StyleWeek is Back in June with a Micro Fashion Event

The intimate affair involves three runway shows, including the SEED Student Design Challenge as well as presentations by two local veteran designers lalla bee and Jess Abernethy.

May 12, 2021

Jamie Coelho,

The StyleWeek SEED runway show. Photo by Myke Yeager.

StyleWeek Northeast is back on Thursday, June 10 with an intimate fashion event held on the patio at the Capital Grille in Providence. This will be the twentieth season for the Rhode Island-based fashion event that has been marked as a “micro-fashion week.”

The smaller affair involves three runway shows, including the SEED Student Design Challenge featuring seven designs made by students from the Lincoln School in Providence as well as presentations by two local veteran designers lalla bee and Jess Abernethy. There will also be an all-new SEED Student Design Art Challenge involving self-portraits made with various materials done by students at the Grace School.

StyleWeek founder and president Rosanna Ortiz chose to hold the intimate event on the Capital Grille patio again after last fall’s successful event. “We were impressed with how well our COVID-19 friendly model worked this past October for our tenth anniversary celebration, and how it was received by our patrons,” she says. “We look forward to another successful season with our micro event and for what the future of StyleWeek holds.”

The SEED Student Design Challenge will be hosted by executive producer of “The Rhode Show,” Ashley Erling and Coast 93.3’s Morning Show personality, Doug Palmieri. The fashion show will showcase the work of seven students who have created one garment using recycled materials. Each piece will be judged by a panel of eight judges, including handbag designer Kent Stetson; philanthropist Ting Barnard; real estate entrepreneur Christina Rosciti; LEIGH CEO Tracey Cugno, Rhode Island Monthly senior editor Jamie Coelho; OPTX CEO Lynne Diamante; Meeting Street School COO Susan Keller and real estate entrepreneur Michael Sweeney. The winning garment will win a $500 scholarship donated by the Friendship Foundation.

During cocktail hour, guests can view the eleven self-portraits that were created by students from the Grace School, an inclusive private school. Portraits will be judged by CORE Fitness CEO Denise Chakoian; Go Providence CEO Kristen Adamo; Providence G owner Colin Geoffrey; and real estate entrepreneur Lindsey Armstrong Mitchell. The winning self-portrait will also receive a $500 scholarship donated by Lindsay Armstrong Mitchell, and attendees will have the opportunity to bid on the self-portraits as part of a silent auction benefiting Hasbro Children’s Hospital’s Healing Arts Program. The self-portraits will each be created on a three-foot-by-three-foot canvas using different materials.

After the SEED presentation, lalla bee will send her looks down the runway, and then Jess Abernethy will close the show by debuting a brand-new collection. “I haven’t created a collection in almost three years, so this is super exciting,” she says. “I love choosing fabrics again and putting something together that people will hopefully love and wear. I have missed the excitement of the shows, the pre-show jitters and seeing everything come together in the end.”

Tickets go on sale at styleweeknortheast.com and Event Brite on May 15. There is a limited capacity for this event so attendees are urged to purchase quickly.