As we’ve read here earlier in the week, both call’s for hair stylists and designers has gone out. Jessie has spearheaded the hunt for salons by contacting over a dozen different salons just in Raleigh! She will be expanding her search to Durham and Chapel Hill next.

Together we nailed down the overall timeline. Everyone’s blackberry calendar was in hot use as we planned out the remainder of our pre-event meetings and fundraisers! Here are the results:

June 15 – Call for designers, stylists, salons officially goes out.

June 16 – Call out to media, calendar listings, blogs

July 15 – Deadline for submissions from designers, stylists, and salons

July 24 – Meeting for all accepted designers at Design Box. 7pm

Aug 1 – Tentative date set for screening of fashionSPARK 2007 in Moore Square. Allison has park reserved for that date and is in the process of completing permit applications. Possible alternative would be to hold the screening in the parking lot behind design box and work in conjunction with Mosquito.

Sep 7 – Tentative date set for fashion brunch at Poole’s (final fundraiser + press push)

Sep 11- Designer window ‘unveiling’ One of fashionSPARK’s sponsorship packages includes the store hosting a window that features one of the fS designers.

Sep 14 – FashionSPARK rehearsal. 2pm

Sep 19 – FashionSPARK! 8pm

The next meeting is June 26. The remaining meetings will be held every other Thursday at 6:30pm at Poole’s Diner

See you there! 

The call for stylists/salons form is ready and available for download. Click on the link in this post or navigate to our Documents page on the left under the Organizer’s Corner. This is a great example of how to model your own call form if you need some help.

I invited Jessie Clough, a hair stylist and co-owner of Marigold Parlour to come along and offer her ideas on how to link up with other local stylists and get them working together with fashionSPARK designers. The mission is to showcase hair as fashion and have it compliment the designs presented. Allison and Jessie will be working closely together on developing a ‘call for stylists/salons’ and then pairing them with individual designers as early as possible. Everyone is excited about the possibilities!

Allison and Isaac Panzarella are also working very hard to establish a schedule and set timeline of events leading up to SPARKcon. fashionSPARK will be offering a brunch at Poole’s for all fashionSPARK designers and sponsors to co-mingle. This will be a great opportunity to get some press and begin to generate a buzz about the show. Allison is also tossing around the idea of hosting a “kick off” party that would showcase last years designs and further generate interest in SPARKcon and really start things off with a bang.

We discussed the idea of changing venues this year as well. Presently there is a push for hosting SPARKcon on Fayetteville St. The proposed site would be the two blocks of Fayetteville St. between Morgan and Martin. An idea was to set up the stage for fashionSPARK at the corner of Martin and Fayetteville. However the time and energy needed to set up the stage/lights/screen etc. is massive, and we are just not sure if it could work. Moore Square has treated SPARKcon very well in the past and this a certain aesthetic and energy to that space, and moving may not be in the cards. More thoughts?

Overall the logistics for fashionSPARK are well underway, and it is great having Allison and Isaac’s energy and talent to support it!

Meeting Schedule: Thursdays, 6:30 p.m., Poole’s Diner

Vision: Wear What You Are.  A fashionable showcase of the independent, creative spirit of the Triangle.

Date: Friday, September 19, 8 p.m.

Place: TBD

So far: Last year’s designers have been contacted.  I’ve received some interest from three of them, as well as from salons + stylists in the area.
Sponsorship packages have been outlined with one committed sponsor, Beanie + Cecil!  Working on the date and specifics of a fashion brunch to take place this summer.  Tickets will be sold to raise funds for FashionSPARK.  Souheil is interested in sponsorsing another event for FashionSPARK. 
I’m still on the lookout for a #2, so please send me names!