By Carol Badaracco Padgett, Folio: Eddie Award-winning writer and editor who covers the professional film and television industry.
International fashion. Creative ideation. Diversity and inclusion. And Georgia. Step into those words. Zip them up. Walk around and see how they make you feel. The fit is phenomenal, you’ll see.
International Fashion
SCAD Savannah – Winter 2022 – Fashion – Student Coverage – D’on Lauren Edwards – Process Documentation – Eckburg Hall – Photography Courtesy of SCAD
Becoming a force within the international world of fashion takes absolute focus. To arrive there is not by accident. Georgia is like an armoire stuffed with a wardrobe of fashion-forward educational resources and opportunities.
A few of those options are Georgia State’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute and its Students Expressing Life Through Fashion (SELF) initiative. Clark Atlanta University’s Fashion Design program. And Savannah College of Art and Design’s SCAD School of Fashion, with campuses in Midtown Atlanta and in Savannah.
Fashion as an art form has even taken the stage at the governmental and community affairs level in Georgia, where the Fulton County Department of Arts and Culture has created opportunities for artists and students to develop their skills and learn the art in real-time.
David Manuel is the Director of Fulton County Department of Arts and Culture. For fashion and all areas of culture and creativity, he focuses on initiatives that foster collaboration over competition. Manuel says that when he came on board three years ago, one commissioner told him not to forget about fashion. So he created a program called Fashion Art Culture & Education (FACE), in partnership with Atlanta Public Schools and Fulton County Public Schools. “Since our kick-off fashion show, we’ve supported fashion events and even sent students from Clark Atlanta University to Paris for workshops.”
FACE collaborators also have graced New York Fashion Week (NYFW). “When you think about the role of government, you don’t think of it going outside the community,” Manuel says. “But we’re taking our creators and models outside to enlarge their territory.”
Another ace up Georgia’s sleeve is educational advocates like SCAD School of Fashion’s Associate Chair Peter Jensen, who says SCAD is doing its part to bolster the fashion world. “We are graduating artists that become highly successful not only for other companies, but many also start their own businesses right here in Georgia.”
Alex Davis, Executive Director of the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta, says the breadth of potential that is taking shape in Georgia is breathtaking. “SCAD [is]providing opportunities for talented artists from around the state to hone and develop their skills close to home. At the same time, we are attracting talented young artists from around the world who will study here, make Georgia their home, and invest in Georgia’s creative communities long after they graduate.”
These young professionals are tailored and supported by fashion might. “Our alumni are leaders in their respective fields internationally and are proud to share that SCAD in Georgia is the place where they found their path,” Davis says. “Through SCAD FASH, we are presenting the most exciting designers from across the globe in exhibitions that explore the history and artistry behind the brands,” Davis describes. “We bring these artists here, whether they are coming from New York or Paris or Cameroon, so that they can experience SCAD, but also so that they can experience Georgia as a place that is fostering the next generation of [fashion]talent.”
Creative Ideation
Georgia is ripe with the ethereal flow of electric energy that binds otherworldly ideas with earthly talent. And fashion contributes mightily to both that creative flow and to the economic rush.
“The impact of arts and culture is in the billions, and fashion contributes heavily to the overall number,” Manuel says. “It’s huge when you look at designers, textile fashion, models, props and staging—it truly boosts the economy.”
SCAD Atlanta – Spring 2023 – Fashion Show – Runway Coverage – Forty Courtyard – Photography Courtesy of SCAD
Jensen says that SCAD in Georgia is a place for ideation, creation and inspiration. “It is necessary that students understand each component of the design process and how important it is to understand technical [pattern making, fit, construction]and creative design [research, concept, and ideation] to fully execute a collection, which is a major focus of SCAD’s curriculum. Fashion design is essentially architecture for fabric.”
Some fashion students bring their energy to Georgia after the fashion industry already knows their names. “We have many students who even come into the program with their own lines, particularly in the streetwear market,” Jensen says. “[These students] have been highly successful and want to aid their innate skills with a fashion design degree.”
Take current senior Bryson Wilson, who is crafting a collection of upcycled, reworked pieces with a heavy denim focus, an expansion of his already successful business.
