THE HEART OF FASHION HEADS TO HARLEM

There was a temporary market last weekend at the Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem. And it seems that fashion is moving in that direction. And why shouldn’t it?

Dane Huggins moved his shoe store, Head Over Heels, from Fort Greene in Brooklyn to 270 St. Nicholas Avenue at West 124th Street. Ai Designer ssatou Ndao-Fiteni opened a boutique called Aysa (aysaboutique.com), at 2310 Seventh Avenue at West 136th Street (they sell modern and traditional African fashions and witty handbags…you may want to see if they want hats).

Michelle Gittens and Enyinne Owunwanne left jobs in the financial industry and started a Harlem-based collection called Seasoned to Perfection (s2pvintage.com) that designs vintage clothing for the modern world.

“There’s a lot of great Harlem businesses that people don’t know about,” said Ms. Gittens, who worked for Lehman Brothers before attending FIT. Gittens organized the market to draw attention to what is happening in Harlem. Another market is planned – check out uptownedm.com.

Companies that sold their fashion wares had off-beat fashion ideas to promote. A T-shirt line (chalay.com) had messages like “Puerto Rican for the Weekend.” And Brooklyn’s Cut It Out! Apparel (cutitoutapparel.com), offered T-shirt dresses, cut up at the neckline and hem, printed with messages like, “My name is not Shorty!”

The consumer craves this type of specialized fashion. You might want to open a hat stand at this market when it gets going on a more steady basis. There is money up there and hats are a sure bet. Remember the consumer is tired of the tried and true, they want something extra special.

Harlem Fashion Renaissance