Preparing for SFW 2010

2010

It's a new decade and in a way seems to hold the possibility of a new beginning after sustaining a rough start to the mellenium. see(www.time.com/nation/article/0,8599,1942834,00.html). Personally, I prefer to go through the rough times because it only allows you room to improve on your position making life interesting and exciting. Naturally, I've noticed that when times are going well people tend to distance themselves from eachother as individual accomplishments are greater when shared with less people. When things go downhill you really see the community start to collaborate and that is where I would like to begin this thought.

My time in Seattle has been about a year at this point, although I've been working in the marketing/promotion scene for several years in other cities. Before my time here I could only piece together an imaginative view of what the Seattle scene was like based on what I had heard from various people while living up north in Bellingham. At the times of prosperity, Seattle seemed to be a city of disconnected groups (Regarding nightlife and fashion) as there seemed enough to go around for everybody. Naturally, each group would be able to maximize its gains by working independantly and therefore that was the norm. The problem with a lack of community cohesiveness ultimately leads to a seperation of talent and resources; therefore the BIG picture never really gets THAT big. I came into Seattle last year as an intern for Seattle Fashion Week and was immediately greeted by some very talented individuals. The big city inspired me because of the unbounded possibilities left to be discovered although I would soon find out that the city isn't actually that big...

Through social media and by just plain networking I soon found that everybody was connected somehow and in someway. You could start a conversation with somebody, find out their field of interest, toss out a name related to that field of interest, and (BOOM!)they would know that person. From there, the conversation would lead you to find out that the very person you were talking to happened to go grade school with you! Small world...So, how hard can it really be to get the community together when people are already connected so well?

In comes the current state of todays society and economy. I smell opportunity for new ventures, businesses, collaborations, and ways of living life in general. Most recently I have noticed that many of these previously disconnected groups have begun to collaborate together. I've seen it in the nightlife scene, local business scene, and undoubtedly the fashion scene. The reason being is that these individual groups are no longer making it so well on their own. So, here comes the BIG picture in this small world. Through collaborations I've seen these groups not only survive but come to surpass their previous position. In down times the community really comes together and I mean that. An earthquake in Haiti leads to an outpour of support from around the world, however people don't normally commit that much for charity. A large decrease in business for one company leads to them reaching out to other businesses to share resources (The smart ones). In doing so, they reach into new consumer market segments and therefore establish a broader range of long-term relationships that will help the business flourish in the coming years when the economy picks up.

Now moving on from the broad general Seattle scene to the really (Really, Really) small world of Seattle fashion. Everybody in the scene knows eachother and you can bet that not everybody is working together on one project that stands for the "BIG picture". There are many fashion show groups in Seattle working independantly of one another and they are successful...in this city. Along comes Seattle Fashion Week. In layman's terms I put it out there as the superbowl for fashion for those not really involved in the scene. It's an opportunity for Seattle to collaborate and produce the "BIG picture" which can be showcased on a national level. In recent year's Seattle Fashion Week has been successful in placing models, designers, and music artists into the bigger national circuit from the exposure they recieved at SFW.

Wrapping everything together now so that it all makes sense. To me, Seattle Fashion Week is about collaboration and how that coorelates with building the BIG picture. Without collaborating with others we will never achieve that and can only settle for the mediocrity that prevails from trying to do everything independantly. Each and everything you do individually in life will compare nothing to the achievement of a great team heading in the right direction. The recent economic times, techonology, and social media have moved our communities closer together than ever before. There are no excuses left for Seattle not to make an impression on the national scene. You may hear it from a friend in conversation, recieve a text to your phone, or notice your friends joining the Seattle Fashion Week fan page on Facebook. Whatever the means that brings SFW 2010 to your ears, I want you to understand that you are a part of it just like the rest of the team here on the SFW board. It's a chance for a collaboration to bring together local businesses, socialites, students, fashion designers, and your average layman to be a part of something that I like to call the BIG picture; Working together on a fashion showcase that'll put our talent in the national spotlight and fullfill it's purpose of promoting the local fashion/music scene.

Promotion: Encouragement of the progress, growth, or acceptance of something; furtherance

Andy Karuza
Promotions Manager
Seattle Fashion Week