Please join us August 4 - 8 for the Nashville Fashion Week Digital Experience. Nashville Fashion Week Fashion Talks and Learning Labs are educational opportunities that provide a platform to engage, learn and connect experientially within the Nashville community. Each attendee that signs in to any of these digital events will be entered into a drawing for two All Access Passes ($800 value) to NFW 2021!
FREE tickets for Fashion Talks and all three Learning Labs are NOW available at NashvilleFashionWeek.com. We also encourage you to please consider making a donation to the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to help support our Nashville fashion community.
DIGITAL "FASHION TALKS": DIVERSITY + INCLUSION
MODERATED BY FERN MALLIS WITH TANYA TAYLOR, TIMO WEILAND, PETER SOM, KIMBERLY LEWIS AND BARRY GRIDER
TUESDAY, August 4 | 12:00 p.m. CST
Admission: FREE with ticket reservation
This engaging conversation will be moderated by Fern Mallis, the award-winning creator of New York Fashion Week. A panel of industry leaders - Tanya Taylor, Timo Weiland and Peter Som with Kimberly Lewis, owner of Emerson Grace and Nordstrom Nashville's Chanel Ready-to-Wear Brand Ambassador, Barry Grider - will share their insight on this vital shift in the fashion industry and beyond.
Fern Mallis has been called an industry titan, doyenne, and The Godmother of Fashion. As the creator and host of premiere conversation series Fashion Icons w/Fern Mallis at New York’s prestigious 92nd Street Y, Mallis assembled an incredible roster of guests for her now signature in-depth interviews, including Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, André Leon Talley, Bruce Weber, Bill Cunningham, Valentino, Victoria Beckham, Rosita and Angela Missoni, Alexander Wang, Russell Westbrook, Bob Mackie, and Billy Porter; to name just a few. Her book, published by Rizzoli, Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis, is a must read of her first 19 interviews. Stay tuned for Volume 2 coming hopefully in 2021.
Mallis also created and hosted her own radio show, Fashion Insiders w/Fern Mallis on Sirius XM, During which time she interviewed over 400 industry personalities, celebrities, and professionals. In January 2012, she made her theatre stage debut in the Off-Broadway production of Nora & Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Mallis also created her own globally inspired FERN FINDS: jewelry, clothing and accessories line for QVC and HSN.
Tanya Taylor started her namesake label in 2012 with the mission to inspire all women to live in color. By celebrating individuality, the brand aims to create a community where every woman feels included. Through the artful use of color, texture and original hand-painted prints each Tanya Taylor collection is designed to bring confidence and high-energy happiness into a woman’s daily life. The collections are sold at retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom.
The brand has been worn by a diverse range of inspirational women such as Former First Lady Michelle Obama, Tracee Ellis Ross, Awkwafina, Jennifer Garner, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Kristen Wiig and Aidy Bryant. Tanya Taylor is an inclusive brand defined by a point of view and is proud to offer styles in sizes 0-22.
Timo Weiland is an award-winning Creative Director, serial entrepreneur and DJ based in New York City. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska and raised between Florida and New York. After graduating from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, he worked for several years as an investment banking analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. covering Media & Technology before launching his first startup. Since 2010, Timo has successfully built a namesake lifestyle brand, as well as businesses across food & beverage, design, media, B2B intelligence, real estate, technology, and venture capital.
Born in San Francisco, Peter Som launched his award-winning eponymous collection in 2000. Known for his signature clean-lined yet feminine designs, his clothing has been worn by such notable women as Michelle Obama, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Beyonce and Scarlett Johannson. His clothes have sold worldwide at top retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, and he has had highly successful collaborations with Kohl’s and Anthropologie. His signature, bold and colorful patterns has inspired a furniture and tabletop collection with The Inside. Peter is also widely known for his love of entertaining and food. His recipes have been featured in numerous publications and digital platforms including Vogue.com, Elle.com, Bon Appetit, Refinery29, Food and Wine and FeedFeed, where he is a contributor. Peter lives in New York City where he can often be found in the kitchen covered in flour.
