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Get Ready: RVA Fashion Week 2019 Takes Over Richmond This Week

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Back for an amazing 11th time, RVA Fashion Week will bring all the glamorous runway action your little heart desires to a variety of venues around town. Here’s our full rundown of what’s in store.

Converging on Richmond this week for six days of colorful runway shows, intriguing industry-minded panel discussions, and invaluable networking opportunities for the creatively inclined, the 11th RVA Fashion Week kicks off Monday, April 22.

Masterminded by a ragtag group of VCU students more than a decade ago, the week of events maintains a DIY work ethic to this day, and boasts a heart, soul, and body of volunteer workers. Their effort plays an important role in the community; one previously unknown model who walked the local runway just last year was recently featured on the cover of Vogue Japan, according to a press release.

Read on for a day-by-day rundown of all the festivities which will rage on across the city until Sunday, April 28. Trust us, you’re not going to want to miss any of this.

Fashion Funhouse Networking Event
April 22, 6- 9 p.m.
Location unknown

Not much is known about the dark acts transpiring behind the closed Funhouse doors — as David Foster Wallace might have urged us to ask: for whom is the funhouse fun? OK no, we’re just kidding — but this event is invite-only, a networking get-together for industry professionals, photographers, bloggers, and the like, according to our sources. Probably a schmooze-fest, but an exciting one, no doubt. Holding that golden ticket? Let us know how it goes.

“Model Behavior” Panel
April 23, 6- 8:30 p.m.
Gather

The first real event of the week for us laypeople, the Model Behavior panel will cover everything about, as the cheeky wordplay of the title suggests, professionalism in the modeling side of the fashion industry. Expect networking and self-branding tips, what to wear to a model call — you know, before you get chosen and put the real stuff on — and all the Q’s and A’s you can hope for.

WEAR RVA Pre-Show Event
April 24, 4:30- 8:30
The Shoppes at The Renaissance

This event is really just a pregame for the real event — the WEAR RVA Fashion Show — but it’s sure to be a hootenanny nonetheless. Officially branded a “sip + shop experience,” which we think is incredibly cute (in a good way), the evening will include shopping from featured designers, boutiques, and local businesses; booze catering by Belle Isle Moonshine; and DJing by Rhythm of Love. What’s more, tickets go directly to The Network of Enterprising Women’s (NEW) scholarship fund, so what’s not to love?

Designer Download panel
April 24, 6- 9 p.m.
Venture X

Do you dream in silk and lace? Wake up in the mornings surrounded by Micron pens and brimming sketchbooks? This panel, crafted just for aspiring designers, is definitely for you! Like “Model Behavior,” “Designer Download” will tread the ground of professionalism and personal branding, but we’ll also get words and stories from some of the best: designers who have succeeded against all odds in markets such as film, designing for celebrities, international publications, and more.

Check out the panel lineup online, and prepare your questions for the Q and A. Terms like “monumental success” and “against all odds” are being thrown around on the website, so you know you aren’t going to want to miss this one.

2nd Annual WEAR RVA Fashion Show
April 25, 6:30- 8:30 p.m.
The Renaissance

This one’s really special. Local high school-aged girls strutting the catwalk in local boutiques’ hottest summerwear. Everything goes to the NEW scholarship fund, which, according to the RVA Fashion Week website, resulted last year in five different scholarships for local ladies. Feel good with your complementary “swag bag” and get a tad tipsy at the cash bar. Support the scene, people. It’s all going down at WEAR RVA.

Day to Night Fashion Show
April 26, 5- 9 p.m.
Stony Point Fashion Park

Day to Night — we’re not entirely sure what this means, but it sounds stellar. Or another daytime-equivalent term. But, we’ve just got to say — this one’s free; jam-packed with features from designers including Haus of Klyde, Runway Couture, Stitch by Chanel, High Maintenance LLC, and many more; and there’s going to be food and shopping popups all over the place. Yeah. Need we say more?

Fashion Freedom: Day Party & Runway Presentation
April 27, noon- 5 p.m.
Courtyard by Marriott

Are late nights and evening shenanigans just not really your thing? Not a twentysomething anymore? Tend to crawl into bed with an Agatha Christie paperback at the stroke of 9? Well, you’re in luck, because the Fashion Freedom Day Party & Runway Presentation not only starts and ends a reasonable time, but it’s packed with more than enough fun for one person, or even all your fashion enthusiast friends at once. Here’s the lowdown: food, drinks, music, streetwear-inspired runways, and a contest for you — yes, you! Unleash your inner Tyra Banks and come dressed in your favorite outfit; you might be crowned “Best Dressed” before you make it home at that oh-so-sweet reasonable hour.

