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The Alive wrote
Can Columbus become a Midwestern fashion capital?
Thursday, October 2, 2008
By Brittany Kress
Take a look at the street corners, the sidewalks, the grocery stores. It’s a sea of people in sweatshirts and sneakers, and that casual, Midwest lifestyle is stifling Columbus designers’ best intentions.
Well, so are the makeshift studios they’re working from in bedrooms and living rooms across the city.
But it’s not just quality craftsmanship, training and education, sweatshop-style long nights and promotional efforts that’ll put the city’s designers on the map. Simply put, if Columbus wants to become a fashion capital – and plenty are pushing for it – we’re going to have to start looking more like New York. Or at least shopping a little more local, and with a little more style. Because designers can’t get respect coming from a city of sweatpants.
Alive’s Featured Fashion Designers:
- Columbus Style: Akira Burgess
- Columbus Style: Working from home
- Columbus Style: Brad Osting and Justin Hemm
- Alive & Unedited: Project Runway’s Terri Stevens
- Columbus Style: Shannon Mingus
BTW, something all this boils down to is simple, how many people in Columbus make their living from fashion? You can hate on them, but the Limited Companies ARE fashion…and they employ at least 3-5 thousand people in the Columbus area, from designers to fit models to HQ employees, etc.
Now add in every boutique, every photographer, every stylist, every model, every designer, etc. who’s NOT employed with those stores, you add in another thou minimum (if not WAY more).
Considering Columbus as a “fashion capital” based on those criteria…you know, the criteria of people MAKING A LIVING CREATING AND MARKETING FASHION…
It’s kind of hard not to see how it’s a fair idea.
I’m curious Tenzo, how many people in Chicago make their living doing this? (and I don’t mean retailing).
Fixed that. :wink:
The real question is – how much fashion are we importing here?
I think we have a good deal of variety in Columbus. Boutiques that I enjoy and all have different things are:
Tigertree
Rowe
Cheesecake Boutique (grandview)
Milkbar
Principessa
Dr. Mojoe X
I feel like none of them carry the same things and if they do carry the same brand I don’t notice a lot of repeats.
Fixed that. :wink:
Again, it’s not a question of personal taste though…what YOU consider fashionable, what I consider fashionable, is not the definition of the business that is fashion. I had one of my first successful models shot by Bruce Weber for the cover of Rolling Stone years ago, as one of the original A&F gang. Do I wear A&F? Nope. Do I think it’s hideous for the most part? Yep.
Doesn’t make it less “fashion” as a business.
Model from Westerville, company from New Albany…cover of Rolling Stone, shot by Bruce Weber…period.
p.s. Fit models for any of the Limited Brands can make 20-30k a year or more…modeling…here in Columbus, very part time…like 5-10 hours a week. That’s one client, creating clothes, to be sold nationwide, and probably modeled by top talent in NY for a catalog based on those local kids’ bodies.
Enzo you would look great in that bell sleeve sweater. I love it.
The orange jacket is great too. You have great taste in clothes! And I love that you get inspiration from designers and make things your own. I think a lot of fashion is all about that too. It is something I would like to do more of.
Torn, I am glad you are in Columbus doing what you love. I checked out your shop and you have some really creative ideas.
This thread has been making me think we need our own Sartorialist to showcase all of the great looking fashion that Columbus does have out on our streets, everyday. Who wants to do it? :) Enzo, do you have a camera? I think that is a blog idea that would interest you and you would do a good job with it and it would be fun for you. :)
In my opinion, I think the magazines that do showcase some of Columbus’ fashion could work on improving the photoshoots with their models. They never pull off the desire for fashion for me. The clothes may look nice, but I think the shoots often look kind of goofy. And they are all the same! Stand outside in front of this building, and this building, blah blah boring.
BTW if anyone has not had the pleasure of seeing Jon Meyers in real life, he is always sporting something fashionable. I love to see men wearing D&G, ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA, MOSCHINO, THEORY, ETRO, DIOR, ARMANI ANY day over Abercrombie :roll: As for women’s fashion, I would prefer to see more fashion than tramp—you can find deals at TJMAXX Henderson Rd. There is this Escada top that I am so in love with–bell sleeve sweater $1500…but I will find it or something similar for under $100. Filenes basement also has some great deals on great fashion.
The Saks here is ultra-shitty for menswear, as is the Nordstrom. It’s all for business fatties who love neutral dated Armani garbage or jackass BMW 3-series lessees (what up Nordstrom Rail). The idea of “seeing men in designer labels” is sort of weak, too, particularly given the breadth you’ve given here. Theory is more or less Express at 3-6x the price. I’d just like to see some people in decent cuts and fabrics, I don’t give a shit if it’s “designer.” Fashion is inherently stupid and sort of banal, I just want the apes I encounter to have cloaked themselves in a less odious manner.
The orange jacket is great too. You have great taste in clothes! And I love that you get inspiration from designers and make things your own. I think a lot of fashion is all about that too. It is something I would like to do more of.
Torn, I am glad you are in Columbus doing what you love. I checked out your shop and you have some really creative ideas.
