As Creative Director, my interest in Pittsburgh Fashion Week was transparent, given the mission I had been running parallel with Style412 to evolve the Pittsburgh Fashion Industry. Carrying the high-profile affiliation and allure of any Fashion Week, I believed that our city was deserving of a higher quality experience and that past years had simply missed the mark. Self-admittedly by the organizers, there was plenty of room and intention to evolve; the naming rights had been newly acquired and the event was still young.
Lots of work. Many moving pieces.
My vision was to re-think every visual touch point and truly begin to leverage the power of digital. There was little to no digital presence prior. The first task at-hand was to refine the existing brand visually and partnering with This Is Red agency, we created entirely new design assets (identity, marketing flyers, invites and signage) which helped us attract the attention of a younger (more fashionable & design-driven audience) and re-engage fashion community members who had lost interest in the event over the years.
Image by Rose Colored Creative
The website was newly designed and launch in April. Using Squarespace and Google Forms, it was a helpful tool to announce designer & model casting, brand ambassador & volunteer opportunities. Also included in the rebrand was the creation of social media content and ongoing strategy for @pghfw across multiple platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin).
Working with the outreach team, a guerilla-style marketing campaign to hand-deliver invites to local brands, designers and boutiques was newly implemented.
My experience in not only the production aspects of planning a Fashion Week, but being responsible for all publicly visible facets, can’t be described. The eventual attendance was somewhere close to 1K (guests, volunteers, press) throughout the week —- over double of the year before.
THE SOCIAL, Ben Petchel Photography
THE PANEL, Victoria Miller Photography
THE RUNWAY, Ryan Michael White
Pittsburgh Fashion Week 2018 was highly reviewed and deemed by Press as the most successful year yet. Although the organizing team and I parted ways in the end, I continue to be passionate about branding large-scale fashion events and guess what….am available for hire! Do you have an idea or big fashion event of your own in the works? Let’s chat.