Happy Fashion Week, everybody! Last night, Made Fashion Week held an opening ceremony of sorts at Milk Studios to kick off the event, which was attended by a smattering of fashion folk, including CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg, CEO Steven Kolb, designer Nanette Lepore, Public School’s Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow along with a handful of others. But the evening’s most noted guest was New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was on hand with his wife, First Lady Chirlane McCray. De Blasio came to address the crowd and drop a few major announcements about the city’s plans to further its relationship with the fashion industry, which he mentioned brings the city $2 billion in tax revenue and employs about 180,000 people.
“We want this industry to grow, we want it to give more and more opportunity…we want it all over the five boroughs. When you believe in something, you invest in it,” he said, before announcing that the City of New York will be putting $15 million into the industry to help nurture the present and future of fashion. “The initiative will help emerging talent study fashion in New York City schools with a scholarship,” de Blasio explained. “We’ll help students gain exposure to the fashion industry with fully-funded internships. We’ll help budding designers get the finances they need to get the garments on the store racks, and we’re going to help New York City manufacturers gain access to the latest technology.”
De Blasio also announced that the City of New York would be honoring Oscar de la Renta by naming a street after the late designer, a point that was greeted with robust applause and surprised, but touched gasps.
And with that, and an ending remark in Spanish, Made Fashion Week kicked off with a few exciting developments that members of the fashion world can look forward to. But for now, the main objective is to get through the week.
