Newark may not be Paris or Milan, but Brick City does have its own fashion community, and it was strutting its stuff on the runway this weekend.
On Friday night, the inaugural citywide, “Newark Fashion Forward Tour,” stopped at the Marbella Lounge on Broadway in the city’s North Ward for the latest in a series of events showcasing local designers, venues and related people and places.
“March Madness on the Runway” was the theme of Friday night’s event, which also highlighted the city’s LGBTQIA+ community and its contribution to “moving the City of Newark forward,” according to a statement from Mayor Ras Baraka’s office.
The Fashion Forward Tour will continue on May 5 in the Central Ward, and June 30 in the South Ward, with a “Newark Fashion Forward Week” scheduled for Sept. 17-23. Check the fashion tour’s website newarkfashionforward.com for details.
The tour is co-sponsored by the City of Newark and local businesses, in conjunction with designer and event planner Vernest C. Moore of Vissions Consultants Group. Friday night’s co-sponsor was M·A·C Cosmetics, a New Jersey retail chain with a store inside Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminal C.
Baraka himself was among the models and designers taking in Friday’s show, strolling down the runway in a camel-colored ¾-length overcoat and black shirt, pants, baseball cap and rubber-soled shoes. His accoutrements included a pair of similarly black-clad women, Joyce Hancock-Williams and Griselle Ponce, who strode down the runway arm-in-arm with the mayor.
Creations by local designers included a sheer dress and knee-high patent leather boots from the House of Albert Guzman, a multi-colored sequined gown and shawl by Amelia Diaz, and pink-and-back Visions by Ve’Moore Couture dress.
Newark-born fashionistas include the Cuban-American designer Narciso Rodriguez, who while working at Calvin Klein before starting his own label designed Caroline Bessette’s wedding dress for her marriage to John F. Kennedy Jr. Newark designer Marco Hall’s atelier is on Halsey Street downtown.
“Halsey Street’s shop windows give evidence that Newark’s fashionista ambiance is alive and well,” Baraka said in a statement. “Narciso Rodriguez, Stephen Burrows, and Marco Hall, are but a few of a long list of Newark natives who have outfitted luminaries and sewn their name into runway fame.”
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Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com