River Ridge Mall hosts the second annual local fashion show.
Victoria Watts has a passion for fashion.
That is why she is heading up the second annual Central Virginia Fashion Week, a local artist exhibition the River Ridge Mall is hosting through Sunday.
The show brings together local designers, models, makeup and hair artists, business owners and writers together to display their talents and promote their crafts.
Watts, the founder of the event, said she wants to bring a community around the budding fashion scene in Lynchburg through Central Virginia Fashion Week.
“As a city we kind of support many different versions of the arts, but I really hadn’t seen anything for the emerging fashion artisan here,” Watts said. “I felt that through the creation of Central Virginia Fashion Week it would be a great opportunity to give those artisans that are in the textile industry, or more commonly known as fashion designers, a platform so that the community can know they are here and that they could actively support them.”
The event also looks to promote up and coming artists and models. One of the models who participated last year got signed to Model Logic, a talent agency that sends their agents worldwide.
Last year, the event was spread out across six different locations, such as Western Ways in Forest and Live Trendy or Die in downtown Lynchburg, making travel difficult. This did not faze Watts.
“When you really enjoy what you do it doesn’t really exhaust you, it just fuels that passion that you have because you understand the purpose behind it,” Watts said.
This dedication caught the attention of Katie Farris, the marketing manager at River Ridge.
“I admire Victoria and her passion for the arts in our community and her passion for seeing people in our community succeed,” Farris said. “I was inspired by that and thought River Ridge would be a really great home for this show.”
This year, the entire event is being hosted by the River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg.
“We are so excited and really truly honored to host fashion week because we love to support our local community and we love seeing so many diverse arts all come together at one place,” Farris said.
Watts said the ticket sales have been promising, and she wants to encourage locals, students and everyone in between to make their way out to the events this weekend.
“Let’s show the local emerging fashion designers that we support them by going out to the shows,” Watts said. “It’s an opportunity for us to really engage and connect with the colleges and universities and just the community itself.”