Fulton County aims to stand in the fashion spotlight alongside New York, Paris and Milan, but that’ll take a lot of work.
Local designers and promoters, in partnership with the county, are planning a major event here in 2024 in hopes of attracting worldwide attention to Atlanta style.
A preview will come Sept. 16 at the High Museum of Art: the FACES of Fashion Gala with designs on display, performances, art auction, dinner and cocktail party that backers say will be studded with VIPs.
And the introduction to the FACES of Fashion Gala came Thursday at a county-hosted reception on the patio of One Flew South — BeltLine.
The annual Met Gala in New York City generates $887 million a year, according to David Manuel, director of the county Department of Arts & Culture.
“I know we can do something huge, close to that,” he told the crowd of several dozen designers and media outside One Flew South. Manuel predicted Atlanta’s high-fashion status would take off within two years.
The FACE project began in 2022 after Manuel met with Fulton Commissioner Natalie Hall; they credited each other for the idea. It kicked off in September 2022 with the FACE Experience, showcasing local work at “fashion forward” events throughout the county, according to Erica Miller, public affairs manager for Fulton County.
The initiative also seeks to prepare high school students for careers in arts and fashion. Manuel said they want to involve young people from many communities. And it doesn’t stop with high school: as part of FACE, two Clark Atlanta University students will be sent to study fashion in Paris, he said.
One designer at Thursday’s event was Timeekah Murphy, known as Murph, owner of The Lab clothing manufacturing and retail, and creator of the Alani Taylor fashion brand — named after her daughter.
Alani Taylor, born in 2016, has modeled her mother’s designs in Miami and Los Angeles, Murph said.
“And then again she’ll be doing it on the 16th,” she said, referring to…
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