Fashion Week Rochester returns 

This year’s Fashion Week Rochester will bring a new, reinspired energy to the runway. 

Founded by Meg Mundy in 2010, the annual fashion show raises funds for the Center for Youth’s programs as well as awareness of youth homelessness. The event remains a Center for Youth brand, even though Mundy has stepped away to run shows for her own brand, Meg Mundy Styles LLC.

The goal is to raise $800,000, which Elaine Spaull, executive director of the Center for Youth, says is ambitious, but she’s also confident that people will step up and help. Funds remain flexible across programs to help prevent shelter closures, particularly amid uncertainty around federal grants.

The event will take place over three nights, Oct. 15-17, at the Fedder Building at 1237 E. Main St. It features three themes: creating, dreaming and inspiring.

Slated for Thursday, “Creating” supports the center’s Arnett House, a transitional living program for LGBTQ+ youth aged 16 to 21. The show lets young and emerging designers, some of whom are at the center itself, walk the runway for the first time, Spaull says, 

“When it says creating, it’s about creating a positive self and identity … creating a new young energy,” Spaull says.

Sedawnie Williams, who works on social-emotional learning with students at Padilla High School, will present Voluptu, her original plus-size women’s clothing line, on Thursday. Williams sees this year’s Fashion Week as a reintroduction. She has participated in the show every year since 2021 except for last year.

“This year,” she says, “I’m bringing a bit more fun, a little more energy. … I’m pushing outside the lines. … Fashion Week opens the door for the community to show how creative they are.” 

The show features more new and local designers and businesses than ever before, organizers say. Porshia Diaz lives in Atlanta now, but grew up in Rochester, where she taught herself to sew years before launching Porshia Collection, her luxury fashion business. She’ll provide dresses for youth to walk the runway at Thursday night’s show. 

“Fashion Week helped me get to where I am. If it wasn’t for a lot of the people that are a part of Fashion Week, I don’t know where I would be,” Diaz says. 

“And with the Center for Youth girls, I can kind of get a feel (for) where a lot of them are in their journey,” she adds. “I was once a girl who was going through a lot, and I wanted somebody to look up to. I want to do that for my hometown. I want to be able to come and showcase my work and also make the other girls feel beautiful in my designs.” 

Spaull notes that Thursday’s show will also focus on sustainability and upcycled clothing. 

Friday’s show, “Dreaming,” will also feature several local organizations, such as ROC City Circus and Rochester Bhangra. The show supports the Center for Youth’s crisis nurseries. The center has two houses that provide emergency child care for babies up to the age of eight. The houses serve more than 2,000 babies a year, says Spaull. 

“This night is about dreaming the best for our children,” she says.

“Inspiring,” on Saturday, supports the center’s largest shelter for 12- to 17-year-olds, Spaull says.

“Saturday is always high fashion, high glamour, high energy,” she says. “It’s very, very sophisticated and inspiring, because it’s really inspiring people to do their best and look their best. 

“It’s sort of an unusual event, because it’s sort of fancy and beautiful. But also very grassroots. Everybody wants to contribute because they see what’s happening at the federal level. This is all about inclusiveness and awareness.” 

Tickets and more information can be found here. 

Alefiya Presswala is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.

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