Thanks to a groundswell of young fashionistas, Northeast Florida is experiencing a fashion movement centered in Jacksonville, a town with a rich but largely forgotten history in film and music. A century ago, Jacksonville was the wintertime epicenter of silent filmmaking, home to some 30 motion picture companies including those that would become today’s MGM and Universal. The likes of Theda Bara, Oliver Hardy, John and Ethyl Barrymore and Clara Bow all worked and wintered in the area for a time.
The 1929 opening of the Ritz Theatre also helped make Jacksonville’s LaVilla district an important stop on the Chitlin Circuit, a string of performance venues throughout the eastern and southern states that were safe and acceptable for black musicians, comedians, and other entertainers to perform during the age of racial segregation. LaVilla’s Ashley Street was known as the “Harlem of the South.”
But the area has never been known for fashion – until now. Over the past few years, Jacksonville has seen a groundswell of local fashion designers; models; hair and makeup artists; photographers; and set stylists emerge with looks and talent that many say could rival their big-market counterparts. One of them is designer Erin Healy, founder of Erin Healy Designs.
Jacksonville makes strides in fashion industry
“Up until a few years ago, a fashion show in Jacksonville invariably meant store-loaned outfits worn by volunteer models with no runway training walking to pre-recorded music from a CD player hooked to a sound system,” Healy says. “Today, a fashion show in Jacksonville means original designs worn by professional models strutting it to a DJ mixing live. While a lot of locals in the fashion industry still work day jobs, it’s becoming more and more feasible to make a full-time living from fashion. On any given day here, there is a photo shoot or a commercial shoot or an audition going on.”
Designers Healy and Love Brigade, a New York fashion house co-founded by Jacksonville native Alyssa Key, often are credited with initiating Jacksonville’s fashion movement. Having two locals, Yoanna House and Whitney Thompson, win their America’s Next Top Model seasons helped bring attention to the growing pool of runway and print model talent in the area. And Tiffany Hager aims to further Jacksonville’s early success with Jacksonville Fashion Week, a planned annual showcase that held its inaugural event in March.
Jacksonville fashionistas get their own runway
“Our goal for Jacksonville Fashion Week is to provide an accessible outlet to showcase local and regional fashion,” said Hager, Jacksonville Fashion Week founder and owner of loveofdresses.com. “We want to help Jacksonville become recognized as an area of emerging talent in the fashion industry and believe that JFW will provide the right environment for that talent to flourish."
The inaugural JFW event featured runway shows by Jacksonville-based Erin Healy Designs, Yleya Vega Atelier, Chabri and Richard & Bancroft as well as Rachel Lym Swimwear of Miami and BobbyK, basedin Gainesville, FL and founded by Jacksonville native Bobby Kelley. Emerging designers featured included Jacksonville’s Lauren Rossi and Argie Mitra and Orlando’s Lile Useche. Other events included a “Fashion is Art” exhibit; a private shopping event at the Saks Off 5th Avenue in St. Augustine; and an industry panel featuring Thompson, Georgio Armani makeup artist Ashley Rebecca, fashion writer Abbie Britton and ROCK BANDS jewelry line founder Lee Dahlberg.
Answering the naysayers
For these young fashion professionals, there is a ground-floor feeling and a wide-open opportunity for creating a flourishing industry and a distinct Jacksonville style. Of course, Jacksonville has its naysayers, who say that the area lacks the sophistication of more prominent fashion centers. Healy has an answer to their criticism.
"Jacksonville has a lot more to offer than it gets credit for - even from its own residents and that's a shame,” she says. “When it comes to the fashion scene here, of course we're not on the scale of Miami or New York in terms of volume. Nobody's trying to claim that. But in terms of quality, we have a groundswell of local designers, photographers, models, stylists and hair and makeup artists whose work can easily go head to head against those in bigger markets and win. Give this industry a chance to develop. You’ll be surprised at what we can do. And you’ll be proud that it’s happening here in Jacksonville.”
Devan Stuart - Devan Stuart is a longtime journalist and five-time Florida Press Association Award winner.
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