Shopper Stacey Sedory clicked her heels together three times in front of a vertical mirror in Savannah's Custard Boutique Tuesday, one of several fashion enthusiasts participating in Savannah Fashion Week.
'These remind me of Dorothy,' said Sedory, wearing one sparkly red flat and one blue, mixing and matching the store's newest arrival of Jeffrey Campbell jellies.
She and her friend, Courteney Hecht, are fans of Custard, an independent retailer owned by Tara Kirkland, who started her shop six years ago.
'We love Tara, and we wanted to see Modern Bronze,' said Hecht, referring to the jewelry trunk show at the back of the shop. 'We go every year (to Fashion Week) and want to support all the local businesses.'
Now in its fifth year, Savannah Fashion Week is a week-long celebration of the Hostess City's independent boutique retailers, featuring trunk shows, screenings and a runway show in Forsyth Park on Thursday. This year is also the first time local designers are participating as well, bringing back to the area several former college graduates who've launched their own jewelry and clothing lines.
Liz Anderson and her twin sister Sarah Knox are based in Franklin, Tenn., but traveled to Savannah to showcase their celestial-inspired jewelry line, Modern Bronze.
Anderson graduated from SCAD in '03 and majored in painting, but said it was a metals and jewelry elective she took that always stuck with her.
'It's great to be back here,' said Anderson, adding that it seemed as if there were more boutiques than when she attended college.
Knox said Franklin, which recently out-polled Savannah in Garden & Gun magazine's competitive online bracket for best Southern town, is really booming right now for startup businesses such as theirs.
'I think they really support creativity because of the music base in Nashville, and Franklin is just all about creativity and different outlets,' said Knox.
Tara Kirkland, owner of Custard, said the event started in 2010 as a loosely organized collection of local retailers wanting to highlight their industry. The event has since grown leaps and bounds.
'Our first one was in the Jepson - we had a really small amount of ticket sales - then after that we were in the Lucas, which was quadruple the tickets, now we're in the park, which is awesome,' said Kirkland.
She said the event often gets confused with Fashion's Night Out, launched originally by Vogue in 2011, which is held in the fall and includes a larger cast of retailers - not just the homegrown.
'My big thing is encouraging people to remember the local stores and support the community that they live within,' said Kirkland.
Kirkland served as president of Fashion Week for the past three years, and this year's president is Heather Burge, owner of BleuBelle Boutique, whose shop will hold a trunk show this Saturday featuring local Savannah designer Kathryn Hayes of Mix Julep.
Across the street from Custard, designer Emily Bargeron, owner of the Mamie Ruth line, opened her showroom to fashionistas Tuesday afternoon. This was her first year participating in Fashion Week and she was encouraged by the inclusion of local designers in the runway show in Forsyth Park.
'I'm excited about it being outside. That will bring out a lot of people,' said Bargeron. 'Having a beautiful backdrop will also make the clothes look good.'
Bargeron, who travels around the Southeast, said Savannah is a good base for her operation.
'We've been here three years,' said Bargeron. 'I graduated from Georgia Southern University, so we have interns from GSU every year and it's a good central location.'
Bargeron is sharing her showroom with Mary Liz Pulk, designer/owner of M Liz Designs. Pulk is a SCAD grad who worked at Zia Boutique for a few years before starting up her own line of jewelry.
'I designed my fall collection around hers,' said Pulk. 'Our collections already work so well together, with the bohemian inspiration, and we both wholesale to other stores.'
She said after graduating in 2009, she thought she'd have to leave to find work, but realized Savannah actually has advantages over bigger cities.
'We can easily do a photo shoot in a day because we have model and photographer friends we can call on,' said Pulk. 'It's actually a little easier because you're a big fish in a small pond as opposed to the other way around.'
DON'T MISS A MOMENT
For more information on other events going on this week, go to savannahfashionweek.org or find them on Facebook by searching 'Savannah Fashion Week.'
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