Although it’s not scheduled to kick off until Sept. 21, organizers of Fashion Week will begin casting calls for a wide array of participants beginning July 29. This year will be something special. The fashion show seeks to return to places and themes that were part of its foundation.
“We’re going back to the Terminal Building where we started,” said Desha Jackson, founder of DLJ Give to Live Foundation, which – with the Hudson Reporter as one of the event’s principle sponsors – will host fashion week. The five days of fashion events are designed to raise money for Jersey City and Hudson County community organizations.
An event that rivals its counterpart in New York, JC Fashion Week will likely present the work of dozens of designers, and will likely give a glimpse of emerging fashion that would not be available elsewhere.
The event is designed to highlight fashion and local Jersey City businesses, and to give back to the community, Jackson said.
Started in the fall of 2012, the idea for Jersey City Fashion Week came about as a result of a discussion Jackson had with a friend who was an entertainment attorney.
“We were discussing different projects, and it was realized that while there was a fashion week for the state of New Jersey, there was not an individual fashion week for just Jersey City,” Jackson said. So she launched the program with help from the United Charitable Program.
Although Jackson is not a native of the city, she practiced law in the city for a number of years, and said she wanted to help and give back to the people of Jersey City.
“Jersey City is diverse, so I wanted Jersey City Fashion Week to reflect that,” she said.
DLJ Give to Live Community Foundation a project of United Charitable Programs, a registered 501 (c) 3 charity (hereinafter “Give to Live”) and is preparing to present the 5th Annual, Sixth Season of Jersey City Fashion Week (JCFW). Give to Live raises funds and promotes awareness for charitable causes through fashion, entertainment and sports-related events.
“Our theme for September 2016 is Fashion in the Park…JCFW Fashion Festival: Celebrating Five Years of Fashion, Entertainment and Community,” Jackson said.
In prior years they have donated to the following charities: the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hudson County, York Street Project and Art House Production’s Stages Program, a community- based theater academy for kids and teens in grades 4 to 2, Dress for Success, Rising Tide Capital, The Hope Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, Snowflake Youth Foundation, GridIron Gang, Jersey City Recreation Fund, Mo Hair Foundation, The Concordia Learning Center, Habitat for Humanity, Covenant House, Hope House and the Keystone Griffins.
In 2016, JCFW is donating to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Essex Hudson and Union Counties and the Fashion and Art Exchange Group
“In addition to our shows this year we are planning a concert,” Jackson said. “Tamara Laine from the show ‘Chasing New Jersey’ on Channel MY9 will host our Saturday show and concert. JCFW recently added a young designer’s contests for high school and college designers entitled Creative Runway and a Hair and Make Up Artistry Show to its weeks line up.”
Casting call will start on July 29
JCFW is seeking designers of ready to wear, children’s, couture, and international fashions, as well as models, hair stylists, makeup artists, and photographers, and inviting entertainment bloggers and all media to participate.
Jackson, however, said, fashion week may skip children’s fashion, although everything is still in flux.
Most casting sessions will be either at the Brightside Tavern, 141 Bright St., Jersey City, or Art House Productions, 136 Magnolia Ave., Jersey City.
The 2016 casting dates for designers who might wish to participate are as follows:
Friday, July 29, 4 to 9 p.m., Cap 21 Studios 18, Room 502, 5th floor, West 18th Street, New York.
Saturday, July 30, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Brightside Tavern, for models and designers.
Saturday, Aug. 13, 2 to 5 p.m., Art House Productions, for models and designers.
Tuesday, Aug. 16, 7 to 9 pm, Art House Productions, for hair and makeup artists.
Aug. 23, 7 to 9 p.m., Art House Productions, for hair and makeup.
Aug. 25, 7 to 9 p.m. Brightside Tavern, for hair and makeup.
Aug. 1 to 4 p.m., Art House Productions, for models and designers.
Fashion Week is five days in September
Opening night Sept. 21 will be a hair and makeup show at the Culinary Conference Center at Hudson County Community College.
On Sept. 22 there will be a VIP show including celebrity, international and couture designers tentatively scheduled for Maritime Parc in Liberty State Park.
On Sept. 23, the children school and creative runway for young designers contest is tentatively scheduled for New Jersey City University and will feature “store day” and “night of lights.”
The catwalk in the park show and concert is a tentatively scheduled for Liberty State Park on Sept. 24.
The concluding event called “Estilo Comida Moda,” where organizers say fashion, food and style collide for the soul. A fashion brunch is tentatively scheduled for the VB 3 restaurant and bar on Sept. 25
For more information go to www.jerseycityfashionweek.com.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.