Stella McCartney, Jasmine Sanders among those to speak at Brown University fashion event

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Feb 18, 2021

Rhode Island's Brown University will see fashion and lifestyle stars from Stella McCartney and Olivier Rousteing, to Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Jessica Parker speak at its 11th annual Brown Fashion Week. 

Set to take place on a fully virtual basis, the 22-day 'Fashion@Brown' program is scheduled from March 4 to March 26, and is free and open to the public. 

Among its events, Fashion@Brown will include an interview of Kenneth Cole by his daughter (and Brown alumn) Amanda Cole; a conversation between Maje chief executive officer Isabelle Guichot and Patrice Louvet, CEO of Ralph Lauren; and separate talks from Francesca Bellettini, Olivia Palermo, and Steve Madden, among others. 

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The event will also feature a variety of panel discussions, including 'Changemaker Fashion Designers as Translators of Culture & Ethics,' a talk featuring Rome-based designer Stella Jean, Brooklyn-based designer Fe Noel, and Detroit-based Tracy Reese; 'Award-Winning Costume Designers Shaping Fashion in Film,' featuring Oscar-winner Ruth Carter—the first Black person to win an Oscar for costume design for her work on 'Black Panther'—as well as six-time Emmy-winner Michele Clapton and Emmy-nominated Heidi Bivens. There will also be a panel on 'The Future of Fashion Journalism from America's Foremost Editors,' featuring Vanessa Friedman of The New York Times, Chioma Nnadi of Vogue.com and Samantha Barry of Glamour; a conversation on representation and empowerment within the modeling industry with Jasmine Tookes, Cindy Bruna, Jasmine Sanders and Tami Williams; and a screening and discussion of 'The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion' with Lisa Cortés, the Academy Award-Nominated director, writer, and producer of the film, and award-winning filmmaker Yoruba Richen, Brown Professor of the Practice.

"We were astonished and humbled by the positive response we received to our invitations to speak at Brown Fashion Week this year," said Sasha Pinto, president of the student organization, Fashion@Brown. 

"We wanted to make Brown Fashion Week bigger than ever to spread some much-needed inspiration to students given the extreme isolation everyone has been experiencing -- and the fashion industry responded in overwhelming numbers. It is a tribute not only to the kindness and generosity of the individual speakers but to the industry in general."

The event will close with a virtual presentation of Brown Fashion Week's 11th annual runway show, presenting the collections of the 26 student designers from Brown University as well as Rhode Island School of Design who make up the Fashion@Brown team. 

Members of the public can register for any of the Fashion@Brown events at fashionatbrown.com/events.