<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4QYf9w_0vitBLJN00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4QYf9w_0vitBLJN00" width="1250" height="832" ><figcaption>Designs by Bradford Mumpower featured at Pittsburgh Fashion Week 2023. This year, Bradford Mumpower and Nicole O’Brien will co-present a collection that includes repurposed garments. Photo courtesy of Fifth Image.</figcaption></figure>“Everybody should be learning about the fashion talent we have in this city,” says Ronda Zegarelli, co-producer with Henry Rothschild of Pittsburgh Fashion Week 2024. “The designs we’ll be seeing at this year’s show could be walking the runway of Milan.” Pittsburgh Fashion Week 2024 hits the Wintergarden at PPG Place runway Friday, Sept. 27, with an eclectic array of Pittsburgh designers — Bradford Mumpower, Nicole O’Brien, Lana Neumeyer, Michael Nolan Kouri, Nzuri Noni, Starr Thomas, Suz Pisano and Brian David. Founded in 2010, Pittsburgh Fashion Week has served as an annual showcase for local designers and a welcome networking opportunity for the city’s ever-expanding confluence of models, photographers, makeup and hairstylists, accessory makers, store buyers and agents. This year’s runway show is curated by veteran Pittsburgh designer Brian David, whose garments exhibit a stylistic approach he describes as “over-the-top, vintage-inspired red carpet designs for the modern age.” Each designer will present seven pieces, offering what David affirms will be a highly diverse visual cast. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1dFb1x_0vitBLJN00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1dFb1x_0vitBLJN00" width="1250" height="832" ><figcaption>Michael Nolan Kouri (center) stands with models wearing his Pittsburgh Fashion Week 2023 creations. Photo courtesy of Fifth Influence.</figcaption></figure>“We have Michael Nolan Kouri, who is calling his 1980s-inspired collection ‘The Brat Pack,’” says David. “Suz Pisano has a background in dance performance costumes and accessories. Starr Thomas has a great sophisticated, but also urban, style to her aesthetic. Lana Neumeyer is a native of Brazil and an architect by profession, and her designs are very vibrant with lots of movement. “Our co-design team this year is Bradford Mumpower and Nicole O’Brien producing a collection founded in upcycled denim and repurposed clothing. Nzuri Noni, who is new this year, does a lot of streetwear upcycled denim similar to Brad, but with a different aesthetic entirely her own.” The fashion week management team selected the 2024 designer cohort, David says. “That will change in 2025 to a complete open call, and applications for 2025 are already open on our website.” <img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2TP5EF_0vitBLJN00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2TP5EF_0vitBLJN00" width="1000" height="1498" ><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3goVjT_0vitBLJN00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3goVjT_0vitBLJN00" width="1000" height="1502" ><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1roWdq_0vitBLJN00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1roWdq_0vitBLJN00" width="960" height="1200" >Zegarelli emphasizes that Pittsburgh Fashion Week is a collaborative process. Longtime sponsor Docherty Talent Agency supplied this year’s models, assisted by model consultant Karen Lee Grybowski of New York. The onsite styling team is performed by MY SALON Suite. In 2023, Henry Rothschild, owner of Diamonds by Rothschild, acquired production rights to Pittsburgh Fashion Week with the goal of giving the event a fresh perspective. With sustainability a dominant theme in current fashion, the evening includes a display of ethically sourced loose diamonds from Diamonds by Rothschild. Loose diamonds, explains event coordinator Laura Kendra, are diamonds that have been cut and polished but not set in a finished piece of jewelry. “They can be used to create a new piece of jewelry or even integrated into clothing or an original accessory. Some designers are creating very personalized styles incorporating loose diamonds.” Ethically sourced diamonds, along with consideration of environmental manufacturing impacts, cultural appropriation, fair labor practices, body image and exclusivity issues, is one of several equity-based concerns discussed by many designers in the fashion field. The slow fashion movement – the idea of reusing what you have or buying second hand – is having a moment right now, says David. “Starting out, I worked for a designer who used to say that there’s nothing new in fashion; it’s all about how you put things together, and that’s what makes it new and exciting. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0oWusq_0vitBLJN00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0oWusq_0vitBLJN00" width="960" height="1200" ><figcaption>A design by Michael Nolan Kouri on the runway. Photo courtesy of Corwin Hall for Perfect Image Photography.</figcaption></figure>“That’s the focus for Pittsburgh Fashion Week, helping local designers make the connections they need with boutiques and with private clients by making one-off, one-of-a-kind original pieces. And that’s not to say that we can’t get eventually to the point of Pittsburgh designers creating multiple hundreds of lots of products and sending those out to a national brand. I don’t think that we’re there yet, but the connections people make at Pittsburgh Fashion Week are a good start.” Pittsburgh Fashion Week has always emphasized inclusion and a very broad range of genres, says Zegarelli. “The vision is very much about building a community and elevating the fashion scene here in Pittsburgh. We want the fashion aspect of the city to shine.” While the internet affords consumers a seemingly infinite stock of fashion choices to view online, David believes the atmosphere and excitement of a live fashion show cannot be matched. “It’s one thing to see an amazing dress in digital form, but it’s something completely other to see it in real life. To be within close proximity to it and see how it moves. At a fashion show, you get to experience the garment in ways you can’t through a computer.” Doors at Pittsburgh Fashion Week open for general admission at 7 p.m. with cash bar until 7:30 p.m. showtime, and a VIP Experience with light appetizers and cocktails at 6:30 p.m. All guests are invited to the party following the runway show. Tickets are available at pghfw2024.eventbrite.com (VIP $150, general admission $90, student $25). Music will be provided by DJ Petey C, with a premiere dance performance by Keeley Hernandez of the Richmond Ballet and Jessica Lilja, artistic director of Allegro Ballet Academy in Wexford.L.E. McCullough is a Pittsburgh musician/writer/journalist with a lifelong curiosity about who, what, when, where, why and especially how.</div></body>

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Upcycled denim and streetwear take the runway at Pittsburgh Fashion Week

“Everybody should be learning about the fashion talent we have in this city,” says Ronda Zegarelli, co-producer with Henry Rothschild of Pittsburgh Fashion Week 2024. “The designs we’ll be seeing at this year’s show could be walking the runway of Milan.”. Pittsburgh Fashion Week 2024 hits...