Hundreds of fashion aficionados, including buyers and designers, are celebrating the first-ever StyleWeek Providence this week.
The weeklong series of events began June 6 and includes runway shows of the kind usually seen in such fashion capitals as New York and Paris, featuring the hottest trends from 16 up-and-coming designers from across the country, many with ties to Boston and Rhode Island. Organizers expect as many as 1,000 people to attend.
Rosanna Ortiz Sinel, a former fashion writer and California native who now lives in Rhode Island, founded the event. She wants to provide designers with a uniquely New England venue to present their creations, and she hopes to help Providence by exposing the Creative Capital’s many assets to fashion leaders.
“With the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University, we have a lot of creativity that comes out of Providence – and then it leaves,” Sinel told Providence Business News last week. “I want those creative people to stay here or to come back and be able to show their work here” as Providence increasingly develops a reputation as a fashion city.
Marc A. Streisand, president and owner of Marc Allen Fine Clothiers in Providence, said he has no doubt that StyleWeek can only help put Providence on the fashion map.
“Providence is a metropolitan city,” he said, “and our clientele shops all over the world. StyleWeek shows that you no longer have to go to New York or Boston to find the latest and greatest fashions.” Streisand is not formally affiliated with StyleWeek, but revealed that he was scheduled to receive an award from the city for promoting haute couture, or top fashion, at his South Main Street business.
To make sure everything in the shows is the latest in haute couture, Sinel has asked designers to present collections created for Providence, rather than rehashed pieces from previous seasons.
Jonathan Joseph Peters will present a spring collection at his runway show Saturday, June 12. He explained that spring collections usually are unveiled in the fall, but he is presenting his early this year and, for the first time, it will include men’s wear as well as women’s clothes. He described his style as “definitely romantic, with a kind of dark whimsicality.”
The 30-year-old Peters, who grew up in Woonsocket and now lives in Providence, has been fascinated by fashion since he started sewing at the age of 10. He has worked as a runway director in Japan and in New York City, where he lived for several years, and has sold his pieces in boutiques in Manhattan and across New England. “I love the way shapes fit together to make a garment,” he said.
In January, he appeared on Lifetime Television’s “Project Runway,” a competitive reality show where fashion designers are given an unusual task to complete within a limited amount of time. Peters loved the experience, but not necessarily the result.
“It was the experience of a lifetime,” he said. “You get to meet 15 talented designers from all over the country.” He did not win, but did finish among the top six out of 16 contestants. Among his assignments was designing clothing made exclusively of materials found in a hardware store.
Fortunately without any hardware accoutrements, his runway show at Hotel Providence will mark the end of StyleWeek, followed by an after-event soiree at Trunk Show Chic Loft at Providence Pier. At least one runway show will be held each day of the week, with attendance by invitation only. Sinel said she expects as many as 200 people to attend the shows. After-event soirees are open to all.
Designers do not have to pay to take part in StyleWeek, Sinel said, although other fashion shows can charge as much as $80,000 for the privilege. She said she created StyleWeek Providence as an independent nonprofit because she did not want to add to designers’ burdens by imposing a participation fee.
Any profit realized from the inaugural week will go toward future shows, which Sinel hopes to eventually present twice a year in Providence. “At first I was looking at only three or four days, but I had to go to a full week because so many people wanted to be part of it,” she said.
Miamore Communications, a Providence-based, boutique public relations agency founded last year by Carrie Soucy, is presenting StyleWeek in conjunction with Sinel. The event also will raise funds for Ovations for the Cure of Ovarian Cancer.
Besides Hotel Providence, other venues for runway shows are the Marriott Providence Downtown and the Renaissance Providence Hotel. After-event parties are scheduled for Gracie’s, Temple Downtown, the Smoke Lounge on Federal Hill and Aspire.
Sponsors include Tiffany & Co., Rhode Island Monthly, Brown University radio station WBRU and the city of Providence.
Other designers presenting collections are Jessica Abernethy, Karen Beebe, David Chum, Catalina De La Torre, Nirva Derbekvan, Kelly Eident, Jeff Lahens, Maya Luz, madeMOIselle, Sam Mendoza, Sarah Proust, Karen Sabag, Andrea Valentini, Samuel Vartan and David Yoo. •