Tim Reid’s Cultural Fashions Showcase
April 27, 5- 7 p.m.
RVA Event Space

Masterminded by actor and Virginia native Tim Reid (That 70’s Show, WKRP In Cincinnati), and hosted by model and designer Salome, the Cultural Fashions Showcase will bring together models and designers from all over the world, and will be filmed for international distribution. Proceeds benefit Reid’s nonprofit, which assists young people looking to break into the entertainment industry. WTKR gave us a little sneak peak last month, so check that out if you haven’t already.

Dapper Luq presents An Evening at Black Iris
April 28, 5- 10 p.m.
Black Iris

Maybe the perfect way to bring RVA Fashion Week to a close, An Evening at Black Iris is everything this wide-ranging week of events has to offer bundled into one classy little shindig. Come on, where else are you going to find networking opportunities, body painting, and a fashion showcase in the same space as a cigar lounge? It’ll be interactive. It’ll be fun. And there’ll be way too much going on to concisely list here. Just go — you’ll be glad you did.

Photos via RVA Fashion Week/Facebook

Hand-Made In RVA Makes Space For POC Makers

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Offering everything from jewelry to sailboats, Hand-Made In RVA’s pop-up markets give Richmond’s POC and LGBTQ creators a chance to find their audience.

From a young age Andrea Daughtry had an entrepreneurial spirit with a quirky, artsy style.

Now as a maker and vintage collector, Daughtry has made a space for other people of color in Richmond to showcase their trade. Since October 2018, Daughtry, along with her partners Duron Chavis, Baron Lee, and Natasha Wilson, has been hosting Hand-Made in RVA — a market and safe space for POC and the LGBTQ community.

“I just want Richmond to see how creative our local makers are,” Daughtry said. “It makes my heart flutter because I know what it means to be up all night creating and trying to release. It is a way that we communicate, a way that we are able to express ourselves.”

Daughtry, who has been a maker for the past seven years creating handmade jewelry as well as Buttah Babez, her all-natural skin care line, understands both sides of operating a market. What makes Hand-Made in RVA a stand out, however, is the openness and inclusivity that she embraces. Although vendors are required to apply to the market, all vendors are accepted as long as space is available.

Hand-Made in RVA has garnered a huge response through social media, but the emphasis remains on keeping the market as inclusive as possible.

“I feel like that’s honestly been one of the barriers and a way to exclude people in the past,” Daughtry said about the vendor application process for markets. “The application is great, but it also creates negative connotation and nervousness. We accept anybody.”

Katrina Blizzard is a local maker who has been participating in Hand-Made in RVA since its inception in October. Through selling her Luving Me Naturally handcrafted natural body care products at the Hand-Made in RVA markets, she’s noticed and appreciated the community it has built thus far. Being new in the game with hand-crafted products was a plus, she said, and benefited from being connected through the market.

A supportive, warm, and fun community is how Blizzard described what she found as a Hand-Made in RVA vendor. People who buy her products like to come to the market to see what else she has to offer, she said.

“They can touch it, they can smell it, they can feel it. It allows them to have a place to come to,” Blizzard said. “People are really embracing handcrafted.”

When Daughtry got into vintage, she also noticed how interacting with her customers allowed her business to flourish. A few years ago, Daughtry began selling her quirky vintage finds to Virginia State University students, and gained a following doing so.

At a pop-up table, students would stop by to purchase Daughtry’s one-of-a kind vintage pieces. She even had regulars who would come looking for their newest fashion find.

“They were crazy about it,” Daughtry said.” I was able to get my first car, my first apartment. It was nuts.”

Despite the success of her business, Daughtry also noted the importance of storytelling as a part of her interest in vintage. She often wears a stack of brass and copper bangle bracelets that once belonged to her mother.

“It makes me feel complete,” she said. “It’s started a lot of conversations for me.”

Daughtry has studied time periods when fashion differed, which in turn has informed the creativity of her own handmade jewelry. With leftover pieces of vintage jewelry, Daughtry plans to create new jewelry or canvases to display the jewelry pieces as art.

Although Daughtry still often pops up shop at her Hand-Made in RVA markets, she noted the great diversity of products that have been featured thus far. Customized notebooks, candles, handmade bags, oils, herbs, henna, and even sailboats top the list.

“It means a lot,” Daughtry said. “I found that we are getting farther and farther away from corporate and we’re appreciating the individuals in our community that nine times out of ten have better products — that are just as effective.”

Through the variety and quality of the products, both Daughtry and Blizzard have watched the market grow organically. Growing from fewer than 10 vendors to a now-bustling market of 25 vendors, Hand-Made in RVA outgrew its original home.