And then there’s Kate Barton, who has been showcasing her collections at NYFW for the past few seasons. She recently received critical acclaim and praise from top publications and stylists. “Now [she]has a roster of celebrity clientele,” Jensen says.
Another notable SCAD alumnus is Christopher John Rogers, who went on to win the “CDFA American Womenswear Designer of the Year.” And there are other SCAD fashion alumni leading the way at The Row, Chanel, Thom Browne, Anthropologie, Diane von Furstenberg and Vogue Magazine.
Georgia—and Atlanta in particular—also has major fashion contributors coming from avenues outside the traditional educational and community initiative channels. For example, actor and entrepreneur Angelo Diaz and his business partner, creative director Franck Mille. Originally from Miami, Diaz is known in Georgia and globally for his role as Detective David Quinn on the long-running TV One series “ATL Homicide.” In addition, he has big-screen roles under his belt, including the 2020 comedy/crime film “Zola,” starring Taylour Paige and Riley Keough.
Adding to the creative partnership (the two met in college where they cut their teeth organizing parties and launching a magazine), Mille, a child of service parents, grew up all over the world. Before settling in Atlanta to expand business with Diaz, he served as brand ambassador for GQ Magazine and Conde Nast, as well as for high-end brand Goorin Bros. hats.
Combining their visual, artistic and social abilities with the art of fashion, Mille and Diaz co-founded Boutique Fashion Week (BVFW)—a fashion event and runway experience that features up-and-coming designers and models.
Mille describes how he and Diaz made their foray into fashion from Atlanta, creating BVFW and growing the runway show across the country. “We went to Sundance in Park City, Utah, when Angelo did Zola, and we saw how multiple day activations [of events]can really boost an economy. Tourists were activating both big and small businesses.”
The objective with BVFW was to create a tool that can go into any economy and positively impact it. “Fashion lets everybody’s guard down,” Mille says. “It is like the energy of a good time, and it creates an environment conducive to success.”
Another fashion activation in the Mille-Diaz mix is a successful resort wear runway show called SWIM, incubated during the pandemic, which has traveled heavily to major markets in the U.S. ever since.
Diversity and Inclusion
Patterned after NYFW, BVFW has captured the attention of New York City. Mille and Diaz have found the show’s elements of inclusion and diversity serve as a major magnet.
“New York City Mayor Eric Adams has said good things about our events,” Mille says of BVFW and SWIM’s runs in the Big Apple. “With our runway activations, we can offer opportunities for those who didn’t meet the requirements for New York Fashion Week. We aren’t in competition with other shows, we’re trying to become the official NCAA of the fashion industry, with an actual entry point.”
Alongside the fashion designers the partners vet and bring on board, Mille says they are taking BVFW stylists and models—everybody gets to level up and grow. “And when something like that happens, and when these people win, they bring it back to the mothership.”
Today, BVFW’s COO is a SCAD graduate.
Circling back to SCAD, Jensen says its students want to be that next generation that will be a force for change in the industry. For example, the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film is an extension of that vision, where Georgia takes its place among the international fashion community and breaks barriers to entry.
“The [current Cristobal Balenciaga]exhibition is the story of a designer who came from humble beginnings and soared to the height of the fashion world in the 1940s,” Davis says. “Balenciaga was heralded by Coco Chanel and Christian Dior as the ‘master of us all,’ and the example of modern design that they would follow. When guests visit our SCAD FASH exhibition, it is interesting to consider that while the designs and silhouettes they will see are normal to us, they were groundbreaking at the time. Cristobal Balenciaga was doing very new things and introducing cultural influences from the East before it was fashionable.”
As Georgia claims its place on the runway of international fashion, Manuel brings the artform’s significance right back to where everyone lives, in all walks of life. “As kids, we dress up like the three-year-old in mom’s high heels. Fashion makes you feel better and more expressive about who you are and the character you represent.”
In the Peach State—with all its educational opportunities and its fusion of outside creative expression and ideation—a fashion force is increasingly impacting our Creative Economy and growing steadily with each passing season.
It’s a shoe that clearly fits. In a state that’s continually crafting an architecture for fabric.
To read more features from the Creative Economy Journal, visit here.
