Philly Phashion

Oh Philadelphia, how I love you. I know... we're obnoxious, loud, and hardly NYC but I can't help but at least hope the situation improves. Philadelphia has so much potential to be great - we're good people and fantastic artists. The ever so close NYC sucks our city dry of successful talent and leaves us looking like Amateur Night while they're headlining. We have some amazing design schools here in Philadelphia. Philadelphia University, The Art Institute of Philadelphia, University of the Arts, Moore College of Art and Design, Drexel, and Tyler School of Art of Temple University. You can't tell me that the thousands of artists that attend these schools every year fail miserably at making their mark in the world. No, they don't - they either go to NYC or fall by the wayside because they have no interest in being just another waiter or waitress in NYC. I tried to research fashion success stories from Philadelphia and all I could find was Tory Burch and Urban Outfitters. These are two very successful, and very powerful companies, but I was shocked to find only two that are at this level of success. This really needs to change. Philadelphia will most likely never be NYC, but it at least needs to try and stand up in the crowded community of the arts.

Northern Liberties is flooded with hipsters and the surrounding neighborhoods of Philly are Urban Wear. Center city and Rittenhouse Square are a bit more fashion forward and are a little more eclectic with their styles. There's also some great shopping in downtown Philadelphia. Walnut Street is great to find all the stores that you know and love like Urban Outfitters, Anthropology, and Boyd's while the side streets of Rittenhouse and Old City have great boutiques with awesome fashion such as South Moon Under, Grasshopper, and Joan Shepp.

Last fall for the first time ever Philadelphia had a fashion week. It's a big step in the right direction for fashion lovers. The 2nd annual show is this October and I highly encourage people to attend. It has entertainment each day, open bar,

great food and of course Philadelphia Fashion, everyone should definitely check it out!

Photo shoot for Philadelphia based stylist Maria Aponte ----->