WISH YOU WERE THERE: GA Takes Over NYC for Fashion Week
It doesn’t matter what time of year you go to New York City, it’s always going to be a whirlwind of high energy and psycho scheduling (two things we thrive on, to be honest). In early September, New York Fashion Week kicks off and floods the streets, and we wanted in on the action. Cue the luggage packing, stuffed with GA’s Fall ‘19 collection, locking in partnerships with 11 Honoré and Shopbop, securing our spot at The CurvyCon, and dedicating a week to empowering women–basically the entire reason we exist! It was a good ass time, and we worked the hell outta that city. Here’s what went down...
First on the calendar, a night full of glam with 11 Honoré as we celebrated our debut on the size-inclusive online boutique. Models were dressed in designer pieces teamed with the latest Good American denim styles, and they turned Lexington Ave in front of Gramercy Park Hotel into an impromptu runway. On the rooftop of GPH, overlooking the Empire State Building, Patrick Herning (Founder and CEO of 11 Honoré) gave a loving toast to our #1 woman, Emma Grede (Co-Founder and CEO of GA). Partygoers like Barbie Ferreira, Charli Howard, Hayley Foster, Sally Singer, Margie Plus, and Lynn Yaeger danced to a killer set by DJ Zuri Marley, and we sparked convos with models like Nadia Aboulhosn, Georgina Burke, Stella Duval, and Solange van Doorn. Wait, did we mention Emma and Good Squad OG, Roxy Reyes made it to Vogue.com? Look it up. We geeked out a lil’.
Next on the agenda was our two-day residence at the fifth annual theCURVYcon. Nothing could have prepared us for the enormous welcome we received from attendees and GA fans alike. The biggest hit was our denim confessional booth where women tried on GA fits and gave us honest feedback on what they loved and how we can improve. For their candid input, we gifted them with a free pair of jeans. Yes, it was bananas, but the response from the crowd left our hearts filled to the brim. There were tears shed over stories of how they’ve never found jeans that fit them so perfectly, and grateful words that made everything we do so worth it.
Another highlight is when our very own Emma Grede sat on a panel led by theCURVYcon co-founder, Chastity Valentine (see our one-on-one with Chastity below), where they discussed diversity and inclusion in the retail space. Emma touched on Good American’s mission and vision, as we begin to expand and offer more sizes, more categories, and more opportunities for our audience’s input to shape our future product.
The final stop was Shopbop’s pop-up on Spring St in Soho. Our brand recently launched on the online retail destination, and they invited us over for Emma Grede to serve up some GA product and design knowledge with help from the lovely model, Denise Bidot. Before and after the run-through, our team talked through the pieces with attendees and drooled over the beautiful shop that’s curated by color and brand. Major heart eyes!!
All-in-all, NYFW was a success! We ran the streets, ate our hearts out, and gave the city as much GA soul as we could deliver. Til’ next time, NYC!
Before you go, peep our interview with Chastity Valentine, co-founder of theCURVYcon. Also, shop some of the pieces we wore in NYC below.
Photograph via @GarnerStyle
ONE-ON-ONE WITH CHASTITY VALENTINE, CO-FOUNDER OF theCURVYcon
First off, we've had such an incredible experience over the past two days! Tell us how theCURVYcon has evolved over the years, and where do you see it going?
theCURVYcon started as a half-day event on one floor, and now we’ve expanded out into a three-day event on Fifth Avenue at New York Fashion Week. We were originally in June, and we wanted to align with Fashion Week, so we took the risk. Even though we know how expensive it is, what an undertaking it is. We’re so excited to have been able to do that. So this year we have three fashion shows instead of one fashion show, and we wanted to give our girls a fashion experience, where there’s a schedule. I feel like that’ll be the way we head in the future and maybe adding a bit more of a fashion schedule for her to go to shows, and get to choose. We also want to serve more women, so we’re trying to figure out how to do that but still keep it intimate. You know, there are conventions that have tens of thousands of people, but we haven’t wanted to venture out of that because we want to make sure that we’re servicing every girl. Even though there are 1200 girls here, we want to be able to service them in a way that they feel like it’s a personal touch and we’re trying to figure out how to expand and have more women, and touch more women, but still have that personal touch.
On the way to doing that, what are you hoping that women are taking away and sharing with friends, family, and their community?
We hope they take away body positivity, we hope they take away really good vibes for the rest of the year, the confidence to dictate how they want their lives to look for the rest of the year. I want them to see women doing amazing things and saying I can do that. So being able to do that and give them that feeling is what we really want them to leave with.
Growing up did you imagine you’d be doing something so important for women, and for society as a whole? How are you hoping to influence the young women growing up at a time where they’re really represented and being celebrated?
No, I did not think… I had a Master's in public administration. I was not supposed to be here. I knew my life was going to be bigger in some way, even as a child, I just didn’t know what. Then I turned 25 and decided to accept myself and I realized that women all over the world didn’t accept themselves. So being able to facilitate that conversation–it literally started with me doing street style and saying, "I accept myself, I feel like I look good, I wanna help women style themselves." It literally went off from there.
You started theCURVYcon with one of your best friend's, CeCe Olisa. What does that bond and sisterhood mean to you?
It means everything. I think the biggest ‘choke up’ moment I’ve already had was when I was opening the Target show, and I was supposed to introduce the show and they asked me to walk. CeCe was like, “I have to introduce you, no one else can!” And literally everybody was crying, and I was crying, too. It was amazing. No one knows the journey that we go through together. We’re a very small team. It’s me and her every day on the phone, having conversations. Just to be an example of women supporting women is huge for us, in our friendship and even our brand.
So what are some of the truths behind the scenes that are just real and you can’t avoid?
I feel like we are a small team, and it’s literally three of us, full-time, all year, doing a lot with a little bit. Also making sure we give our girls the best experience. We put ourselves into stress ball because it if not great, we don’t want it here. So, we’re like, if it's not great, we’re gonna make sure that it’s great. If that means we don’t get any sleep, we just don’t get any sleep.
When do you feel most empowered?
I feel most empowered when I accomplish something that I haven’t done before. Today, I DJ’d our intro and I just learned to be a DJ like 3-6 months ago, so it hasn’t really even been that long. Hosting and DJ-ing is a whole other thing. It’s difficult because you’re taking cues, reading, and making sure you’re presenting in a certain way. So, to be able to do that and have that ability, I’ve always taken pride in my personal abilities over my outer appearance because those are things that I’ve earned. I always encourage women to do that too, ‘cause one day all this will go away, but the things that we’ve learned and the people we love-that won’t ever go away.