Pittsburgh’s first-ever Fashion Week kicked off last night in South Side Works. You all know that I love Pittsburgh and I believe we have a fantastic burgeoning style and fashion scene. When I first heard about Pittsburgh Fashion Week over a year ago, I was excited. As the year progressed, I became more and more concerned. I wasn’t hearing anything about the event and I knew if I wasn’t hearing anything, most everyone else wasn’t either.
Regardless, I have been intrigued to see what this week brings. The gals at Jupe Boutique had some looks showing last night. I definitely wanted to be there to support them. Let’s start with the good stuff…
The show started off and ended with designs by MJ Whalen. She does some cool, edgy pieces. I thought the show really set a cool tone by starting with her.
Local boutiques and designers like Jupe, Sugar, IroNiece by Kari Kramer and e.b.Pepper showed some great pieces.
While I enjoyed the presentations by the boutiques and designers, I was less than impressed with the execution of the event. The layout was awkward and forced most of the people who were sitting to get up and move into the grass where they could see better. The theme of the night was Runway: Clearing for Takeoff, Destination Fashion Oz. That’s a mouthful. Thank goodness I hung on to the flyer they handed out.
Our narrator throughout the show was supposed to be a flight attendant. We’re on a plane. We’re heading on a journey.
Ok, I’m with you.
And then all of a sudden we were talking about being in Oz. I didn’t quite get a sense of cohesion with the show theme. Why are we on a plane? Why are we in Oz? I have no idea. The theme sort of felt like an after thought by the show coordinators.
It seemed that Jupe took the Oz theme and applied it to their show. All of their models were wearing ruby red sparkly shoes. Very cute! But nobody else really had a clear tie-in with Oz. Or air travel.
I have to remember that this is the first go for Pittsburgh. And while I really wish we would have started off with a Pittsburgh Fashion Weekend, I think the first show was a success. We have a nice foundation upon which to build a great event. I’m looking forward to seeing what else PFW has in store.
