Fashion Week Columbus opens Sunday, November 8, launching the 17th annual edition of the Columbus Fashion Council’s flagship showcase with eight public events across the city through Saturday, November 14. The week begins at noon Sunday with the High Fashion Tea runway show at The Joseph, 620 North High Street, and closes with the 17th annual finale runway show on November 14 at Prototype: The Experimental Museum, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The theme of this year’s edition is “Your Body is a Work of Art,” according to a Columbus Fashion Council press release cited by The Lantern, Ohio State’s student newspaper. Experience Columbus, in its guide to the week, describes Fashion Week Columbus as one of the most size-inclusive runways in the world and says this year’s events are designed to be approachable for first-time attendees as well as longtime followers of the city’s fashion community.
Yiema John, executive director of the Columbus Fashion Council, told The Columbus Dispatch that Columbus is not usually associated with fashion despite its corporate headquarters and creative talent. “Columbus is known as a college town, a sports town, a very Midwestern, friendly town. I don’t think most people associate it with fashion despite all the big corporations and great talent,” John told The Columbus Dispatch.
Since 2010, Fashion Week Columbus has served as a springboard for rising designers, models, makeup artists, hairstylists, photographers, videographers and fashion-focused small businesses, The Columbus Dispatch reported. John told The Columbus Dispatch that every event is open to the public because, in her words to the Dispatch, “Fashion is for everyone. It’s all about inclusiveness.”
The finale’s headliner is Joan Madison, owner of Joan’s Bridal Couture in Reynoldsburg, who competed on “Project Runway” in 2025. Madison told The Lantern she will showcase a collection representing her life’s body of work, including her most iconic pieces, at the November 14 finale. The Columbus Dispatch reported Madison will also show new work and a design from her “Project Runway” run.
Between the opener and the finale, the schedule moves across the city. Monday, November 9 brings the free Macy’s destination holiday show at 5:30 p.m. at Macy’s at Polaris. Tuesday, November 10 is the Ohio State luncheon at Campbell Hall. Wednesday, November 11 is the recycled runway show at The Loom at the Columbus College of Art & Design, devoted to sustainable fashion and including a competition for a $600 cash prize, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Thursday, November 12 carries two events: “Threads of Impact, Philanthropy Meets Fashion” at COhatch Polaris and the Luxe Levels fashion show at Easton. Friday, November 13 is the Curve runway show at the Columbus Museum of Art, which John told The Columbus Dispatch is “near and dear” to her heart. “We really want it to be a celebration of curvy bodies and various sizes that says, ‘your body is a work of art,’” John told The Columbus Dispatch.
Philanthropy runs through the week. In 17 years, the nonprofit Columbus Fashion Council has awarded $65,000 in scholarships to central Ohio fashion design students, The Columbus Dispatch reported. “Philanthropy is something I’m super positive about. It creates pathways for opportunity,” John told The Columbus Dispatch.
John also credited her predecessor with the foundation she is building on. She told The Columbus Dispatch that former executive director Thomas McClure, who started the annual showcase, had a vision that “was innovative and still is,” and that the event is evolving along with a fast-growing city. “We have a lot of transplants coming from big cities and people who want to go out after 5 p.m. Having a thriving arts community is a marker of health for a city,” John told The Columbus Dispatch.
The week arrives in a Columbus that is also remaking how it governs itself, as voters’ approval of district-based council representation continues to raise questions about housing and development across the city — context NewsForce247 explored in our coverage of the council overhaul and the housing questions that follow it. Fashion Week’s organizers argue the city’s cultural calendar is part of that same growth story.
What happens next is a full week of shows, beginning with Sunday’s High Fashion Tea at noon. Registration is required for all Fashion Week Columbus events, according to The Lantern, and tickets range from free admission for Monday’s Macy’s show to the finale on November 14. The full schedule is posted by the Columbus Fashion Council and Experience Columbus.
Photo: Uly Pashkova, CC BY-SA