Fashionable Friday – Fashion that works.
By Assistant Editor Shayna Spiker
Last night, different cities all around the world celebrated Fashion’s Night Out. This was Baltimore’s first year participating in the event, thanks to the Baltimore Fashion Alliance’s Christopher Schafer & MyCity4Her Affiliate, Ella Pritsker.
So what is Fashion’s Night Out? In 2009, Vogue Magazine’s editor Anna Wintour created the event to celebrate fashion, restore consumer confidence, and boost the industry’s economy during the recession. Since then, it’s caught on all over the world – in Milan, Paris, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, DC, and now Baltimore has joined these and over 250 other cities around the world for this fabulous celebration.
Many stores throughout the city stayed open later, had special offers and VIP events including music, dancing, champagne and more. 43 retailers participated in this year’s event, including Double Dutch, Ma Petite Shoe, Party Dress, South Moon Under, Fresh! Boutique, Cupcake, SYLK Cosmetics, La Chic Boutique, and more.
In addition, there was a special FNO event at the beautiful InterContinental Harbor Court Hotel with 41 local designers and vendors, a fully-stacked bar, a DJ, and a pianist. Red Maple hosted a fabulous After Party as well.
So many talented designers were at the hotel, it’s hard to cover them all. Let me highlight a few of them for you:
Rakhi, a local jewelry designer, creates beautifully timeless pieces that are elegant but can still be worn every day. Her goal was to design pieces that can work with a multitude of styles and outfits while maintaining elegance. PICTURE
Rakhi has been surrounded by jewelers her entire life, the most influential of which is her mother, who owns her own boutique store in Maryland and has an undying passion for beautiful jewelry which she passed on to Rakhi.
Jill Andrews and Sara Mathes of Jill Andrews Gowns, LLC create custom dresses and gowns for special events, weddings, and more. You can design your gown in collaboration with Jill or have them create a gown exclusively for you. Jill Andrews also offers a semi-custom studio line that is designed to offer you the flexibility of custom detailing with the ease of off the rack shopping. Jill Andrews Gowns, LLC won a 2011 Best of Baltimore Award from Baltimore Magazine for Best Custom Clothier.
For those of you looking to shop for designer pieces, but don’t want to spend full price on them, look no further.Wear It’s At, located in Reisterstown, has a variety of designer clothing and accessories for you. From a never-worn Chloe dress to lightly-used Louis Vuitton handbags and shoes that will make your heart melt, Wear It’s At is the place to go for consignment designer pieces. The shop is family owned, and run by three fabulous women, Stephanie, the owner, and shopgirls Sarah and Emily.
Jude Drakeford, a young woman from Fredericksburg, Virginia, showcased a variety of hand painted silks and dresses that she created. The silks were delicately painted and were absolutely beautiful. She had on display hand painted silk capes and scarves. She also had 2 paintings on display that she painted on silk and then stapled to a canvas frame as well as an inspiration board featuring photos of some of her projects from conception to completion (pictured below). Jude wore a pink and black gown and pink jacket of her creation (pictured below), and a model wore a gown (pictured below) she designed when she was just 11 years old, with 1,200 handmade fabric flowers.
Some of the other vendors included the Fashion Awards MD, Stevenson University’s Fashion Design Program, Faye Daniel Designs, The Wedding Library & Café, Ruth’s Closet, Suited to Succeed and more.
Did you go to any FNO events or retailers? Tell us about it below!