What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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8 WHAT'S UP! SEPTEMBER 16-22, 2018 COVER STORY NWA Fashion Week Strides into fall LARA JO HIGHTOWER NWA Democrat-Gazette N ow in the fourth show since its 2017 reboot, Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week is really starting to hit its stride, says CEO Robin Atkinson. And producing two shows a year has given her a lot of practice. "We've got the hang of producing fashion shows down pat," she says. "Now, what we're trying to do is to make the experience different enough that, if you went to the spring show, you're not saying, 'Well, I don't need to go to the fall show, because I went to the spring show.'" Part of distinguishing the two shows per year is giving each its own, specific vibe, based on which NWA-area town is hosting it. "As we grow, the idea is to differentiate them enough so that we're catering to different audiences," says Atkinson. The spring show is produced in Bentonville. "With Fayetteville, we can think outside the box a little bit, focus more on education, focus a little bit on college students. We've got some vendors who are specifically gearing towards the university, and one of the shows is using the pom squad as [its] models. Fayetteville is a little more funky: They want art, they want music." And what the audience wants, Atkinson and her team want to give. "The organization is so fresh and new, and we're really nimble," she says. "If someone pitches a great idea to us, we're still in a new enough place as an organization that we can say, 'OK, how do we make it happen?'" Case in point: When Bike Rack Records, a local recording studio run by area musicians-turned- engineers, approached Atkinson about the possibility of providing live music at her event, she leapt at the idea. "We decided, since we're going all out this season, we might as well have live music instead of boring intermissions where we show you commercials and you go and get drinks," she says. "That's something we can try out at Drake Field, because there's so much room there — 16,000 square feet. The biggest venue in Arkansas, if you're not talking about stadiums." Other new facets of the production Atkinson is excited about are the Student Designer Showcase — which will give fashion design students from around the state the opportunity to take the runway with their designs — and the Black Apple Awards, a series of awards that honor area artists, musicians and performers. This year will also feature a fashion show produced by the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese. "In lots of ways, it's a celebration of creative talent across the state." Over 20 designers will be represented in fall's NWA Fashion Week. Here, three of those talents share their excitment for the coming show. Photo by Miles Witt Boyer Ashley Little says her design line, Ellen Elaine, is "classic, timeless and slightly sophisticated, with a rock edge."