Mary Kay Mcfadden

Frederick Fashion Week kicks off with community clothing swap

“It’s awesome,” said Frederick resident Amber Davis, who attended the event with her mother, Dee Davis. “You can bring your own clothes to donate and get new ones in return.”

Dee Davis appreciates clothing on many levels.

“Fashion allows you to change the way you feel by what you are wearing,” she said.

Along with swapping out their clothes for new ones, attendees also had the option of giving their old T-shirts new looks.

Local designer Joanie Jenkins and Walkersville High School teacher Heather McFadden were on hand to demonstrate how to create new T-shirt looks.

“I’ve always been about being green,” McFadden said, noting that it is more environmentally conscious to revamp old clothes than throwing them out and buying new ones.

Donna Batcheller, who was manning a Mary Kay makeup booth, offered some advice for fall fashion.

“Deep purples, plums, are real big for fall,” she said, “as is chunky jewelry.”

Orange Cat Jewelry LLC of Frederick was on hand to assist shoppers with their jewelry needs.

“Fashion Week is a great way for me to get new jewelry ideas,” said Orange Cat Jewelry artist Marie Stevenson. “Right now I’m really into crystals. I started more with beads and stones, but crystal is dressier.”

Baltimore-based designer Philip Hawthorne was also present, showcasing designs on models, posed as mannequins, in the Market Street window of the Cultural Arts Center.

Other activities at the Cultural Arts Center on Saturday included a fashion scavenger hunt and the Rags to Runway Design Challenge, in which designers were given recycled materials to create runway fashions.

Mary, glimpses of the mother of Jesus

Mary

Mary, Shadow of Grace

Mary, mirror of the Church

Mary, A Catholic Evangelical Debate