Part 2: Philly’s Fashion Scene Today - PFW & PFGITF

By Brittany Furber

In the first part of this series, which debuted last year, we briefly explored Philadelphia’s history in the fashion sphere. (For a refresher, check out the first part of this story here.)This portion of the series also delves into how the city lost its grasp on this industry for a while, as detailed and discussed in more detail by Clare Sauro in her essay “Fashion,” published on the website of The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. In Part 2, we provide a brief overview of the history and development of Philly Fashion Week as part of our investigation into the new phase of the city and the reinvigoration of its local fashion industry. To get the inside details about PFW we spoke to the cofounders and CEOs of Philly Fashion Week Kevin Parker and Kerry Scott.  

One major development in the early 2000s would lead to a revitalized focus on fashion in Philadelphia. In 2006, Parker and Scott established Philly Fashion Week. Since its inception, the event’s festivities have grown steadily and significantly. As Parker and others would relay, many outside of the confines of Philadelphia have decided to participate in the city’s fashion week as an alternative to long-established fashion capital for various reasons. However, to understand where PFW is today, we will look back at how it started and the backgrounds of its cofounders, Parker and Scott.

How and why was PFW created? How has it expanded over time? What draws designers from around the nation and international locations to participate in Philly Fashion Week? We will address these inquiries and more in this part and part 3 of our examination.

To begin, Parker and Kerry are the cofounders of Philly Fashion Week and Philadelphia Fashion and Garment Industry Task Force and members of CFDA Connects, as detailed at CFDA.com. The duo are also stylists. According to Parker, his styling work has been featured in and on the covers of publications such as the Vietnam editions of Harper’s Baazar, Grazia, and Esquire. Parker's work is also on one of the covers of a French publication Fashion's Black. His styling was also in one of the editions of L'Officiel and Numéro, as detailed by Scott and Parker. Fellow PFW cofounder Kerry Scott also worked with him on these shoots. Scott notes that they have also styled for celebrities. 

Parker’s journey into fashion involves a dynamic backstory. Parker relayed that he previously pursued another artistic genre, which was dance. He explains that he studied dance in high school and went on to continue his education in the subject at the University of Arts. While attending the university, he states that he went “…from dancing two hours a day (in high school) to dancing from 7 am to 5 pm, and it was so rigorous. Like my body was always sore, but I was in tip-top shape.” Incidentally, based on the information provided by. Parker, the beneficial aspects of his schooling encouraged him to follow another route. He continues, “So, people were like ‘Kev you should model, like you’re tall, you know you’re handsome…you should give modeling a shot.’” Parker explains that he would later book a few gigs to model for both fashion shows and photo shoots.

Parker would meet Kerry Scott through mutual friends they had at the time. Scott explains that they went on to become best friends, and Parker would desire to serve as a model for him. Kerry explains, “He started modeling and things like that, and I’m like, ‘Dude, you’re getting taken advantage of. You’re paying all of this money for photoshoots, and the pictures are horrible,' and things like that.” Scott explains that out of the desire for an alternative to approaches that weren’t working well, he and Parker began to want to produce their fashion show. According to Parker, his experiences in fashion shows and photoshoots had originally piqued his interest in the behind-the-scenes element of these endeavors. Parker and Kevin then looked for any opportunity they could find that would allow them to learn more about how to run and stage fashion shows.

Parker continues stating, “...and then it was like a snowball effect, and then we realized a lot of models didn't have…. There weren't a lot of agencies here that you know models could rely on or like quality training.” From observing this need, he and Scott decided to create a business, FBH The Agency, to address it, and Scott would also manage Parker. The company began by offering management and instruction to prepare models for shoots and runway experiences. Parker adds, “…then it transitioned into us mentoring up-and-coming designers…like Jeantrix, RM67, and Suede Square Collection…”. Parker explains they would help designers secure television appearances, fashion shows, interviews, and photoshoots. Parker expounds that, from there, universities and colleges that did not have fashion degree offerings began to desire their expertise and services. The pair would go on to do college tours in which they would bring along models and designers, makeup, and hair to meet the needs of these institutions.

These endeavors also contributed to the pair wanting to focus on creating a business that explored fashion show production and other aspects of the industry more thoroughly. Parker states, “…then we started...doing more mainstream production and … inviting industry insiders and getting into the press and the PR side of things…”. The duo began to observe that other cities beyond New York City were establishing their fashion weeks, and as Parker states, they were thinking, “… we have this experience, so…let’s go ahead and do it. There’s nobody else doing it right now.” He also explained that the creation, refinement, and growth of Philly Fashion Week were also spurred on by noticing that many were leaving the city to have a career in fashion because the city had yet to build up the “…infrastructure…” to make pursuing the field locally a strong alternative.

Ultimately, Parker details that they would step back from FBH The Agency to put all their efforts and attention into Philly Fashion Week. He states, “We kind of (took a) step back from the model management aspect of it, but we still do the designer mentoring and helping designers like get on the news …in the press…from a PR Perspective.”

