Time after time” 80’s Fashion Retro-spective.
Fashion Week Brooklyn, ”Season 1″ 2022
Presented by Brooklyn Fashion Incubator | BK Style Foundation took place on Wednesday, April 6th, 2022
Location: The Blue Building, 222 east 46th street, New York City
Panel discussion. Moderator: Tonya Biazio-Licorish – Visual Cultural Historian, Author & Contributor to Women’s Wear Daily.
Panelists: 80’s designers Regina Kravitz & Kenny Bonavitacola, Sharon Graubard, forecaster & former illustrator for TOBE evening fashion show & reception.
Evening Reception: Keynote by Carmen D’alesslo – influencer and creator of the studio 54 vibe.
Featuring fashion designers: Regina Kravitz, emerging designers
Rita Mister of OnePiece Wear & Patreq Holmes.
Donation from attendance benefits BFI and BK Style. The organizations serve to empower emerging, minority-owned fashion brands to grow and succeed.
Visit them at: www.thebrooklynfasionincubatr.org & www.bkstyle.org
Rafael Romero is the founder of The ROMERO group, a cause-related media firm. Mr. Romero manages BFI’s brand partnerships and sponsorships.
Maria Barraz – executive director of The BROOKLYN Fashion Incubator, Inc.
Ms. Barraza is the founder and Executive Director of this fashion incubator created to mentor and help grow successful businesses in the U.S. fashion industry.
Maria has been 26 years in the fashion business, manufacturing, and wholesale apparel firm with a retail division – BARRAZAStyle.
The Brooklyn Fashion Incubator 501(c)(3) not-for-profit contributes to the strength and vibrancy of the U.S. fashion industry by identifying and guiding the growth of these up-and-coming fashion businesses. It was an honor and pleasure to meet Maria and Rafael.
Regina Kravitz: Fashion designer Regina Kravitz is a self-made entrepreneur who started her own brand—Regina Kravitz—in the late 1970’s.
With her own minimal investment, and through perseverance and her innate style sense, she grew the company into a multimillion-dollar business, which she later sold.
Regina is credited with commercializing and popularizing the jumpsuit, now a multimillion-dollar wardrobe staple. Regina’s passion for fashion and style combined with her lifelong devotion to fitness and well-being have led her to skillfully reinvent herself as an image consultant, multi-certified fitness professional, motivational speaker, writer and experienced curator of products and ideas she believes in.
Sharon Graubard is the founder and creative director at MintModa, a dynamic online trend-forecasting service with subscribers that range from major retailers to niche labels.
A trailblazer in using designer collections as a starting point for analysis, Sharon is known for her clear, compelling narratives that connect the runway with street fashion, fine art, fashion history, film, and emerging cultural movements. Sharon previously held creative director roles at Stylesight/WGSN, ESP Trendlab, Doneger Group and The Tobé Report, where she began as an illustrator.
Her frequent live presentations include Première Vision New York and Paris, The Fashion Group International, and trend conferences around the world. She is regularly quoted in The New York Times, Sourcing Journal, WWD, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, NY1 and other major media outlets.
Adriana Kaegi is a seasoned executive producer and video content creator. Her skills include events coverage, managing multiple teams, in a hectic news environment, and delivering content with a fast turnaround and on budget. Her videos received over 47 mil. views in 2021. She is also a GETTY contributor. Adriana Kaegi, created the first interactive entertainment series in 1998 “Cyber Cabaret” got noticed and asked to join the first streaming media team at Globix. There, she took on the fashion vertical and produced the first live webcasts of New York Fashion Week 1998-2001, adding distribution partners, CNN.com and Elle.com, and Lycra as sponsor.
Adriana then started her own company and promoted the 150th UN World summit live webcast, secured channel and distribution partnerships with on.aol.com, Amazon prime, and her current global distribution partners, Video Elephant and OPERA’s Loomi.TV.
Adriana partnered with Showmetelevision, who developed www.Styleculture.tv, a lifestyle, fashion, and pop-culture video magazine/channel, on Roku and AmazonFireTV. Adriana is experienced in covering Events and is a Red Carpet contributor to GETTY.
One of the guests in the morning session was Marilyn Kirschner who is a long-time fashion editor with 40+ years of experience. As Senior Market Of Harper’s Bazaar For 21 years, she worked with every major fashion designer such as Chanel, Dior, Armani, Gaultier, Givenchy, Valentino, and many others.
Events like this bring people not only from the fashion industry but as well others supporting it and looking to build on it. It was a pleasure to meet Mr. Nene Kodjoe, founding chair SIA-Africa at Sustainable Initiatives and Alliances for Africa. SIA-Africa is a poverty solution initiative that was founded in 2011 as a partnership between the private sector, educational institutions, and civil society organizations to help meet the Millennium Development Goals as established by the United Nations. Learn more here
One of the panelist during the morning session was – Alex Garfield , fashion entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Designer Alex Garfield fell in love with fashion as a young man and to this day continues to dress savvy, confident women around the country. His newest company, formed in 2006 with longtime associate and current business partner Jaime Nortman and called Piece of Cloth, is a modern bridge collection of suiting separates and casual elements that emphasize style and practicality. Prior to Peace of Cloth, Mr. Garfield along with partner Bernie Marks founded the Garfield & Marks brand in 1993, which had grown into the GarfieldMarks (GM) Design Group, Ltd. Under his tutelage, GMDG created and produced Garfield & Marks, Womyn, and iAlex, where Garfield & Marks was awarded Nordstrom’s “Partners in Excellence” vendor award. His appreciation for women and their well-being does not stop with his creative designs and fashion expertise. Being able to reach out and help those less fortunate powerfully fuels Mr. Garfield’s desire to merge fashion with philanthropy. A longtime supporter and board member of Dress for Success, an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire and a network of support, Mr. Garfield has traveled the country on behalf of the organization. In addition to his commitment to Dress for Success, he also is one of the original founders of Cure by Design, which operates as part of the American Cancer Society. A truly unique event, Cure by Design is a fashion show where every model who walks the runway is a cancer survivor and hero.
Alex shared a very important inside of how he became very successful in the fashion business. He said: get involved in cause marketing!!! People more and more are aware and educated about the damage that fast fashion is causing to the environment and they want their causes and money to be well “spend”.
If you are an upcoming designer remember to get involved with no profits, and make your work – work for a bigger good. All parties will benefit from it.
The fashion industry is valued at 3 trillion dollars. The average fashion designer in the US makes around $18.62 per hour, which is shockingly low. It can be difficult to articulate the power of style and fashion through words, fashion is an armor to make the reality brighter, more vibrant, and fun.
I have never paid attention to what is hiding under the fashion design industry and why so many people are captivated by it… but I tell you that the nakedness of it is ravishing and the more I am discovering it, the more I love it.
Fashion can be a fascinating tool for making the world a better place.
"Being well dressed hasn't much to do with having good clothes. It’s a question of good balance and good common sense."