celebrating community and getting people to shop locally.
“This is exposure for models and a presentation for local shops and designers,” Olokunola said. “We want our models to be discovered and our audience to discover new places to shop and styles to wear.”
Despite the connotation of other fashion weeks like New York Fashion Week and Charleston Fashion Week, Dunn expressed this event will always evoke Wilmington.
“Our fashion week will always be about what’s right for the area: swimsuits, light wear and summer clothing,” Dunn said. “It has to make sense for Wilmington and those who shop here.”
Dunn said Wilmington Fashion Week is its own entity and won’t compete with shows like Charleston.
“We don’t want to contend with Charleston, we want our own voice,” Dunn said. “I want people to feel welcome and participate in this affair.”
