SOLD OUT

Summer may be picking up speed, but in fashion you’re way behind if
you don’t have a plan for fall. In Portland, autumn brings Portland
Fashion Week (PFW), along with outlying events that in a ragtag,
disparate way comprise a cobbled together snapshot of local design,
half-assedly arranged around the traditional fashion calendar.

This year’s week of events, scheduled for October 7-11, marks the
ninth year for PFW, which the organization (led by founders Prasenjit
Tito Chowdhury, Christopher Cone, and Tod Foulk) likes to point out
makes it the second longest running fashion week on the West Coast,
behind (albeit way behind) LA’s. As a sometimes-active member of
PFW’s advisory board, and one of a shrinking handful of writers who
have covered local fashion (formerly dedicated ultrapdx.com dropped the “fashion” from its
“arts + culture” tagline, and longtime Oregonian fashion
reporter Vivian McInerny penned her last piece as a staff writer in
May)—I’ve been to enough meetings and had enough conversations
with insiders to safely say that it’s been an uphill struggle to pull
off a comprehensive event that represents Portland’s fashion
community.

The explanations for this difficulty are all over the map. Portland
wouldn’t be Portland if it weren’t home to independent contrarians who
simply prefer doing things their own way, and virtually any designer in
Portland whose ambitions resemble a traditional career path won’t stay
here long. There have also been complaints about the relatively high
cost to designers who do participate in PFW, coupled with a lack of
attention paid by serious buyers. Then there’s the debatable tenability
of using “green” as a theme, organizational quibbles, and so forth. The
result is that PFW isn’t as strong as it might be, but no viable
alternative with any sticking power has emerged. Each year sees a new
variety of smaller, independently organized alternatives clustered
around PFW’s dates—which is fine, if a bit sprawling for such a
small community.

One thing that has become clear is the lack of candor between PFW
and the design community—even attempts to collaborate between PFW
and the newly emerged Portland Fashion Synergy (PFS) devolved into
miscommunications that ended with PFS resolving to table any plans to
work with PFW indefinitely. In an attempt to stimulate some much needed
discussion, and ideally begin to answer the unruly question of where
Portland’s fashion scene is headed, the Art Institute is hosting a
forum this Sunday on the subject: “How can Portland Fashion Week be
more beneficial for enhancing your fashion business?” Geared toward
those working in the local industry (designers, boutique and wholesale
buyers), I’m hoping it will be a step toward clarifying the sense of
direction Portland fashion seems to need. (Art Institute of
Portland, 1122 NW Davis, Rm 263, Sunday July 12, 7 pm, RSVP recommended
to registration@portlandfashionweek.net)