Scott and Parker went on to establish Philly Fashion Week in 2006. According to Scott, early on, they staged runway presentations at City Hall, the Convention Center, and the Rittenhouse House Hotel, with the titles, ‘“Black and Diamond”’ and ‘“Coming to America.”’ Over the last few years, Fashion District Philadelphia and recently the Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia have been sites for PFW's fashion show productions. 

When reflecting on the establishment of PFW, Parker expresses that he was delighted by the positive reception of the event and overall felt that the timing for orchestrating it was “…perfect…”. He later states, “We definitely learned a lot. We definitely made mistakes and had clunkers in the beginning. But overall, it was still an amazing experience being able to get lighting, staging (and), venue sponsored.”

Scott echoes a similar sentiment about founding Philly Fashion Week and producing their first show. Scott states, “ …we called a bunch of designers and things like that to get it started, and our first show was at City Hall in 06, and it just blew up from there. And it was a really long journey, but it has been a great journey. It’s been very … a learning process at the same time.”

Parker continues to explain that it was from here that the duo decided they were on the right path and should continue building up PFW. According to Parker, Philly Fashion Week has grown and now is a biannual event that takes up almost an entire week of a lineup which consists of shows and other related festivities. He adds that they have also been working with CFDA Connects, a program offered by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and are continuing with mentorship resources. Late last year, in a Philly Fashion Week email newsletter on November 14th, it announced that PFW and the Philadelphia Fashion & Garment Industry Task Force, alongside Industrious, are now collaborating with Fashion District Philadelphia’s on its Youth Program. The flyer within this email states that the program offerings include upcycling, modeling, “youth entrepreneurship,” dance, “inspiration boarding,” and fashion design. The organizations’ participation in these endeavors aligns with one of their aspirations. One of these goals, outlined by Scott in our interview conducted early last year, is to become more involved with uplifting the youth.

To conclude, PFW continues to expand and refine with each subsequent season. The efforts of Parker and Scott to resurrect Philadelphia’s fashion industry have proved fruitful and determined. PFW’s upcoming shows take place February 21st through the 25th, as detailed on PFW’s Instagram, and will include a concert, presentations regarding trends and up and coming designers, networking opportunities, and more, as listed on the schedule provided at PhillyFashionWeek.org. Overall, it will be interesting to see what surprises the duo and their organizations have in store for all of the fashion weeks in 2024. 

Please keep your eye out for part 3, which is coming soon!

In the next few parts of this series, a group of local fashion professionals will discuss their experiences, knowledge, view and ideas for Philadelphia’s fashion industry. The individuals that participated, with titles provided from LinkedIn, include, once again, the cofounders and CEOs of Philly Fashion Week, Kevin Parker and Kerry Scott, the executive director of Philadelphia Fashion Incubator, Elissa Bloom, founder and CEO of BLK Ivy Thrift and Grant Blvd, Kimberly McGlonn, Prajjé Oscar designer and creative director, Prajje Oscar Jean-Baptiste, CEO and designer Michelle Fite of Fite Fashion.

For tickets to Philly Fashion Week go to PhillyFashionWeek.org.

Note: If you want more information about the city’s fashion history, check out the sources beneath the first portion of the series.

Sources:

CFDA Editors. “CFDA Connects.” CFDA (n.d.). Retrieved May 2nd, 2023, from https://cfda.com/programs/designers/connects.

Bloom, Elissa. “Elissa Bloom.” LinkedIn, 2024,  https://www.linkedin.com/in/elissa-bloom-19a0a211/

Fite, Michelle, “Michelle Fite.” LinkedIn, 2024, https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-fite-4a167362/

Jean-Baptiste, Prajje Oscar. “Prajje Oscar Jean-Baptiste.” LinkedIn, 2024, https://www.linkedin.com/in/prajje-oscar-jean-baptiste-16162156/.

McGlonn, Kimberly, “Kimberly McGlonn.” LinkedIn, 2024, https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-mcglonn-ph-d-4798b0134/

Parker,  Kevin. “Kevin Parker.” LinkedIn, 2024, https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-parker-71a90bab/

Philadelphia Fashion Week. “Philadelphia Fashion Week.” LinkedIn, 2024,

https://www.linkedin.com/company/philadelphia-fashion-week/about/

Philly_fashion_week. (@philly_fashion_week). “Save the Date: Feb 21-25.” Instagram, 23 January, 2024, https://www.instagram.com/p/C2dCV3KPhdM/.

Philly Fashion Week. “Schedule (February 21st-25th, 2024).” Philly Fashion Week,  Philly Fashion Week, 2024, https://www.phillyfashionweek.org/, 19th Feb. 2024.

Philly Fashion Week. “Re: Wawa Welcome America Fashion Show.” Received by Brittany Furber, 14th November, 2023.

Sauro, Clare. “Fashion.” The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia (2017). Retrieved March 19th, 2023, from https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/fashion/.

Scott, Kerry. “Kerry Scott” LinkedIn, 2024, https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-scott-4989abaa/.

Support Philly Fashion Editors. “About Us.” Support Philly Fashion, PGITF, n.d.,

https://supportphillyfashion.org/our-vision.