Prominent Fashion Designer Participates in Clearwater Cultural Renaissance

A prominent fashion designer and Downtown Clearwater resident plays a crucial role in redeveloping a struggling area – as he has done many times before. Craig Taylor, fashion designer and Downtown Clearwater resident, will spearhead Fashion and Arts Week held in Downtown Clearwater February 3rd – 6th. The purpose of Fashion and Arts Week is to boost the Downtown Clearwater economy, and will be aided by Taylor’s past history of successfully helping revitalize distressed communities. The arts are critical to the success of a community, as evidenced by a recent USF study which found the City of St. Petersburg gains $25,527,058 in revenue each year from sponsoring art, and attracts just over 1 million visitors. Taylor has had success in uplifting the following neighborhoods, having seen the best and worst of each: • South Beach, Miami – Taylor was involved with the Miami Beach Development Corporation in 1987 when South Beach was comprised of real estate with potential and senior citizens. Taylor, then an architect, helped renovate old hotels. • SoHo, New York City – In 1992, Taylor lived in and started his clothing company in the lower end of SoHo. Along with other likeminded artists, Taylor helped transform the industrial neighborhood into the trendy fashion and shopping area it is today. • Downtown Los Angeles – When Taylor first moved into his east of Broadway loft with wife Yul, they had to shoo homeless people away from their front door. Through the creative energy they put into their new home, and a fashionable coffee shop opening up directly downstairs, the neighborhood turned around. Now, five years later, Taylor's old block is dotted with restaurants, wine-bars and galleries. • Downtown Clearwater – Today Taylor is participating in the Downtown Clearwater Renaissance by helping organize Fashion and Arts Week, showcasing the Cleveland Street District. Taylor also spearheaded the inaugural Fashion Week, which drew people from Sarasota, Orlando and Miami. According to Taylor, the formula to revitalizing an area is to take young, creative people, for example artists, and put them in places that have potential. Give them some cheap rent and a bucket of paint, and their creative energy will do the rest. All it takes is vision, and people who are willing. While the landlord might not be collecting as much rent at first, in the long run it will help out the landlord, since the area will be worth more because they are renting to someone who will improve the area and make the building worth more. Downtown Clearwater has all of the ingredients for success: wealthy and international communities, nice weather, a beautiful beach nearby with none of the hassle of the beach, and citizens such as Taylor dedicated to improvements. The City of Clearwater is following this formula by giving incentives to businesses who want to come to Downtown Clearwater. Already the incentives have shown to make a positive change. La Cachette, Green Organic Café and Wine Bar, Tony’s Pizza and Cassanova have all benefitted from the incentives and are revitalizing the district. During Fashion and Arts Week, Taylor will be holding an informal Q&A on how to break into the fashion industry with refreshments served in addition to a sample sale in his Downtown Clearwater design studio. Showroom samples of his shirts, which normally sell up to $250 at stores like Neimen Marcus, will be on sale for $35 to $45. Image consultant Georgette Braadt will be on hand for color and style consulting. Fashion and Arts week will include a by-invitation preview event at Water’s Edge, sample sales, a Thursday evening multi-media fashion experience at System Productions, a full-service production studio headed by internationally recognized fashion photographer Troy Plota, street performers, musicians, an open air art show and more. A film screening presented by the Sunscreen Film Festival on Friday, February 4th and a ballet presented by the Guilfoil Ballet Theatre on Saturday, February 5th will both be held at the Capitol Theatre. All activities will be free, excluding the ballet and the film screening. Fashion and Arts Week is an extension of Clearwater Fashion Week, which was put on by the Clearwater Designer Co-Op with the idea of stimulating the Downtown Clearwater economy by offering a week long designer sample-sale, and fashion shows. Fashion and Arts Week will take place on Cleveland Street in Downtown Clearwater February 3rd – 6th. About Fashion and Arts Week: Fashion and Arts Week is put on by the Clearwater Designer Co-Op with the goal to stimulate the economy of Downtown Clearwater with an injection of fashion, art and culture, and to encourage more retailers to open stores downtown, as well as attract future residents. More information on Fashion and Arts Week can be found at fashionandartsweek.posterous.com. About the Clearwater Designer Co-Op: The Clearwater Designer Co-Op is comprised of professionals and volunteers united with the purpose of helping the City promote the Cleveland Street District by spotlighting it with a series of fashion related and cultural events. More information on the Clearwater Designer Co-Op can be found here.