OOTD: Hometown Pride

Lace Dress, Tights: Target | Sweater: Thrifted | Boots: ShoeMint | Necklace: Hello Cheeseburger
STLFW Tote: ShirtKong

Saturday was the grand finale of St. Louis Fashion Week–the first Midwest Fashion Conference at Washington University. The all-day event hosted two tracks of concurrent sessions. One focused on career development for emerging and mid-career professionals: designers, stylists, art directors, writers, and marketers. The second track featured artist talks and lectures by university faculty that examined the impact fashion has on contemporary culture.

I love going to panel discussions like this and had never really attended any centered around the fashion industry. I go to art and design related discussions whenever I get the chance. I love listening to smart people say smart things so I can just try to soak up whatever I can. Hearing Fern Mallis (founder of New York Fashion Week among other incredible things), Gary Wassner, Derek Blasberg (Editor-at-Large, Harper’s Bazaar), and fashion designers Stan Herman and Timo Weiland talk about St. Louis’ exciting potential as a future fashion hub and what we can all do to help new designers succeed locally was electric. The crowd in attendance was so passionate you could feel the excited, nervous energy as everyone’s hands shot up to ask questions, share insights, and further discuss ways to make STL better. I loved it.

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I hope my constant blog posts and social media nonsense haven’t totally alienated all my non-STL readers. Haha. I try to keep it brief and relevant, but still give all these amazing local goings-on the attention they deserve.

STL is going through some shit lately. I go back and forth with how I feel about talking about the police and racial tensions on my blog. I know that readers could feel like “Wow, this bitch lives in STL and hasn’t mentioned the Mike Brown situation at all.” I don’t want to seem petty or part of the problem, but as a white person, I often feel like it’s not my place to make my voice heard. I need to be supportive and help share the voices of the people who actually need to be heard.

I support the peaceful protests, understand and respect the anger of the rioters, and support anyone questioning a corrupt police system, but I really do love my hometown. I believe our future is bright and love participating in local events that make us better. xo