Philadelphia Fashion Week features plus-sized models
The 2018 Philadelphia Fashion Week featured over 40 designers with nine runway shows in City Hall and Dilworth Park from Sept. 24 to 30.
The event brings together the top fashion designers in and around the Philadelphia area. However, it was not the designers or the styles that made this year’s event unique.
This year, Marquita Williams, Ph.D., who served as deputy commissioner at the Department of Philadelphia Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services from 2014 to 2016, was among a few that took on a role in the 2018 Lov’n My Curves crew at the fashion week.
“For the last 13 years, Philadelphia Fashion Week has been the preeminent destination for fashion,” Williams said. “This is the first year that they have partnered with a plus size partner, Lov’n My Curves.”
Prior to the Lov’n My Curves partnership, the Philadelphia Fashion Week primarily sought models sizes 0-8.
According to Nicole Connell, special advisor to the DBHIDS commissioner, the Lov’n My Curves, LLC focuses on empowering the shapes and sizes of all people.
“We endeavour to influence the presence of plus sized individuals and to mainstream expectations of beauty and encourage all people regardless of size to embrace their full beauty with the dignity that shines from the inside out,” Connell said.
The collaboration with Lov’n My Curves brought in a multitude of featured designers to premiere plus size fashion and designs.
Designer Julia Turner Lowe, whose first collection from her line JTL Designs was shown during the Sept. 29 Lov’n My Curves show said she was motivated to make women feel empowered and beautiful.
“One of the things I thought about when I did this design is to have simple, classic designs that are elegant and hug the body but not strangle the body,” Lowe said.
Many of the Lov’n My Curves designers had personal ties to the plus-size fashion community.
Curve Conscious Boutique Founder Adrienne Ray said she was upset with the lack of plus-sized options in local consignment and resale stores around Philadelphia.
“Curve Conscious is Philadelphia’s first plus size exclusive store,” Ray said. “It’s an important part of the community and I hope to keep thriving and to keep growing.”
Plus-sizes start at a size eight, according to Dezzie Neal, the Lov’n My Curves show host.
“What that means is there are a myriad of plus size bodies in Philly alone and we have to embrace it,” Neal said.
Models like Temple University alum Amber Connally were previously unaware of the opportunity because they were plus-sized.
Connally walked in five shows over the week in her first appearance at Philadelphia Fashion Week and was supported by her mother, former model Carolyn Connally Bryant.
“To see her evolve into the type of person that I was at her age and take it to the next level, I am proud,” Connally Bryant said.
People of all backgrounds came out to support and find opportunities within the fashion industry. Professional basketball player Bilal Benn looks to move into the next phase of his professional career, this time in fashion.
“Basketball has got to end soon so I am into fashion and I thought I would come here and check it out,” Benn said.
The Philadelphia native was adamant about the importance of events like Philadelphia Fashion Week in creating the opportunity for the city of Philadelphia to get on the map in the fashion world.
“Everybody does everything in L.A., Miami, Vegas,” Benn said. “I think Philly needs more events like this. We got stuff here too, we got dope designers here too.”
This year’s Philadelphia Fashion Week was important for the future of fashion in Philadelphia, according to Neal.
“There is something to be said for the curvy girl in a year like 2018,” Neal said. “In a year where self esteem is at a all time low, where social media has changed the climate of how we feel about ourselves and has us comparing ourselves…this is an event that needs to be celebrated.”
