DC Fashion Week

Yours truly is too behind-the-ball at the moment to have registered on time for DC Fashion Week* (yes, we have one), but I wanted to make sure to spread the word and get the buzz going outside of the immediate fashion circles.**

Founded 6 years ago, the events highlight all that's new and wonderful (and some long-time DC fashion envelope-pushers) about DC style. It has a decidedly DC mission "to increase economic deveilment in the area of fashion design, clothing merchandishing and modeling, and to enhance the visibility of the nation's captial as a center of international fashion." Where else in the world would a fashion-centered event find a way to throw in "economic development" (especially when tired old rock stars aren't involved)?

Tonight is the launch event Fair Trade Collections - held at the The World Bank, of course(who'da thunk we would have 3 fashion events in DC on one night - this, the press preview for Cusp Georgetown, and the District Sample Sale).

The week continues with The Betsey Johnson Collection showing at Club Avenue tomorrow, The African Student Association Presents Noire on Friday, and Saturday and Sunday are home to The Washingtonian Menswear Collections (shown at the Holiday Inn Capitol at the Smithsonian) and the International Couture Collections (talk your way into the Embassy of France and their beautiful space, if you can).

I do beseech the organizers to do a little more work on the website - for example, the tag at the top of the event calendar page notes that the next fashion week is February 25 - March 4 2007. That would be now. As the events listed on the page note. It's a little clumsy, but we'll assume that doesn't reflect the collections showing.

*Thanks to Catherine Andrews and her newly launched After Hours blog at washingtonian.com for reminding me. And thanks to The Liquid Muse for linking to Catherine.

**In the meantime, I'll see if someone at their offices will take pity on me and let me register for an event or two.