A little over 3 years ago, designer Mona Lucero and Kathy Bacon, who is the moderator for Pay it Forward and Fashion Forward Radio, approached the City of Denver Arts and Venues. They wanted to see if they could get their support in starting a Fashion Association. They found several marketing and organizational professionals to help them. They were Stephanie Blake of Blake Communications, a Denver marketing firm and Malcolm Daly, who focuses on helping beginning organizations find their wings. With Stephanie’s help, they put together a survey that was sent out to Denver industry professionals to get their feedback on what they wanted in a fashion association, or if they wanted a fashion association. In addition, they hosted general meetings with many attendees, including people from the Mayor’s Office, Cherry Creek Arts Festival and other esteemed designers. Armed with about 150 responses, they realized that designers and other fashion pros were overwhelmingly excited about an association. With that information, Denver’s Arts & Venues helped us to find Malcolm, who then through a series of meetings, helped FAD come up with what we stood for, what it wanted to accomplish, and a mission statement. The main focus of the fashion association is help inform and support what's happening in fashion in Denver and Colorado. There are at least three fashion organizations, a couple of fashion weeks or weekends, fashion shows and many designers, models, photographers, bloggers, hair stylists, etc. Before FAD started, a lot of people weren’t even aware that each other existed. Since Facebook FAD business page and the insider group where fashion professionals can post on their projects, events or even resourcing needs, we believe that’s changed a lot.For answers to your questions, e-mail us at [email protected]
