Pittsburgh Fashion Week changes again and keeps moving forward

Pittsburgh Fashion Week is getting a makeover of sorts — a new owner. 

After six years under the direction of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, the rights to the annual multiday event have been sold to Eva Dixon, a Pittsburgh-based designer with an extensive background in bridal, custom creations and retail. 

“We agreed we need to concentrate on the issues of Downtown, most revolving around safety and homelessness,” said John Valentine, executive director of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, a nonprofit that works with community members and leaders to strive to make Downtown Pittsburgh a safe, prosperous place to live and work. “Fashion Week and everything related to that takes up an enormous amount of time. We thought if we could free ourselves up, we could get more done.”

Valentine said the sale process took about a month. Dixon had already been involved with Pittsburgh Fashion Week as a co-director in past seasons. 

“I think she’s going to really concentrate on this full time, and I think that’s going to make the show bigger, better,” Valentine said. 

Dixon has grand goals inspired by her own 25-plus-year journey as a designer. 

“It’s hard for people to get their foot in the door, and know what shows are going to be good and who to work with. … I had to learn that on my own,” she said. “My goal is to be more committed to being a mentor, try to bring fashion more to Pittsburgh … and to start some programs to help the youth who might be interested in fashion.

For now, she plans to stick with Pittsburgh Fashion Week’s typical time period, with this year’s festivities slated for Sept. 18-23, with additional events sprinkled throughout the year. (For example, a runway show that paired pups with models was on parade at Benedum Center in February. Dixon is working on concepts for streetwear and swim shows for this spring and summer, respectively.)

She’s taking on the challenge with support from volunteers and wants to create internship opportunities for students who are interested in fashion-focused careers. Eventually, she hopes to secure sponsorships and grants to turn some of those positions into paid ones. 

“It’s scary and exciting,” Dixon said. 

This isn’t the first time the direction of Pittsburgh Fashion Week has changed hands. Valentine’s organization, formerly known as the Pittsburgh Downtown Community Development Corp., took it over in 2016 from Miyoshi Anderson, a professional model who organized the first Pittsburgh Fashion Week in 2010. 

During its history, Pittsburgh Fashion Week has popped up at venues across the city, including a hotel in Green Tree, Highmark Stadium near Station Square, a tent in Market Square, the Union Trust Building and, most recently, the Wintergarden at PPG Place. At the peak of COVID-19, shows shifted to virtual on the web and fully returned in person in 2022. 

As a Pittsburgh-based journalist since 2009, I was present for most of these events. My goal as a reporter and critic has always been to try to balance documentation with constructive feedback — tips that event organizers and designers would hopefully find to be useful. 

In that spirit, here’s my advice to Pittsburgh Fashion Week’s new leader and her team, based on my insights from a decade of covering style in the Steel City.

Less is more

A typical runway show at New York Fashion Week lasts about 15 to 20 minutes, at most. Therefore, there’s a tendency for event organizers in Pittsburgh to pack in more pomp and circumstance to make events worth the price of admission or to increase the number of fashionable fetes. 

Prioritize quality over quantity. A well-attended, smoothly run 30-minute runway show preceded by a networking mixer will be a better return on investment in the long run than a marathon of events that lacks polish and people. 

Think collaboration, not competition

While Pittsburgh doesn’t have sprawling corridors of high fashion like New York City’s Fifth Avenue or Milan’s Quadrilatero d’Oro, it does have several posh pockets of activity scattered across the region. Consequently, a number of seemingly similar fashion organizations and events have cropped up that could easily be confused with another by the novice eye.

Do what you can to work together with these groups as much as you can; it’s a chance to share resources and tap into one another’s networks. That might not always be possible. (Cliques are common in the Pittsburgh fashion community.) 

Define ‘designer’

What makes someone a designer? I’ve attended Pittsburgh fashion events that feature someone who created a look from pattern to a complete ensemble paired on the same program with someone who pressed a graphic onto a store-bought T-shirt. 

While it’s arguable that both have value, it’s not fair to put them side by side on the runway without this context. (I’ve heard both designers and audience members lament about this.) 

Be inclusive

Always be mindful of who your audience is. In Pittsburgh, the fashion scene includes veteran designers and rising talents, big-box retailers and independent boutiques. Present events that cater to the breadth and depth of the city’s tapestry of talents. (That diversity should also include race, gender, age, etc.)

Keep going …

I tip my hat to anyone who takes on the sequins, sweat and tears of producing Pittsburgh Fashion Week. What looks like a free-spirited romp on the runway takes months of dreaming, designing, plotting and practicing for designers, models, stylists and planners. 

There will be people who’ll love the show and others who will pick apart every faux pas. If past directors only put on events when everyone was supporting them, Pittsburgh Fashion Week never would have made it past its inaugural year. 

There will be praise, and there will be hate. Strive to learn what you can from the critiques, soak up the applause, block out the rest and keep moving forward.