Checking out local designers, stores and events for Philly Fashion Week

FYI Philly celebrates Philly Fashion Week with trend-setting local makers and a local spot where vintage meets modern.

Philly Fashion Week is back for its 19th Season
Kevin Parker and Kerry Scott are preparing for the 19th year of Philly Fashion Week.

Philly Fashion Week runs from September 18-22 filled with various fashion events to attend.

There will be a student designer competition, an avant-garde ball, and runway shows held at Live Casino.

You’ll see designers like AutumnLin, Reco Chapple, Caroline Leary, and more hit the runway.

For tickets to attend each event, you can visit Philly Fashion Week’s website.

Website| Instagram | Facebook

Maison is the first store for the CEOs of Philly Fashion Week
Maison sits inside the Philadelphia Fashion District, housing 27 local and international designers.

You can leave with a head-to-toe outfit or request a custom-made garment.

The objective of the store is to provide a platform and opportunity for designers to grow and scale their businesses and to be able to make sales.

They have a makers studio inside that offers small batch manufacturing to designers and a content creation space to help designers market their business.

It’s 5,800 square feet of new wardrobes and opportunities.

After every fashion week, a new roster of designers will have the opportunity to be in the store in residency at Maison for six months.

They also launched Pitch Your Stitch which allows outside designers who have not shown with Philly Fashion Week to come to Maison and present their collections to be sold on retail and possibly cast for Philly Fashion Week.

Kevin and Kerry consider themselves to be a business development hub for designers, and the marketing arm for the fashion community in Philadelphia.

Website| Instagram |
901 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

DAM Fashions is an all-season megastore for fashionistas
Deborah Ann Mack is the founder and designer behind DAM Fashions.

In August she opened her first brick-and-mortar for DAM Fashions in Wester Chester.

The shop has one-of-a-kind dresses, coats, skirts and more.

Mack prides herself on her luxury lining for her coats that keep the body warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

She has an accessory line with her custom clothes, including handbags, belts, and hats that can match her coats.

Mack’s goal is to continue to make women feel comfortable with her luxury brand and unique designs.

You can visit her new store or purchase her pieces from her website.

DAM Fashions| Instagram |
131 N. Church Street, Unit 201, West Chester, PA 19380

Philadelphia Fashion Incubator has designs on new space with retail
For 13 years, the non-profit Philadelphia Fashion Incubator has been helping fashion entrepreneurs learn the business side of the industry.

Now, the program is based in a new location that includes a retail space for the first time.

Executive Director Elissa Bloom runs the program that brings in five designers for a one-year residency and gives them tools to grow their businesses.

Their brands, plus some from alumni, are available for purchase three days a week.

The emerging designers are all locally based, and craft apparel and accessories.

Pax Flora blends modern and vintage for sustainable shopping
Pax Flora Goods opened in 2022, featuring a collection of carefully curated items that promote sustainability in the fashion industry.

Owner Bethany Hartzell Hugghins blends vintage and antique clothing with more modern pieces, created in the slow fashion space.

Slow fashion highlights low-waste products.

The store also sells vintage clothing typically more than 30 years old and antique pieces that date back more than 100 years.

Along with the clothes, Pax Flora features local makers of jewelry, candles, and other home goods.

Pax Flora Goods | Instagram
6622 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19119

Philly Felt Fairy can help you celebrate all things in life
Kat Czekner-Wilson, aka the Philly Felt Fairy, is a Delaware County artist whose primary medium is felt.

From baby banners to sports pennants to graduation flags, Wilson is on a mission to help people mark life’s major milestones and to celebrate the things they love.

The Philly Felt Fairy came to life during the pandemic when Wilson was looking for something to do.

When a friend was having a camp-themed bachelorette party, Wilson volunteered to make the pennants.

They were hit and a passion for felt-based crafting was born.

Sports quickly became a popular subject matter, but Wilson also leans into heavier issues such as suicide and mental health.

Every October, they raffle off a felt piece to raise money for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Wilson creates all kinds of ways to celebrate pride.

