Inaugural fashion week debuts in Memphis
The city of Memphis is suiting up to host its own fashion week.
The inaugural Memphis Urban Fashion Week (MUFW) is scheduled for Aug. 12-16.
MUFW is hosted and curated by fashion designer and Memphis-native Prep Curry in partnership with FUBU co-founder J. Alexander Martin.
In 2021, Curry became one of the first Black designers to partner with Banana Republic. He also had his work showcased at New York Fashion Week.
“Memphis Urban Fashion Week is a way for me to give people their voice in Memphis and to start something,” Curry told MBJ. “Trying to give people who are aspiring to be designers, who are designers, and people who have been doing it a while, but they just haven't pushed themselves out of their comfort zone, this is something for them to be getting ready for the bigger stages. They can go ahead and see their own worth and get their own flowers in their own city.”
Memphis' fashion-focused week is set to include a series of events, such as pop-ups, panels, and other programming, culminating in the MUFW x FUBU Fashion Show on Aug. 16.
A vision for Memphis fashion
Curry, who envisioned Memphis Urban Fashion Week, used his Memphis connections to put together the event relatively quickly.
His main goal for MUFW is for it to be on par with other fashion weeks in New York and Los Angeles.
Once MUFW starts to gain notoriety, Curry hopes to gain the attention of brands and bigger opportunities for local designers. The expectation is for MUFW to grow each year.
Memphis designers exist in other spaces, but no one thinks of Memphis when they think about fashion, he noted.
“They're always talking about Memphis, but nobody really wants to think of Memphis as a fashion city, so we need to start changing people's minds and making people be aware,” Curry said.
Proceeds from Memphis Urban Fashion Week will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the National Civil Rights Museum, and LeMoyne-Owen College.