Kimberly Lewis, owner of the Nashville women's boutique Emerson Grace, was born and raised in Hawaii. She started her fashion career in Southern California. She built an impressive resume as an executive in the fashion industry working in both retail and wholesale for top companies including Ralph Lauren and BCBGMAXAZRIA, where she launched the company's initial retail efforts, growing the chain from zero to100 stores. Her expertly curated selection of merchandise at Emerson Grace encourages women to dress with style and ease for every occasion. She continually works to refine Emerson Grace's vision and carve out its place in the fashion landscape with its “elevated casual” aesthetic. She uses her many years of experience to provide women with a realistic and effortless approach to dressing. This understanding of what women wear is emulated through the store's edited mix of brands and price points. Kimberly lives in Nashville with her husband and daughter.
As the Chanel Ready-To-Wear Ambassador at Nordstrom Green Hills, Barry Grider has grown his career in luxury through decades of service to his hometown of Nashville. He is often recognized for his exceptional selling abilities and service provided to clients, but it is the deep relationships he has created over a lifetime of retail that are most meaningful to him. In his career, Barry has experienced incredible opportunities with Nordstrom and the Chanel brand including buying trips to Paris, exclusive visits to the Chanel archives and Metiers d’art, and most recently opening Nordstrom’s New York flagship store. While Barry’s accomplishments at work give him much to be proud of, he values the time spent with family and close friends most of all. Outside of work, Barry is often traveling, enjoying new dining experiences, dancing, snow skiing, roller skating, or indulging in Netflix.
DIGITAL LEARNING LAB: SUFFRAGE: THE STYLE OF A SOCIAL MOVEMENT
Presented in partnership with The Tennessee State Museum
WEDNESDAY, August 5 | 12:00 p.m. CST
Admission: FREE with ticket reservation
Join the Tennessee State Museum, in collaboration with Nashville Fashion Week’s 10th Anniversary, for a special online presentation and virtual tour of the women’s suffrage exhibition, Ratified! Tennessee Women and the Right to Vote. This FREE event will include a discussion with Amanda Smith, Tennessee State Museum curator of Fashion and Textiles.
Throughout history, clothing and fashion were always, and continue to be, a powerful form of expression. What we wear can define us, inspire us, and say to others that we are individuals empowered with confidence. Learn more about the statement the suffragists were making with the clothing and colors they wore as they marched in parades for women’s voting rights. The Museum’s exhibition, Ratified! Tennessee Women and the Right to Vote, uses artifacts, documents, large-scale graphics, videos, and interactive elements to share the stories of the Tennesseans who came to have decisive roles in American women’s struggle to gain voting rights.
DIGITAL LEARNING LAB: SUSTAINABILITY, MANUFACTURING AND THE FUTURE OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY
Presented by OnPoint Manufacturing with Author Mary Gehlhar of The Fashion Designer Survival Guide and Daniella Platt, Brand Strategist
THURSDAY, August 6 | 4 p.m. CST
Admission: FREE with ticket reservation
David Prentice, Senior Vice President of Sales for OnPoint Manufacturing, Mary Gehlhar, author of The Fashion Designer Survival Guide and Daniella Platt, Brand Strategist and author of Looking Good: Ten Commandments To Be A Sales Rockstar and Fashion Startup Playbook will lead a spirited and insightful conversation on the current state of the apparel industry, what sustainable practices can look like and how designers and brands can see success sooner thanks to new technologies.
David brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to OnPoint's on-demand manufacturing model having been head of sales at Lightning Source, a company that specializes in print-on-demand book manufacturing. With a strong background in all aspects of the world of digital printing and distribution, David’s unique talents and experience gave him the ability to easily transition similar methodologies from books to apparel. During his time at OnPoint, David has single-handedly helped hundreds of designers, brands and companies looking for a better manufacturing solution.
