Fashion Week in full swing in Athens - Online Athens

Paris, New York and, of course, Athens.

Fashion Week is here and like many other couture hot spots, the Classic City will offer events and fashion shows to display an array of cutting-edge designs for the upcoming year.

The difference with Athens Fashion Week is the educational aspect that allows fashion majors and minors to not only display their hard work, but have the opportunity to get hands-on experience and network with local professionals.

Fashion Week is a collective unity of student organizations from the Textile, Merchandising and Interiors program at the University of Georgia.

“The department of TMI wants to celebrate diversity in our students’ career interests ... as well as putting their major into practice,” Emily Blalock, Fashion Week organizer and lecturer within the TMI department, said. “We’re just really proud of their academic and leadership skills.

“Our No. 1 goal is professional development. We believe in academics, but also in real-world experience. In the fashion industry, it is often about who you know. This (event) offers students networking and allows them to put their academics into action.”

Fashion Week kicked-off runs through Friday. It will feature visits by top names in the fashion industry, including Live Worldly Founder Kael Robinson.

Live Worldly is an international clothing company that donates a portion of proceeds to a nonprofit in each item’s country of origin.

UGA faculty from the TMI department helped to coordinate the leadership group that organized this week’s events, but it’s the students who are doing everything from designing the fashions, organizing the networking events and putting on the fashion show, which will close-out Fashion Week with a student gallery and fashion show inspired by Grimm’s Fairy Tales on Friday.

Each night of fashion is hosted by one of four student organizations from the TMI program. Those are the Student Merchandising Association, Fashion Design Association, The Agency and Little Red Book magazine.

With several events already concluded, there are still many more fashion-related events scheduled this week:

■ Couture a la Cart grand opening today from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. It is a mobile pop-up retail shop operated by students on the Tate Center lawn.

■ “Live Worldly: Fashion that Gives Back” seminar featuring Robinson in MLC Room 148, tonight at 6:30 p.m. Free admission.

■ Georgia Education Soft Goods Foundation cocktail and networking reception, UGA Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Student tickets are $5. Industry executive tickets are $50. Advance tickets only. Contact Diane Kesler at dkesler@fcs.uga.edu or call (706) 542-4888.

■ Aqua Fashion Show at the UGA special collections libraries at 8 p.m. Thursday. Student tickets are $7, nonstudent admission is $10.

■ “Never After” student gallery and fashion show mix at Hardeman Sams House, 6:30 p.m. Friday. Student tickets are $7, nonstudent tickets are $10.

via fashion - Google News http://ift.tt/1mGx8e1