The second issue of Washington, DC-based art webzine Panda Head has just launched.  Features for the “projects and preparation”-themed Fall include animation, a music-infused fashion editorial, interviews, and more.

Tonight actress Parker Posey and local news anchor Will Thomas team up to host the Fashion Fights Poverty. The annual fashion show is the FFP’s biggest effort, and Washington D.C.’s largest fashion fundraiser. A creation of the Style & Image Network, FFP raises “awareness on how fashion, textiles, and artisanship can alleviate poverty and empower communities.” The runway show spotlights international designers dedicated to ethical design and manufacturing (“fair trade, equitable compensation, and the use of environmentally-sustainable materials”), and educates consumers on responsible shopping.

Click here for more on this year’s designers.

The proceeds from tonight’s ticket sales and silent auction benefit Nest programs, devoted to helping women in developing countries.

Last Thursday Goodwill of Greater Washington hosted the Fashion of Goodwill runway show and silent auction at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C.  

Drawing on the influences of Parisian and modern styles, Alexandria-based designer Tu-Anh Nguyen styled the models with 70 outfits of clothing from Goodwill.  Some vintage designer pieces even popped up in the mix of used clothing.

The third annual event, “Under Paris Skies,” not only showed the area’s women how to get a good deal, but also encouraged supporting Goodwill’s mission of educating and employing the disabled.  

A nice gallery of the runway show is available at The Washington Post.

An ebay store for the DC Goodwill clothing is also up.

My hometown(ish) newspaper, The Washington Post has just launched glossy magazine FW, or Fashion Washington.

While the new monthly is obviously not an independent publication, they’ll certainly spotlight some of the blossoming designers and boutiques in the area.  On their website FW promises to its readers

the increasingly stylish scene here, from trend-setting diplomats and star-studded parties to fab jewelry lines and store openings. On its pages you’ll not only see the hottest, prettiest new styles, you’ll also read about the fascinating cast of characters — designers, shop owners and famous faces — making D.C. a hip place to be.

FW isn’t yet available to all subscribers, but dozens of D.C.-area boutiques, hotels, and salons will have free copies. The debut issue, released today, is available online in PDF.

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?