Mary Gehlhar is a writer, curator and consultant with expertise in fashion design entrepreneurship. She is the author of The Fashion Designer Survival Guide a best-selling business book that walks designers through the diverse challenges of establishing and growing their own brands. Mary served for 10 years as Fashion Director of Gen Art, introducing hundreds of emerging designers to the fashion industry and press through New York Fashion Week runway debuts. Mary consulted on show development and led the selection process for the first four seasons of the hit show Project Runway. She is an industry resource for prestigious media outlets, including the New York Times, and British Vogue. She has been an adjunct professor at the Parsons New School for Design and participates on multiple selection committees at fashion colleges, organizations including Fashion Group International, and incubators and grants such as the Woolite Fashion Grant.
Cheerleader to all, Daniella Platt is a Concept-To-Market Strategist, who works with individuals to open doors to success and turn an idea into profit. Her signature program is the Ten Commandments To Be A Sales Rockstar & Fashion Startup Playbook. In fact, she just debuted the book on it called Looking Good. Through her consultancy, Looking Good YAYA!, Daniella offers conceptual marketing ideas and puts strategies into action. Like a primary doctor, LGY leverages the consultancy's relationships with "specialists" to give brands visibility and an edge. Daniella works with emerging and established brands, and artists, teaching creatives how to sell and guiding brands to bring their idea from concept-to-life.
DIGITAL LEARNING LAB: FASHION LAW FOR YOUR FASHION BUSINESS
Presented by Ritholz Levy Fields
FRIDAY, August 7 | 12:30 p.m. CST
Admission: FREE with ticket reservation
Peter Fields and Jenna Harris of the law firm Ritholz Levy Fields LLP will address corporate, commercial and intellectual property law issues faced by emerging and established fashion and apparel businesses, including corporate formations and corporate governance, raising money from investors, choosing and protecting a brand name in the U.S. and abroad, creating protectable designs, tips for battling fraud on digital platforms and preventing ad misplacement, hiring employees and independent contractors, and product sales, distribution and licensing transactions. RLF is a dynamic and fast-growing law firm (with offices in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles and Miami) representing clients in media, entertainment, fashion, technology and general “brand-based” businesses across a wide variety of corporate, commercial and intellectual property law disciplines. With decades of experience as lawyers (and, in some cases, former executives in these fields), the firm brings an insider’s perspective and a sophisticated approach to provide cost-effective and business-centric solutions for its clients. The firm has a key focus in helping its clients fund and launch new businesses, grow them and take them through public and private liquidity events, especially clients that leverage creative works such as fashion and apparel companies.
Purchase A "We Are Nashville Fashion" T-shirt
To Support The Masks Now Coalition of Tennessee
Our limited edition "We Are Nashville Fashion" t-shirts are now on sale for $35 by 85 Supply. 100% of sale proceeds from these shirts will be donated to purchase protective masks from OnPoint Manufacturing to distribute where they are needed most by The Masks Now Coalition of Tennessee.
The mission of MasksNOW TN is to enable everyone to wear a face mask to save lives. Wearing a face mask is a way of protecting each other and caring for one’s community. MasksNOW TN works to ensure every person and service organization has access to face masks. Through their core values of service, collaboration, community, integrity, and empathy, they have organized to match volunteer sewists to ongoing needs in our communities, to match donations of materials to volunteer sewists, and to match volunteers with distributing face masks to those in need and ensure that their face masks are provided as a free donation to those in need. MasksNow TN is working towards normalizing mask wearing through partnerships and outreach in our communities and education. MasksNow TN is a proud member of the MasksNOW Coalition.
“We at MasksNOW Tennessee are so excited to partner with Nashville Fashion Week as we work together to provide more face masks for all Tennesseans. The Nashville fashion community is a special group, and we are all in this together!” - Brenda Gadd, MasksNOW Tennessee