Margaret Mahaffey (left) with Fern Mallis (middle)
When Nashville Fashion Week takes the city by storm later this year, students from Middle Tennessee State University will have a front-row seat to all the action.
Marcia Masulla, a self-described serial entrepreneur, along with the fashion visionary and MTSU alumnus Connie Cathcart-Richardson, is the co-founder and partner of Nashville Fashion Week. She’s also the founder and executive director of the Tiny But Mighty Fund, a nonprofit that raises money for animal welfare and rescue and is the CEO and owner of Roar Nashville.
“Nashville Fashion Week has never been about the runway shows, parties or glam. It’s about the people and supporting our community.”
For the last several years, a partnership between MTSU and Nashville Fashion Week has given students opportunities many people only dream of. The proceeds from Nashville Fashion Week efforts funds The Nashville Fashion Forward Fund, established in 2011, through the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, and provides emerging fashion industry practitioners support scholarships and financial support to gain experiential professional development.
Now, in its eleventh year, the partnership between MTSU and Nashville Fashion Week offers hands-on-experience to Textile, Merchandising and Design students and beyond.
Adrian E. Morales
“There’s no better way to do that than with students. You have the future, not just for fashion, but our society at large,” Masulla said.
MTSU students often hold coveted positions, like back of house, for the five-day fashion event that attracts local and national designers each year. The back of house positions provides opportunities for hands-on experience in producing a fashion event.
“We really enjoy working with students in (MTSU’s) program who have become our back of house team,” Masulla said. “They help prepare everything on the backend and work long hours during the week (of the event). They help with dressing, putting together the boards, and doing everything that ensures the runway comes off seamless.”
And for the last several years, MTSU students have exclusively been filling the back of house role.
“It’s a coveted role,” Masulla said. “That’s where all the action happens, and that’s where everyone wants to be. You get to work intimately with the designers and brands. We have to make sure the fittings are done, that everything is done, and that all our planning is executed. It’s extremely stressful; it’s a very important role, but it bears a lot of responsibility.”
Recent graduate Margaret Mahaffey had the chance to work at Nashville Fashion Week in 2019.
“Nashville Fashion Week left me fabulously inspired – from having a front-row seat to the new fashion trends and styles, all the way to the success I saw within the designers and attendees, and, most importantly, by seeing my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, continue to establish itself as a leading city in the fashion industry. It confirmed that I do love the college path I chose when I was put to the test in a real-life setting,” she said.
Like many things over the last year, Nashville Fashion Week had to change its plans and go completely virtual – a task that the university’s Marketing and Communications office helped coordinate and produce.
“Video and storytelling were extremely important for last year because we had to pivot to all virtual,” she recalled.
And while plans for this year’s Nashville Fashion Week are still in the works, organizers have decided to officially move the annual event from the spring to the fall.
“Because of COVID, and a lot of other things happening in the world, we are moving to the fall,” Masulla said.
Official dates for this year’s Nashville Fashion Week are expected to be released soon. Virtual and in-person events are in the works.