Last year's first-ever Portland Fashion & Style Awards was one of those odd outgrowths that Portland's industry is unfortunately prone to. A fair amount of smoke blew out my ears over its debut, which featured nominees that were entirely crowd sourced—rather than ask prominent people in the various fields represented for their input, a list was generated by whoever happened to trip over the PFSAs on social media. The people who have earned national attention to the local scene didn't even know what it was, and didn't care. Why would they? The roster of nominees, with few exceptions, was so wildly unfamiliar that it was easy to dismiss as an out-of-touch excuse to play dress up and throw a fancy party at the Schnitz. So be it.

This year, it's under new management (just like Portland Fashion Week is under new management... the former management of the PFSAs—oh, the musical chairs), with Executive Producer Ann Akre and Producer Jaileene Eubanks taking over. Those aren't the most recognizable names on the scene, either, but they have made some improvements to the original method. Head over to MOD to find out what those are, along with the flaws that remain, and this year's nominees.