Fashion Week Brooklyn kicks off

Gearing up for a week of fashion and fun, Kings Plaza hosted the opening ceremony for Fashion Week Brooklyn (FWBK) on Sunday, May 1.

The “on-trend” evening, held at King’s Plaza’s Center Court, featured models – selected from the opening casting calls held at the shopping center in preparation for the event – walking the runway, special guest Samantha C, best known for her appearance on Project Runway Junior’s inaugural season, and trends from several of the shopping center’s retailers.

“The Fashion Week Brooklyn Opening Ceremony at Kings Plaza for Fashion Week Brooklyn was a huge success,” said Dawn Simon, area regional manager for Kings Plaza. “The buzz and excitement was seen and felt throughout the center — it was incredible to transform Kings Plaza and to involve our retailers and give our shoppers another reason to visit our shopping center. We were very pleased with the turnout and look forward to hosting more premier events like this at Kings Plaza.”

The ceremony kicked off festivities for the 10th anniversary of FWBK, a lineup of runway shows that showcases the work of aspiring, international designers in the borough from May 1 to May 8.

“Unlike New York Fashion Week which focuses on major designers, Fashion Week Brooklyn is based on the essence of the borough, which is community,” said Founder Rick Davy.

According to FWBK’s site, since its debut 10 years ago, the event has made Brooklyn a “place for international and local designers within the community to showcase their collections.” The week-long event was also recently dubbed number five on a list of the top 10 independent fashion weeks from around the world.

“Brooklyn has become the global destination for the hottest trends of 2016,” added Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. “Designers in Paris and Milan now look to the trailblazers in fashion here in Brooklyn, as we have created incubators for textile design and manufacturing along the waterfront from the Navy Yard to Sunset Park.”