This thread has been making me think we need our own Sartorialist to showcase all of the great looking fashion that Columbus does have out on our streets, everyday. Who wants to do it? :) Enzo, do you have a camera? I think that is a blog idea that would interest you and you would do a good job with it and it would be fun for you. :)
In my opinion, I think the magazines that do showcase some of Columbus’ fashion could work on improving the photoshoots with their models. They never pull off the desire for fashion for me. The clothes may look nice, but I think the shoots often look kind of goofy. And they are all the same! Stand outside in front of this building, and this building, blah blah boring.
The Sartorialist/Face Hunter/Hel Looks/etc. thing is pretty run into the ground these days, I think. I can’t imagine any Columbus variety of this being anything other than a celebration of the “Williamsburg two years ago” aesthetic, either. It is a simple reality that the theatre of the street in Columbus is lacking adequate costume design and willing players.
Columbus Alive has their “What Are You Wearing Today?” feature, but it makes the city look like it’s brimming with uninformed hicks 95% of the time. U-Weekly has sort of a half-assed attempt at a Vice Do/Don’t type of thing, but it’s a complete mess in every aspect.
I was looking in to applying as a fit model to score some extra money this summer, but sadly, while most of my body is in proportion to what they’re looking for, I would need to grow ANOTHER SEVEN INCHES TALLER. No amount of working out will make that happen, haha.
When will those brands start making petite/short sizes??
Fixed that. :wink:
Again, it’s not a question of personal taste though…what YOU consider fashionable, what I consider fashionable, is not the definition of the business that is fashion. I had one of my first successful models shot by Bruce Weber for the cover of Rolling Stone years ago, as one of the original A&F gang. Do I wear A&F? Nope. Do I think it’s hideous for the most part? Yep.
Doesn’t make it less “fashion” as a business.
Really?
I mean, seriously? I’m not being facetious here.
If your metrics are how many people wear it, how many places it shows up in American culture, and what percentage of a city’s revenue it provides, without any reference to whether or not it’s actually stylish, it’s quite possible that Oshkosh, WI, has a better claim than Columbus does to being a Midwestern fashion capital.
Not really. I worked for the Limited for several years. A few of their design jobs are in here Columbus, but the majority of their fashion design is done in offices spread throughout Manhattan.
A&F used to be owned by The Limited, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they also have a design studio in NYC.
Madison Avenue isn’t known for advertising because they make really good commercials.
They’re known for advertising because people there create more than the rest of the world and make their living on it.
They’re known for advertising because people there create more than the rest of the world and make their living on it.
Yes, true. But I thought the discussion was at least as much about the fashions people wear in Columbus (sweatpants, etc.) as it was about the sheer size of the industry.
They’re known for advertising because people there create more than the rest of the world and make their living on it.
Yes, true. But I thought the discussion was at least as much about the fashions people wear in Columbus (sweatpants, etc.) as it was about the sheer size of the industry.
Well, maybe we’re having two different discussions then. To me, a “fashion capital” is more about commerce than the style of it’s citizenry. Again, I’d point to something like NYC as a finance capital, which isn’t defined by the portfolios of the average joe…but by the fact that it’s a center of the actual trade, the business that is finance. I’d point to Chicago, the commodities capital…again, not that all that many folks in Chicago may own porkbellies…but that a lot of people make their money that way. I dare say that if you walked around Silicon Valley, it’s not actually named that because there’s a ton of broads with 34F implants anymore than most of the residents touting an Alienware laptop with top of the line hardware. These are commercial centers of the trade itself, and on that level Columbus certainly can compete in fashion (at least, IMO).
Seriously Tenzo, you have your DOG dressed up in roughly 30 different outfits in his own website complete with blog…are you sure you want to be talking fashion with anyone?!?
Nothing spells sophistication like forcing your animal companion to try on outfits like a dress up doll…
Nyaaa, the website deals with mental instability and what happens when two adults don’t have kids.
But Tenzo pays his own way. We have whored him out to Disney and the news media more than once.
BTW, Walker, thanks for leaving the minnie pearl comparison up. I kept it on topic and am happy to see the admins of the board don’t go deleting dissenting opinions. Besides she is a Tennesse native (not to far away) and was a hilarious paradoy of a hicks idea of High fashion.
Get it? It’s a joke, it’s funny!
sigh, my work isn;t appreciated.
Anyway,
On topic
and about distribution
Don’t they work through The Mart in Chicago?
Store owners and chains from across the world go to The Mart, see samples and buy 5,000 ‘jenny jumper’ outfits.
So sure the headquarters may be here.
But
Designed in New York, made in China / South America, distributed in Chicago.
I’m not seeing Columbus being a hub in here
Dated a girl who was a model for Saks Fifth Ave.
They dressed her up in middle age women clothes for the catalouge.
She was 15 at the time
Get it? It’s a joke, it’s funny!
Calling everybody in Columbus a bunch of hicks isn’t a “dissenting opinion,” it’s just acting like a prick.
Also, you’re not funny.
Dated a girl who was a model for Saks Fifth Ave.
They dressed her up in middle age women clothes for the catalouge.
She was 15 at the time
And how old were you at the time!? :wink:
Dated a girl who was a model for Saks Fifth Ave.
They dressed her up in middle age women clothes for the catalouge.
She was 15 at the time
And how old were you at the time!? :wink:
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