Wilson is both a survivor of domestic violence and a member of the LGBTQIA + community.

Both Wilson and their partner, Phil, are non-binary.

The couple has two children and, for Wilson and the kids, the felt art has become a family affair.

Wilson is also branching out, creating everything from felt-adorned mirrors to metallic rainbow felt decorated bags and felt portraits of pets.

And because they love Halloween, there’s a collection of rope ghosts.

Every piece has a red flag on it.

It’s Wilson’s signature for a business dubbed Fire Sign Flags.

But the red flag also represents the impact Wilson hopes their art will raise acceptance and awareness but also create joy.

The Philly Felt Fairy pops up at local markets and sells on Instagram but Wilson just launched a website and plans to add classes this fall to teach people how to make their own felt art.

The Philly Felt Fairy at Fire Sign Flags | Instagram |

Blessed in Distress sportswear helps you do gameday your way
Blessed in Distress launched in 2020, when teacher Jennifer Basile found herself with some rare downtime due to the pandemic.

She started off first dyeing and distressing graphic Ts, then turned her hobby into a full-fledged business that now outfits Philly sports fans with unique blends that are so Philly.

The business venture helps offset some of the costs she incurs buying supplies for her 6th grade students at Thomas Elementary School in South Philadelphia.

“As teachers, we have to pretty much pay for everything that we provide for your students – decorations, supplies,” Basile says. “So having a side hustle like this has really made it easier to purchase things for them.”

Blessed in Distress offers an array of combinations, with two dye choices (spray and bleached), hoodies, crop tops and a seemingly unlimited option of prints and phrases.

Her most popular looks include the “Drop Bombs” Phillies print and all of her Eagles gear are in high demand.

Items are made-to-order, allowing for true customization and she recently started making prints and items for non-Philadelphia fans.

“Never in a million years did I imagine that Blessed in Distress would turn into what it has since 2020,” Basile says. “It’s just surreal. It’s really cool. It’s been a very wild ride.”

You can order from Blessed in Distress on their website or Instagram.

Best ABC Secret Sales on home and kitchen products you’ll love
Sam Champion and Dani Beckstrom are rounding up the best home and kitchen products, with savings up to 50% off.

Each of these deals is limited time only, so shop now while supplies last.

Haddonfield Plays & Players presents Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins
Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins portrays nine infamous men and women.

Justin Walsh is directing the production for Haddonfield Plays & Players

“Assassins is kind of an imagined situation, where all of the presidential assassins of the past basically end up in the same room together,” says Walsh.

They share their struggles with the American dream.

“They talk each other into horrible things,” says Walsh.

Two characters, the balladeer and the proprietor, serve as the so-called ‘angel and devil on their shoulders,’ respectively.

“The balladeer is really the voice of reason,” says Walsh.

The show starts with the story of John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, and moves all the way forward to the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.

Actor Andrew Boettcher plays Booth.

“Giuseppe Zangara tried to assassinate FDR when he was still president-elect,” says Walsh. “Leon Czolgosz assassinated President Bill McKinley.”

“I am playing Sam Byck,” says actor Joe Carlucci. “He tried to assassinate Richard Nixon.”

Each assassin, or attempted assassin, shares their rationale.

“I gave you my vote, my sacred Democratic trust,” says Carlucci as Byck.

“He just wanted to be heard. He just wanted to have a voice,” says Carlucci.

“Every character is a hero in their mind,” says Boettcher.

“Every one of them thought they were doing what was right, at the time, either for themselves or for the country,” says Walsh. “It shows how seemingly normal a lot of these people started.”

It also shows where these men and women took the wrong path.

The stories are told through the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim.

“All these characters are looking for some sort of connection, some sort of relationship with someone, and they don’t get that,” says Boettcher. “This is a cautionary tale.”

“As Americans, we all have the right to our freedoms and to our choices, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to bear the consequences,” says Walsh.

Assassins runs September 20-October 5 at Haddonfield Plays & Players.

Assassins | Tickets