<\/p>\n
\n\tJordana Guimaraes is launching Fashion Forward Week from Sept. 8 through Sept. 13 focusing on innovation, storytelling and inclusivity.<\/p>\n
\n\tGuimaraes is cofounder and former community chief officer of Fashinnovation, a platform that connects the fashion industry through entrepreneurship, sustainability,\u00a0technology\u00a0and innovation. A year ago she left the company, which is run by her former business partner and ex-husband Marcelo Guimaraes, who is cofounder and chief executive officer.<\/p>\n
\n\t She and her new partner, Christopher Hunt, are starting this new project that will overlap with New York Fashion Week, which runs Sept. 11 through Sept. 16. <\/p>\n
\n\tGuimaraes said the reason she wanted to launch a new initiative during NYFW was that she has been going to fashion week since she was in her early 30s, and for the past 15 years, she said it hasn\u2019t evolved much. \u201cWhen we look at sustainability, innovation, inclusivity, it\u2019s done in a very small scale, but I don\u2019t feel it\u2019s big enough of a scale to really make an impact or a difference\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n\tShe feels it\u2019s important to bring the consumer into the conversation and allow people to interact with brands. In her opinion, runway shows don\u2019t allow for networking opportunities because people just watch the show and leave.<\/p>\n
\n\tTwo weeks ago, she said a light bulb went off while she was doing a project with Julia Kisla Taylor, CEO of The Lions. Together they cohosted \u201cFashion Insight Trip,\u201d assembled by the Ukrainian government. They took 10 designers from Ukraine to visit such companies as Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Nicole Miller, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Vogue, The Cut, Lectra, Carolina Herrera, LIM College, and FIT DTech Lab.<\/p>\n
\n\tAfter conversations with industry people about the current NYFW, as well as changes in the global ecosystem of fashion (tariffs and designers suffering), she realized \u201cthat it\u2019s time to bring innovation, storytelling and inclusivity\u201d to fashion week. <\/p>\n
\n\tFashion Forward Week will highlight emerging and scale-up brands alongside established labels under one roof. There won\u2019t be runway shows. Each brand will be showcased in a room and will be able to tell the audience their story and inspiration behind the collection, highlighting their supply chain. They\u2019ll have the models interacting so people can see the collection up close.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe event will begin the evening of Sept. 8 with an industry dinner and cocktail. From Sept. 9 to 13, they will feature three brands a day for the five days (15 in total). Guimaraes said they haven\u2019t decided on a New York City venue yet.<\/p>\n
\n\tSteven Kolb, president and CEO of the CFDA, which owns the Fashion Calendar and is the official organizer of NYFW, declined to comment Monday. KFN (KF Fashion and N4xT), cofounded by\u00a0Imad Izemrane, has the support of the CFDA and is a strategic partnership formed to re-envision NYFW and build a future-forward platform for American fashion. Phase one of KFN\u2019s plan will be launched in September, and they hope the platform will be fully realized by the end of 2026.\u00a0 KFN also declined comment. <\/p>\n
\n\tOne of the brands that is participating in Fashion Forward Week is Smart Swimwear. The presentation will include different activations including one for sunscreen that\u2019s good for the ocean. Another company participating is Piper & Skye, an accessories brand. <\/p>\n
\n\tGuimaraes is in conversations with MasterCard as a sponsor. Other sponsors include Looking Glass, a new tech company that allows consumers to have personal styling of their closets through technology; a Web3 company called Ramm.AI, which brings luxury closer to consumers through tokens and different experiences, and Contour Lab, which delivers sizing and a fully personalized shopping experience online for consumers. She noted that each day will be powered by a different technology that they\u2019re going to bring into these presentations.<\/p>\n
\n\tAfter leaving Fashinnovation after seven years, Guimaraes said she took a year\u2019s hiatus and was waiting for the thing that \u201creally spoke to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAnd you know, I\u2019m all about impact and community and all of those things. So that\u2019s really the biggest reason why I felt this new fashion week was needed,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\n\tShe also said not only will industry buyers and media be invited but also targeted consumers for the particular brand. She said each brand will send her a list of their \u201csuper fans\u201d of the brand, and each fan will be able to bring one guest.<\/p>\n
\n\tHer partner Hunt, who graduated from Fashion Institute of Technology in textile surface design, is an artist and a musician. Guimaraes is also collaborating with The Lions\u2019 Taylor on overall strategic vision.<\/p>\n
\n\tGuimaraes said she isn\u2019t looking to profit off the first show. \u201cWhat I want is to put it out for the industry to see what\u2019s possible and where it should be going,\u201d she said. She is planning the event to occur once a year \u2014 in September only.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs reported last week, Fashinnovation has launched its \u201cGlobal\u00a0Fashion Week\u00a0Talks Tour,\u201d a series of international curated events to help elevate innovation and entrepreneurship \u2014 timed to the four major fashion weeks this fall.<\/em> The New York Talks will be held Sept. 18. London\u2019s Talks will be held Sept. 24, Milan\u2019s Talks on Oct. 1 and Paris\u2019 Talks on Oct. 8. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jordana Guimaraes is launching Fashion Forward Week from Sept. 8 through Sept. 13 focusing on innovation, storytelling and inclusivity. Guimaraes is cofounder and former community chief officer of Fashinnovation, a platform that connects the fashion industry through entrepreneurship, sustainability,\u00a0technology\u00a0and innovation. A year ago she left the company, which is run by her former business partner and ex-husband Marcelo Guimaraes, who is cofounder and chief executive officer. She and her new partner, Christopher Hunt, are starting this new project that will overlap with New York Fashion Week, which runs Sept. 11 through Sept. 16. Guimaraes said the reason she wanted to launch a new initiative during NYFW was that she has been going to fashion week since she was in her early 30s, and for the past 15 years, she said it hasn\u2019t evolved much. \u201cWhen we look at sustainability, innovation, inclusivity, it\u2019s done in a very small scale, but I don\u2019t feel it\u2019s big enough of a scale to really make an impact or a difference\u201d she said. She feels it\u2019s important to bring the consumer into the conversation and allow people to interact with brands. In her opinion, runway shows don\u2019t allow for networking opportunities because people just watch the show and leave. Two weeks ago, she said a light bulb went off while she was doing a project with Julia Kisla Taylor, CEO of The Lions. Together they cohosted \u201cFashion Insight Trip,\u201d assembled by the Ukrainian government. They took 10 designers from Ukraine to visit such companies as Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Nicole Miller, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Vogue, The Cut, Lectra, Carolina Herrera, LIM College, and FIT DTech Lab. After conversations with industry people about the current NYFW, as well as changes in the global ecosystem of fashion (tariffs and designers suffering), she realized \u201cthat it\u2019s time to bring innovation, storytelling and inclusivity\u201d to fashion week. Fashion Forward Week will highlight emerging and scale-up brands alongside esta…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}