11 Reasons that make Miami Fashion Week the “runway of runways”

9/18/2014

11 Reasons that make Miami Fashion Week the “runway of runways”

 

Posted by Liliana Castaño on September 18, 2014

A multimillion production, full to the brim, many parties with celebrities, models, designers, stores, bloggers, and media from more than 25 countries, and a social media spike that reached 13 million views in a week that is Miami Fashion Week.

Like everything that happens in this such a complex and mingled city, fashion has had a drastic evolution in Miami. Here is where one of the biggest and most recognized runways of the world is made and, according to its organizers, the fifth most important fashion week of the world.

Miami Fashion Week has gained its good reputation because it contains the essence of the region. Its runways show the ethnic, the magical, and the contemporary of the world, but with a strong iberoamerican accent. This is a week dedicated to the hottest season of the year, what they call resort or cruise fashion. Here too, Miami has imposed its uniqueness.

 

From her place in Wynwood District, the person responsible for the social media strategy of this event, Lourdes Fernandez-Velasco, received us. "Together with its sister runways in New York, Paris, and Milan, Miami Fashion Week works yearlong to bring the best five days of fashion." says Lourdes

Lourdes Fernandez-Velasco

Lourdes Fernandez-Velasco

“Miami Fashion Week is a brand and event of world class and has been alive for 16 years thanks to a great woman, Beth Sobol, the founder along with her partner Aaron Perry. Beth has been the leader of this week of fashion in Miami. A year ago TOAC, the company that I represent became a partner, so I assumed the online, social media and digital content production areas of Miami Fashion Week.”

Beth Sobol

Beth Sobol, Fundadora de MIAFW

The 2014 edition of Miami Fashion Week mobilized renowned designers such as Custo Barcelona, Andres Sarda, Sherri Hill, Nicolas Felizola, Stella Jean, Maliparmi, Yamamay, Viviana Gabeiras and Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, among others. It offered master classes, where they shared extremely valuable information about the fashion market. Also, it mobilized many emerging brands through the Pop-up Boutiques.

In this event bloggers had a place of honor, recognizing the importance of their role in social media.

Custo Barcelona

“We are frankly satisfied. We have already been working since May 19 (the event ended the 18th) to double the expectative for 2015. The future of this brand is now more unstoppable than ever and the potential is infinite. There are many lines of business, many professionals, and a ton of art involved here,” says Lourdes.

About Miami, the digital director of Miami Fashion Week says, “it’s a great plus for this great mix! We want to promote all the fashion content from the interior and support it from the audiovisual and social media angle. This year with our strategy we have managed to get more than 13 million contacts through social media in 5 days of the event. We hope to create even more innovative concepts for 2015.”

Her two visions of fashion, the European and the American, made us want to know. How does Lourdes Fernandez-Velasco believe fashion is conceived in the Sunshine State?

“Fashion is special, like everything in Miami. I don’t think it’s fair to compare fashion weeks from Europe with Miami, because even though we are more globalized every day, it is important that each place preserves its essence and its culture that is what it’s all about. We don’t want to compete with Milan, we want to offer something unique that one can only find in Miami. I believe that the public has seen that in this edition of Miami Fashion Week, and that was only a preview of what is coming in the future.”

 

Fashion Bloggers

Probably the best use of the advantage of Miami as the capital of Latin America is the one of the fashion and luxury industries. “Miami, is the point conjunction of dozens of cultures and that is reflected in its fashion. Here, many topics related to culture are developed through art (Art Basel for instance) and fashion follows. Visiting the Miami Design District is something that not many years ago had no place in Miami, yet now many people must think: how did we not have this before? Miami is a capital of the world, and although they all have some characteristics that make them different, I think Miami as a city is distinguished by its uniqueness.”

If you are reading this article and consider you have opportunities in the fashion industry of Miami, this is what Lourdes has to say to entrepreneurs: “You can triumph even if you were not born here because this is an international city. The migrant colonies are active and solidary, they will support you. Here there are 300,000 Brazilians, 300,000 Venezuelans, 60,000 Italians, more than 100,000 Argentinians, and many more people from all over the world. Usually you will start by seeking support among people from your country, they feel proud of their people and will help you move forward. Lastly, the American community is very supportive of cultural manifestations.”

Miami Fashion Week 2014, the facts
  1. The design of the runway corresponded to one of the most famous directors of the fashion scene in the world, Sergio Salerni. There were 250 feet of glass, 700 transparent chairs, and it was full all week long.
  2. Miami Fashion Week gathered 400 models, 20 countries and 15 agencies, under the coordination of ESMA Proyectos.
  3. For the presentation of the Resort Collections there were 40 designers from 25 countries.
  4. The event was transmitted through live streaming every day of the week, for a total of 20 hours seen by 600,000 people.
  5. Between its website and social media, the organizers of Miami Fashion Week estimate more than 13 million views during the week.
  6. Among the sponsors of the event there was Tous, Eastern Airlines, the International Airport of Miami, and People en Español.
  7. The parties of the event were held on Miami Beach, more than 2,000 people attended.
  8. A strategy of multicultural communication is ensuring the new edition of 2015, and although we did not obtain any specific numbers of profits, the organizers assert that Miami Fashion Week was successful in that aspect.
  9. Specialized media like El Expectador from Spain, recommend to Miami as an alternative fashion market to New York to their readers. They insist that these fashion events are a great business opportunity.
  10. The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) confirms why U.S.A. is still an important market. The most recent study in their website says that: each man, woman and child of the United States acquired about 62 pieces of clothing and 7 pairs of shoes. In total, Americans bought more than 20 billion pieces of clothing and close to 2.5 million pairs of shoes. American families spend more than $350 billion dollars in new clothing and shoes.

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