Now hosted at Gather, a coworking and office space in downtown Richmond, Hand-Made in RVA has the space to flourish.

“I didn’t realize until I started doing vending events how popular it was and there are so many people that actually do this,” Blizzard said. “Some people don’t give Richmond enough credit that people will come out and support. Hopefully in having more of these events people will start to come out even more than they have.”

Hand-Made in RVA’s upcoming Spring Fling market,taking place on March 17 at Gather from 1-6 PM, will be focused on spring-cleaning things that we don’t talk about often, such as financial literacy and health. And, to keep the International Women’s Celebration alive, Hand-Made in RVA will also be hosting For the Fem in You — A Celebration of Women at Studio Two Three on April 7.

Daughtry’s Fem market will honor women in the Richmond community who are not typically recognized, such as doulas and performing artists — people who are really laboring, or not getting the attention they deserve.

“People have to come out and experience it,” Blizzard said. “It’s an experience. It’s a community. It’s a camaraderie. There’s so much talent in Richmond that people really need to come and experience for themselves. Andrea has really given us that platform.”

With its growing popularity, it is evident that Hand-Made in RVA has already begun to make the difference that Daughtry had intended for Richmond.

“Our mission is to create safe spaces for people of color that are inclusive of everyone,” Daughtry said. “Our focus is to empower and strengthen small business everywhere we can.”

With the maker market on the rise once again, Hand-Made in RVA creates a space to celebrate some of Richmond’s best.


Co-working space Gather to expand to Short Pump

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Freelance workers and small businesses in the Short Pump area looking for a space to work and collaborate will soon have a better option than their local coffee shop or paying a hefty rent of a large office property. Gather, a Richmond-based co-working space, is set to open their third location at West Broad Village.

Gather originally opened its doors in 2014 with a location on East Main Street and most recently opened up a spot in Scott’s Addition at 2920 W Broad St. The coworking business offers access to a common workspace for people who would normally work from home, as well as office space for individuals and businesses who are looking to rent space within one of Gather’s buildings. In addition, members of Gather have access to a full kitchen, free coffee and beer, the buildings’ gym and showers, various community rooms, as well as a variety of social events.

“When coworking first started out, I think that it was mostly focused on freelancers, start ups, and specifically tech startups,” said Jessica Back, the sales and engagement manager at Gather. “But I think that as it’s grown, specifically as Gather’s grown, our clientele base and our members have grown to be diverse, and we really serve everyone. I think that the style of work is changing and that people are really drawn to an atmosphere that is casual but productive.”

Gather RVA

Of course, all of these benefits come at a price. There are several membership tiers, the first being the Coworking plan. At $250 dollars a month, this tier gives members access to the benefits previously mentioned, as well as 24/7 access to all Gather locations, the buildings’ wifi, conference rooms, a work mailbox, and the ability to use their printers.

The Dedicated Desk tier gives members all of the benefits of the Coworking tier, in addition to a personal work desk.

The Office tier ranges from $500 to $1500 dollars a month. The price varies depending on the amount of people in one space, as individuals can rent their own personal office, and businesses can rent their own space for multiple people.

There is also a $40 dollars a month “Pay As You Go” plan, which requires members to pay for access to coworking seating ($20 dollars a day), the conference room ($10 dollars an hour), the mailbox ($40 dollars a month), and the printer ($5 dollars a month for access to the printer, with payments per print) as they use it. This tier also limits access to the building between the hours of 8am to 5pm, instead of the 24 hour access granted by the other tiers.

James Crenshaw, the managing partner at Gather, said that the space was created with flexibility in mind, and makes the process of finding a workplace much easier for people who would usually work at home.

“Let’s say you’re a freelancer, you’re getting ready to start your business, and you want to have an office to work out of,” Crenshaw said. “You’d have to go find a real estate broker to go find you a space. They show you spaces around town, then you have to come up with a big security deposit, and you have to sign a three year lease on the space. So as a freelancer, there really is no other option except for working from home, or at a coffee shop, that gives you that flexibility.”

Construction on the Short Pump location started in August. Hickok Cole Architects are serving as the building’s architect and interior designer. Jessica Zullo, director of Hickok Cole’s Richmond studio, talks about the growing popularity of more casual workspaces as reason for expanding to the area.

“The nature of work is changing: people are spending less time in formal offices, adapting to
flexible work hours, and expecting access to a wide spectrum of amenities,” Zullo said in a press release. “Like Gather’s original locations, in Short Pump we are creating an experience that will enhance the member’s working lives and build member loyalty through dynamic design.”

Members who currently work out of Gather’s Downtown and Scott’s Addition offices will have access to the new Short Pump location, located at 2400 Old Brick Road, when it opens in early 2018.