Gretchen Nelson has always loved fashion and it was during the pandemic where the dream of being a fashion designer came to life.”I realized, ‘Wow, I really want to do this,’ and now I’m going into a fashion design major because of it,” Nelson said. Nelson’s company, For Varlden, started in 2020 and grew from there. She even had a collection featured during Omaha Fashion Week. “I wanted it to look as best as it possibly could,” Nelson said. For designers hopeful for the spring season, they will have to wait until the fall. “In early January, we made the very difficult decision to go forward with a virtual season for Omaha Fashion Week,” Brook Husdon said.Hudson is a producer for Omaha Fashion Week. She said when the decision was made the omicron variant just it and canceling too late would be difficult. “I don’t have any regrets. Yeah, cases are down and we may be in a different situation health-wise than we were in early January,” Hudson said. “For the way our show’s run this makes the most sense.” Hudson said the news hit hard for some. “A few were genuinely upset about it but they understood why we had to make that decision but it was still, ‘Ah man, I put time and money into this,'” Hudson said. Others had similar experiences.”I did have a couple of close friends who were preparing their collection and were getting close to getting done with it and then it got canceled, so that was a bummer,” Nelson said. Nelson said not all is lost because designers are resilient. “A lot of young people just like me have discovered that they have a lot of capabilities in this industry,” Nelson said. The virtual show, Hudson said, is more educational. It features discussion panels on design, photography, talent management, starting a business and more. Hudson said the best part is the fact that it is free to attend. “Being able to weave more of that educational component into things I think is really important,” Hudson said. For designers still looking to get their looks out there, Hudson said Omaha Fashion Week plans to do trunk shows in the spring. So far, the fall Omaha Fashion Week season is set to be in-person.
Gretchen Nelson has always loved fashion and it was during the pandemic where the dream of being a fashion designer came to life.
“I realized, ‘Wow, I really want to do this,’ and now I’m going into a fashion design major because of it,” Nelson said.
Nelson’s company, For Varlden, started in 2020 and grew from there. She even had a collection featured during Omaha Fashion Week.
“I wanted it to look as best as it possibly could,” Nelson said.
For designers hopeful for the spring season, they will have to wait until the fall.
“In early January, we made the very difficult decision to go forward with a virtual season for Omaha Fashion Week,” Brook Husdon said.
Hudson is a producer for Omaha Fashion Week. She said when the decision was made the omicron variant just it and canceling too late would be difficult.
“I don’t have any regrets. Yeah, cases are down and we may be in a different situation health-wise than we were in early January,” Hudson said. “For the way our show’s run this makes the most sense.”
Hudson said the news hit hard for some.
“A few were genuinely upset about it but they understood why we had to make that decision but it was still, ‘Ah man, I put time and money into this,'” Hudson said.
Others had similar experiences.
“I did have a couple of close friends who were preparing their collection and were getting close to getting done with it and then it got canceled, so that was a bummer,” Nelson said.
Nelson said not all is lost because designers are resilient.
“A lot of young people just like me have discovered that they have a lot of capabilities in this industry,” Nelson said.
The virtual show, Hudson said, is more educational. It features discussion panels on design, photography, talent management, starting a business and more.
Hudson said the best part is the fact that it is free to attend.
“Being able to weave more of that educational component into things I think is really important,” Hudson said.
For designers still looking to get their looks out there, Hudson said Omaha Fashion Week plans to do trunk shows in the spring. So far, the fall Omaha Fashion Week season is set to be in-person.
