DC Fashion Week, which starts this Sunday, aims to reverse the understatement of the DC Metro area: we’re political, not fashionable.

The event not only draws attention to the hungry fashion scene in the nation’s capital, but also connects independent fashion designers, models, and other industry professionals.  More than that, DC Fashion Week supports diversity.  Director Ean Williams, who also designs Corjor International (above), has dubbed the project “the ‘United Nations’ of fashion weeks.”  They host emerging, international designers (this year talents hail from Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Hungary, and more); and the large black population in the District gives hope to everyone whining about lack of diversity on the major runways.

DC Fashion Week has expanded from one main event to a full fledged eight-day affair of trunk shows, runway shows, networking parties, and even an educational seminar for high school students interested in fashion careers.

DC Fashion Week is September 14-21.

I’m home in the D.C. area this week (code for “suburban Maryland”). Perusing the local websites and papers, I realize that nothing makes you more independent than being the only one doing something! D.C. has never been known for much of anything fashionable (except for Tim Gunn). The Washington Post’s fashion editor, Robin Givhan, works from NY, and the paper has hardly covered Fashion Week. Some of the better D.C.-based fashion blogs, Fashion is Spinach, and The President Wears Prada, have mentioned Fashion Week, albeit minimally; and hip culture sites Panda Head and Brightest Young Things haven’t touched on it at all. No one I know here is talking about Fashion Week; the morning news doesn’t touch on it; and this morning an old man in CVS stared at my knee-high gladiators like they needed an exorcism. The whole culture is obviously different.

I’m trying to figure out if D.C. doesn’t care or doesn’t need to care. You’re kind of trained to think that all the trends spring from the runway shows. Either Washington is totally clueless or has some secret other means to fashion. Georgetown has some decent boutiques (above), college kids love thrifting, and the outfits of Baltimore art students are usually on point. But I wonder what impact the isolation from the fashion world has on the locals. Are fledgling designers here more creative without direct influences? Do they still have the same influences (via blogs and magazines)? Are the local stylists all L.A. transplants?

The independently-run DC Fashion Week kicks off Sunday, and the Fashion Fights Poverty show is later this month. I’m curious to see the media coverage of the fairly new events. They’ve been gradually growing, but does D.C. care?