Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Austin Fashion Week


Austin, it is the home of live music, Sixth Street, and Longhorn football. For years, this is what Austin has been known for; but this city is changing.  This city is growing and developing into a bigger and more influential place. One huge event that has started to shape this city is Austin Fashion Week.
            Austin Fashion Week was started three years ago by Austinite Mike Swinney. This event is held every year at the Driskill Hotel from August 10th until August 18th. The main goal of Austin Fashion Week is to debut new trends and show off new and promising designer from not just Austin, but from around the world. For eight days straight, hundreds of fashion designers throw their very own fashion shows at the Driskill hotel hoping to get their designs noticed by potential customers and big time fashion magazines. Some designers have had their clothes show up in the pages of Vogue, and others have had hundreds of costumers flocking to their boutiques in hopes of snagging a few outfits they saw on the runway. Austin Fashion Week is a great way for fashion designers to get their names out there.
           “It gets bigger and bigger every year,” says creator Mike Swinney,”Designers who have put their blood, sweat, and tears into a collection trust us to do it justice.”
            And getting bigger it has, AFW has reached out to designers from all over the country and all over the world. Honestly, it is about time Austin starts an event like this. This city deserves it. 
          When interviewed, a young fashion designer named Ashley Zaba, who traveled all the way to Austin from Canada, says “I think Austin has such a great fashion following of bloggers and boutiques.” Ashley is completely right; people in this city are passionate about fashion.
People in Austin have not always been into fashion. Before a few years ago people had to travel to Houston or Dallas to get stylish clothing, but that is not the case anymore. More people are actually traveling here so they can check out and raid all of the unique and funky boutiques that line the streets of Austin. 
 Victoria Espinoza, of the University of Texas Fashion group says, “Fashion is definitely a big part of Austin’s culture. There are fashion statements here that you wouldn’t see anywhere else. That’s why I love Austin, because I love street style.” 
When walking down the streets of Austin every person you see looks different; People are trying to stand out and be bold with their clothing choices. Everybody is trying to make a statement and trying to express who they are through their clothing. No doubt about it, people in this town look fantastic! Austin is definitely becoming a new powerhouse for the fashion industry, and this fashion week has shown other cities like New York and Los Angele's that we mean business.
 Austin Fashion Week is a great way for Austinites to show off their style, but AFW is also a great way to bring in revenue. The city is always looking for new ways to improve their economy and this was a huge step forward for them. 
 “Austin Fashion Week has a great impact on the economy because it is bringing more merchants, and the stores and people out here will do anything these days to look great in what they wear” says Victoria Espinoza. 
 Thousands of people gather in Austin for Fashion Week and this brings in a great amount of money to hotels, restaurants, and clothing stores. Besides helping our economy, AFW has also helped many of the local designers. This is especially true in the case of Tess Kopecky, an ex-air force major who was recently laid off from her job. The Austin American Statesman recently published an article online about Tess. When she was laid off, she decided to take a risk and create her own fashion line. This clothing line debuted during AFW and now boutiques all over Austin are selling her clothes and helping her start up a career she really loves.
Austin Fashion Week has been great for the city of Austin in so many ways. It has helped the economy and made Austin a household name around the country. Great things are in store for Austin, and everybody in the country should be excited to see what this colorful town brings.

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