Bringing fashion to Germantown’s “doorsteps”

Nearly 1,500 people turned out for Saturday’s Germantown Fashion & Arts Festival, an outdoor event held along Germantown Avenue between Harvey Street and Washington Lane.

Event founder and fashion designer Ron Wilch said, “My wife and I believe the community may not be exposed to such high-level fashion, so we wanted to bring it to their doorsteps.”

The event featured many local designers and models including Tyren Patrick Designs, Osrick Ingredients Cricket (Props), Love Cili Fashions, Jody S. Fashions Dave Noble Sueno/Heaven Sent, to name a few.

“This was a great event where people can come together to help each other, while bringing positive attitudes,” said model Michael Reynolds.

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Along with food, music, live entertainment, fashion shows, guest speakers and jewelry and food vendors, community organizations were also on-hand. A representative from Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s office was also there to share information about the 16th anniversary of the Million Man March which will come to the city Oct. 9.

“This was a pretty good event with good entertainment,” Music School Settlement Broad Member Kenneth Weiner said. “Glad to see community members being involved.”

As the event’s “Fashion Police,” designer Marcus Gary said, “My job is to make sure fashion is safe for everyone. This is an awesome event to do just that.”

Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., noted that he has known Wilch “for decades. He is trying to bring manufacturing jobs back to keep our kids working, we need that back in Philadelphia.”

Said Wilch, “The event was an overall success, young and older folks were able to enjoy themselves. It was the best outdoors fashion event in the city in a long time.”

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