The skinny on Baltimore Fashion Week 2009

Sharan Nixon, pictured, expects thousands to attend this year's Baltimore
Fashion Week to be held Aug. 10-14 at the War Memorial Building and
Plaza. (Photo courtesy of Sharan Nixon.)

Yesterday, 13 Baltimore area residents who are planning this year’s Baltimore Fashion Week worked alongside professors from Baltimore City Community College and MICA for a fitting and critique of designers signed up for the 2009 Baltimore Fashion Week, scheduled to take place Aug. 10-14 at the War Memorial Building and Plaza in Baltimore.

So far, 28 designers have signed up. Of those designers who have registered so far, nine are returning designers who hit the Baltimore Fashion Week runway last year.

While the full schedule is planned to be announced on June 29, Sharan Nixon, founder and CEO, says that each day of Baltimore Fashion Week will feature a different style: eco-friendly apparel on Monday, Aug.10; ready-to-wear on Tuesday, Aug. 11; punk/gothic/dark clothing on Wednesday, Aug. 12; avante garde on Thursday, Aug.13; and (my personal favorite) couture on Friday, Aug. 14.

“Anybody who is a lover of fashion would have a good time at this year’s fashion week,” says Nixon, a veteran attendee of the Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week. “We have models lined up as young as 12 on up to 47-years-old. We don’t want to constrict the designers’ vision.”

Designers are noted to come from all over the world. From Africa to Paris to New York to, of course, Baltimore.

Last year’s fashion week in Baltimore attracted an audience of approximately 3,100. This year, the number is expected to double. For a full list of designers, check the 2009 Designer Line-Up. To buy tickets, visit the Baltimore Fashion Week Web site.

Stay tuned for more details as fashion week gets closer.