Downtown Clearwater Gets Fashionable

With world-class talent contributing to Fashion and Arts Week in Downtown Clearwater, the plans for the February event’s fashion related activities are taking shape.

Clearwater's Fashion and Arts Week kicks off in downtown Clearwater Thursday, February 3rd at 5pm with a Fashion Stroll, informal modeling, sample sales and a full-blown fashion experience party at System Productions. With world-class fashion talent involved in the event, including fashion designer Craig Taylor on fashion photographer Troy Plota, the fashions of Fashion and Arts Week will likely be the highlight of the four-day event.
 
Fashionistas should prepare themselves for the following fashion highlights:

• Behind the scenes studio tour of Craig Taylor, whose designer dress shirts have clothed everyone from Hillary Clinton to Oprah to now possibly you, as he is also conducting a sample sale of some of his most highly-sought designs. 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. His shirts, which normally sell for $200 to $250 at stores like Niemen Marcus, will be on sale for $35 to $45. (519 Cleveland Street, 2nd floor).

• 10,000 Villages will hold an accessory sale featuring their fair trade and handcrafted items from around the world, (Bless the Children, 519 Cleveland St., next to Craig Taylor)

• Trunk shows at Warehaus Boutique and the Blue Dahila Marketplace, named Best Hidden Treasure Boutique in Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay (Warehaus – 519 Cleveland Street; Blue Dahlia - 409 Cleveland Street).

• The event’s opening night party will be held on Thursday, February 3rd at System Productions (34 N. Garden Avenue) at 7:00 p.m. Not content to do an average fashion show, System Productions is pulling out the stops to create a multi-media, multi-sensory fashion experience. This event is free and open to the public and will include catering by Greektown Grille. System Productions, headed by internationally recognized fashion photographer Troy Plota, is a full-service production studio in the heart of downtown Clearwater's Cleveland Street district.

Fashion and Arts Week’s activities will also include 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. For a more complete schedule of activities, visit http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=139514626107586.

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 www.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 at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clearwater-Designer-Co-Op/129076394328