Fashion Week Columbus is in full swing across the capital city this week, with runway shows, designer showcases and industry events running through Saturday, Nov. 14, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The Columbus Fashion Council’s flagship program, staged every year since 2010, bills itself as a springboard for rising designers, models, makeup artists, hairstylists, photographers, videographers and fashion-focused small businesses.
“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,” Yiema John, executive director of the Columbus Fashion Council, told The Columbus Dispatch. John told the Dispatch that every event is open to the public because “fashion is for everyone” and “it’s all about inclusiveness.”
Two shows share the bill tonight, Thursday, Nov. 12. “Threads of Impact, Philanthropy Meets Fashion” starts at 6 p.m. at the COhatch Polaris Meridian Event Center on Polaris Parkway, with tickets starting at $49.77, and the Luxe Levels fashion show starts at 6 p.m. at Luxe Levels on Easton Square Place, with tickets starting at $40.16, according to the Dispatch’s event listing. Earlier in the week, the schedule included a High Fashion Tea runway show, a free Macy’s destination holiday show, an Ohio State luncheon and a recycled runway show at the Columbus College of Art & Design devoted to sustainable fashion, with a competition for a $600 cash prize.
The week closes with two of its biggest productions. The Curve runway show takes the stage Friday, Nov. 13, at 6 p.m. at the Columbus Museum of Art, with tickets starting at $81.75. John told The Columbus Dispatch the show 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.'”
The 17th annual finale runway show follows on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. at Prototype: The Experimental Museum on Maier Place, with tickets starting at $161.69. The finale’s headliner is Joan Madison, owner of Joan’s Bridal Couture in Reynoldsburg, who will showcase new work, some of her most memorable looks and a design from her run as a competitor on “Project Runway” in 2025, according to the Dispatch.
Fashion Week also raises money for scholarships for central Ohio fashion design students. In 17 years, the nonprofit Columbus Fashion Council has awarded $65,000 in scholarships, the Dispatch reported. “Philanthropy is something I’m super positive about. It creates pathways for opportunity,” John told The Columbus Dispatch.
John told the Dispatch her vision builds on the foundation laid by former executive director Thomas McClure, who started the annual showcase. “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,” she told The Columbus Dispatch. Tickets for the remaining events are available through the link in the Dispatch’s listing.