First-ever Queer Fashion Week to showcase queer designers

Queers will show off their fierce style at the first-ever Queer Fashion Week coming to Oakland, California, April 16 - 19.

During the four day style extravaganza up to 50 gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer designers, stylists, hair designers and makeup artists will display their unique designs and style, said Queer Fashion Week producers Christine De La Rosa and Fallon Davis.

Queer Fashion Week is being produced by the dynamic team that brought the butchLYFE: Fashion Show to Oakland in 2013, fiveTEN Oakland Events and What is Butch? Movement.

Designers will show off everything from accessories, active wear, couture, eco-friendly boutique styles, eveningwear, plus size styles, urban apparel and more during the week.

Fashionistas will be able to meet designers, shop at the Vendor Village, and hang out with celebrities and models. They will also be able to see "red" hot fashions at a celebrity fashion show benefiting the RED campaign to eradicate HIV/AIDS and, of course, check out a variety of runways throughout the weeklong style extravaganza.

Fashion director Davis and Executive Director De La Rosa's goal is to get queer designers in front of audiences with Queer Fashion Week.

Davis has led the queer fashion movement as the executive producer and marketing director of the What is Butch? Campaign, along with Adjoa Courtney, creative producer and entertainment/model manager of the campaign. The women's “butch and masculine of center” inspired traveling fashion shows launched a movement from the East to West Coast during the past several years.

"It's easy to go to the mall and support a commercialized brand, but there are so many people right in our own queer community who are extremely talented and that we can get even better things from," said Davis.

De La Rosa agreed pointing out that the LGBTQ community in the United States has an estimated 830 billion dollars in buying power alone. Nearly 75% of the queer community is more likely to buy from a brand that is LGBTQ-owned, she said.

"Here you have queer designers who are really designing for the people," said De La Rosa. "Queer Fashion Week is a way to showcase that there are other ways for you to buy clothing. There other places besides the mainstream stores where you could go and find things that you would wear and that are also from designers in our community."

Queer Fashion Week will expand beyond the butch and masculine of center fashion that has taken the fashion magazines and stores by storm in recent years. This event seeks to represent a variety of fashions and designers encompassing the entire LGBTQ community, said the producers.

There are many "queer designers that are on the cutting edge of fashion," said De La Rosa. "We are queer fashion. We have a lot of fashion designers that are coming up that have a lot of great ideas and are great designers. We want to give them the opportunity to showcase their work."

De La Rosa's goal is to put together a diverse fashion show that reflects every type of queer on the runway from androgynous, butch women and men, femme gay boys, high femme women, masculine of center - generally every type of queer imaginable.

Designers from "every walk of the industry," added Davis, will be featured at the fashion event, including body art designers, fashion stylists, and makeup artists.

For more information, visit www.queerfashionweek.com. General and VIP passes are available starting at $15 up to $200, to purchase your ticket visit www.qfw.eventbrite.com.

Queer Fashion Week (April 16 - 19, 2015) is the brainchild of Miz Chris, one of the preeminent producers of queer events in the US. Having produced butchLYFE alongside the What is Butch? Movement for over 600 queers in the Bay Area in 2013, she saw the need to move beyond a singular fashion show and create an entire week full of fabulousity. The mission of Queer Fashion Week is to showcase designers, hairstylists and makeup artists who are creating fashion for all types of bodies and genders. QueerFashionWeek.com

fiveTEN Oakland Events brings quality events to Oakland throughout the year. Pulling together a group of diverse artists, DJs, performers, vendors from many different parts of the local and national community to celebrate Oakland and the East Bay! This strives to bring excellent and unique experiences to the community mixed with the hottest venues in Oakland we guarantee that your fiveTen experience will be unforgettable. fiveTenOaklandEvents.com

What is Butch? Movement is the first national traveling fashion show movement to showcase dominant lesbians, masculine of center persons, queer, androgynous, and transmen bodied models a place on the runway and a show to call their own. WhatIsButch.com

The Gayly – March 1, 2015 @ 1:10pm.