fashion :district Show Part of New Wave in D.C.
April 14 at Long View Gallery: fashion:district held its Spring/Summer show. (Luis Gomez Photos)
From Khelan Bhatia. You can follow Khelan on Twitter @KhelanB. He lives in the U Street area and writes about style for Borderstan.
Happy Good Friday, Borderstanis! Hope you’ve had a wonderful week.
Shirt and tie combo from Ginger Root on U Street. (Luis Gomez Photos)
Just a little housekeeping before we get underway. For the next month or so, I’ll be moving to a biweekly schedule. As much as I’d love to be able to do this on a weekly basis, other obligations have got in the way. I hope to be back on a regular weekly schedule when summer begins.
Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
So last week, I made it over to the fashion:district Spring/Summer show over at Long View Gallery on 9th Street NW, right by the convention center. (As an aside, it was my first time over at the gallery, and I just loved the space; if you haven’t been yet, I highly recommend checking it out ASAP).
Some of you may remember my piece on DC Fashion Week a couple of months ago; in so many ways, the menswear show was an unmitigated disaster with a few highlights. Well, I’m happy to say that fashion:distirct’s show, while not without its flaws, was a significant improvement.
One of the first things I noted was that it didn’t feel like a typical traditional DC event — Ann Taylor Loft and JoS. A. Bank had left the building and were denied re-entry. Or rather, this event felt like it was part of a new wave in the District that celebrates art, culture, fashion and style.
Asymmetrical dress from Dana Greaves at ARTAYA. (Luis Gomez Photos)
All of the designers who showcased their collections were local; most of the establishments can be found on the 14th and U Street corridors. While a couple of the looks were a little uninspired (one designer who will not go named basically had male models come out in t-shirts and baggy shorts, or American University “chic” as I called it), many of the designers really hit it out of the (Bryant) park.
That’s it for me this week. See y’all in a couple of weeks.
Author’s correction: Originally I erroneously credited Ginger Root as the designers of the yellow dress that I loved so much. In reality, the designer was Dana Greaves with ARTAYA who did an amazing job with her runway show. Ginger Root did my favorite menswear look of the evening: the aforementioned white shirt, brown short combo, accented with one of the female ties that Ginger Root is becoming famous for. My apologies to the designers.
