Style
Contrary to popular belief, there is a fashion scene in Nashville—it’s just a little fractured. In the absence of major design houses à la New York, Paris or Milan, Nashville’s burgeoning rag trade is loosely stitched across the broader creative landscape, with many clothing designers moonlighting at the sewing machine after their day jobs in restaurants and retail.
“Nashville is definitely looking for a fashion scene,” says Robert Campbell, founder of Nashville Fashion Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the design industry locally. Working out of space in the Global Café on Broadway, Campbell is, as Gertrude Stein might say, trying to create some “there there” for local designers, photographers, models, makeup artists and others in need of a platform to showcase their fashion-related work.
With several local fashion and design programs at Watkins School of Art & Design, International Academy of Design & Technology and O’More College of Design and the fashion-merchandising program at Lipscomb University, to name a few educational resources, Nashville draws a lot of talented people, who in turn need a place to exercise their professional skills. While the natural course for design graduates is to apprentice under established designers, there are few such opportunities locally, forcing aspiring designers to seek mentors and internships in more fashion-friendly centers. “We’re trying to provide opportunities that they wouldn’t get in the classroom, without having to go to New York or Atlanta,” Campbell explains. Using Global Café as its hub, NFG organizes fashion shows and photo shoots for member designers, and those shows create opportunities for photographers, event producers, stylists and other creative consultants.
The Scene’s Fall Style issue showcases a handful of those creative souls who are raising the style bar in a city historically known for denim and diamonds. We paired four clothing designers with four accessories artists—of varying levels of experience and across a range of genres—and asked each team to create a look that is quintessentially “Fall in Nashville.” Think of it as Project Runway: Nashville.
With very little melodrama, hardly any cat-fighting and not a sequin in sight, eight artists produced four ensembles that blend fashion-forward thinking with unique local influences.
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Many thanks to Bill Vandiver, Jenny Harper, Ashley Reed and Abby Roney with the Edge of Belle Meade for hair and makeup styling.
Project Runway: Nashville was shot on location at Marathon Village creative community.
This fall, Nashville Fashion Group will participate in Never Been Kissed, a live fashion show and auction at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, benefiting Cambodian children with cleft lip and palate. NFG will coordinate the runway show, including the stylists and models. On Nov. 30, NFG will coordinate the fashion component of The Really Big Thing, held at Global Café and showcasing several local clothing designers, as well as local art and music. For more information about NFG and local fashion events, visit www.NashvilleFashionGroup.com.