Philly Fashion Week returned this month with couture shows at the new Vault XXVII space, marking 20 years since the homegrown event set out to make high fashion accessible beyond industry insiders, celebrities and influencers.

February and September are the industry’s most important months, anchoring the global production cycle with fashion weeks across the globe where designers, buyers and media come into alignment. Notoriously exclusive, they have become cemented in the cultural zeitgeist as inaccessible dreams of glamour.

In 2006, two childhood friends, Kevin Parker and Kerry Scott, set out to make fashion more accessible to Philadelphians and put the city on the map with Philly Fashion Week. The endeavor created opportunities for creatives to break into an industry that often keeps its doors firmly shut.

Read the full piece at WHYY: https://whyy.org/articles/philly-fashion-week/