Columbus Fashion Academy

This Week (Heavy Week — 22h Available) — Kick-Off

Tuesday 7/28, 5:00–6:30pm — Kids only, kick-off meeting. Parents welcome to hang in our library, or grab something across the street — two great options for food and drinks directly across from us. Don't even need to move your car.

Wednesday 7/29, 11:00am–6:00pm

• 11:00-11:30am Arrive at the studio
• 11:30am-1:00pm Lunch + inspiration stroll at the Columbus Museum of Art
• 1:00–4:00pm — Studio work
• 4:00–4:30pm — Snack break
• 4:30–5:00pm — Model casting call setup
• 5:00–6:00pm — Model casting call (parents welcome to watch from 5-6pm, or just come at 6pm for pickup)

Thursday 7/30, 9:00am–4:00pm — Instructors available all day for design work.

Friday 7/31, 9:00am–4:00pm — Instructors available all day for design work. I'm working on a possible morning textile sourcing field trip (just south of downtown/a morning chaperone would be welcome) — more info as soon as it's confirmed. If it happens, we'll only be in the studio 12–4pm that day.

Moving Into August — Looking Ahead

• Week of 8/3: No studio — we'll be at Dublin Arts Council for our last summer camp of the season, followed by Runway at Dusk on 8/7 from 6–8pm. Most of you are already RSVP'd; if not and you'd like to join, let me know — come as a guest (tickets online) or volunteer (we need a popcorn machine hero 🍿).
• Week of 8/10: Day and evening studio hours available — email me to book your designer's hours.
• Week of 8/17: Day and evening studio hours available — email me to book your designer's hours.
• Week of 8/24: Monday and Wednesday evenings hours available.
• Group meeting Saturday 8/22 — save the date.
• September: Dates still being finalized with the Fashion Council — I'll share as soon as I have them.

A Note on Where the Work Happens

We know many of you have sewing machines at home and capable hands ready to sew. For this show, we're asking that all design work happen here, under our supervision with instructors who can support your work to be as professional as we want it to be— this collection walks as the Columbus Fashion Academy collection: one CFA collective of designers, under our shared values of sustainability, multigenerational collab, education, and artistic freedom. This is our first year participating in CFW, and we want to present it as one unified body of work (although each designer will work their vision and design their look). Think of Karl Lagerfeld being challenged to still be Lagerfeld but designing under Chanel House... or any other amazing designer who got hired by a couture fashion house and had to find the tune between their individual vision and POV, yet aligned with the brand that existed before they came on board... that is the part of this amazing challenge your child/teen will experience. It will be pretty amazing on so many levels. I can't wait for the fun we will have and see their creative genius solving problems and being themselves stronger by the day.

This is for now; next year will have some additional layers as we have more time in our hands. Starting Fall '26 through Fall '27, our designers will build their own collections (2–4 runway looks, depending on Fall/Spring cohort participation) — and will have the choice to create at home and walk under their own name or their own emerging brand. Our cohorts will run as mini-incubators: kids learning not just the design side of fashion, but the business side of it too. We'll be the organizers — they walk as themselves. We're already planning multiple shows around the city and challenges to prepare them, so they'll have a full year to build toward Fall '27.

My own master's degree is in Fashion Business, not Design — though I've taken courses everywhere from FIT to Parsons to CCAD to Sotheby's — and I can't wait to support our designers on this other side of the industry. Our growing team of professional fashion designers, tailors, seamstresses, and costume designers will continue guiding them through the making process, while I step in as business and brand mentor, sharing decades of experience in building a fashion enterprise from the ground up. I'm also in conversation with several organizations about partnerships for future opportunities. More on that soon — for now: if you haven't told me your child's availability for the coming Fall/Spring season, please send it over ASAP. I'm coordinating weeknight and weekend classes to find the best fit by age and schedule. And if your designer won't be joining the Fall/Spring cohort, just let me know that too.

You should have already received a few forms to sign, with a couple more on the way. Signed agreement on all forms is required for your minor-age child to participate — for an event the size of Columbus Fashion Week, we don't have the option to opt out of this step. Sign digitally, or print and sign by hand — either way, we need those forms in hand by Tuesday, at our first in-person kick-off meeting. Thank you!