Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week’s “Organic Runway Show” Returns

With a mission to reframe how fashion is designed and consumed, Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week (HVSFW) aims to prove that sustainability within the fashion industry is attainable, accessible, and on-trend. To bring awareness to mindful consumerism, the organization is hosting their banner conscientious fashion show on Friday, September 27 at Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook, featuring a collective of local sustainable-fashion designers showcasing their creations down an “organic runway” within the farm’s orchard.

“HVSFW aims to inspire people to rethink their relationships with clothing,” explains Annie McCurdy, COO and board member of HVSFW. “We’re trying to inspire residents of the Hudson Valley and beyond to consider their options when buying and open their minds to shopping vintage, upcycled, or even renting.”

Beyond the fashion show, HVSFW hosts events throughout the years like documentary movie screenings, clothing swaps, and mending nights. “We plan on continuing the annual show, but HVSFW would ideally be a weeklong event where pockets of the Hudson Valley get sustainable fashion designers to put on a show in their neighborhoods,” she says.

McCurdy is the owner of clothing brand So Vicki, based in Newburgh, which utilizes deadstock—leftover fabric from fashion lines that gets sold back into the market—to create sportswear, jackets, pants, and accessories. A few years ago, she was attending a clothing swap event in Beacon and met Kaitlyn Murray, a designer who shared the same values. Murray is the owner of Kingston-based upcycled clothing brand La Vie Après L’amour and shop Maison Après, as well as CEO and founding member of HVSFW.

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Jay Ballesteros

The hillside at Rose Hill Orchards where the fashion show takes place offers panoramic sunset views of the Catskills.

“The first goal of the fashion show is to help promote the work of sustainable designers right here in the Hudson Valley—there’s so much talent, and so many ways one can express style and design,” Murray explains. “Second, I hope that making it open to the community helps to inspire individuals to think about how they can be part of the slow-fashion, locally focused movement. And last, it’s meant to be a really fun evening!”

Last year’s inaugural event brought more than 300 attendees to the orchard. Since then, HVSFW has become a nonprofit organization. “I wanted to be sure that HVSFW had its own identity,” Murray says. “I don’t feel like it’s my ‘brand’ or ‘company,’ just an idea that dropped in my spirit, and I ran with it alongside those who believed in it, but it’s so much bigger than me. Incorporating as a nonprofit is a way to bring other people in to support the vision and bring it beyond what we can do on our own.”

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2023 Clarebare models displaying sustainable lingerie

This year, an even larger turnout is expected, with the addition of live music by singer-songwriter Ginger Winn preceding a runway show that will feature nine designers, plus a small collective of recent Marist College grads. All designs are required to be at least 90 percent not new—made with second-hand, deadstock, upcycled, and other sustainable practices. Designers include vintage and upcycled lingerie by Clare Herron of Clare Bare in Hudson, children’s clothing and lifestyle wear by Faith Delozier of Faithfully Yours in Port Ewen, and Sergio Guadarrama of Made X Hudson’s special sustainable collection, among others.

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Jay Ballesteros

2023 So Vicki models catwalking through the peach trees.

For the show on Friday, September 27, doors open at 4pm, music starts at 5pm, and the show begins right before sunset. “Come early and pick apples—we really want people to connect with nature, it’s all part of the event,” McCurdy says. “Our signature organic runway show is breathtaking, we have a great lineup of talented designers, and we’re excited to share that when it comes to fashion, your choice matters, your spending power matters, and how you buy does make a difference.”