How many designers would you say are based in and around Boston?
While it may be nearly impossible to land on a conclusive number to that question, the answer is most likely “far more than you would think.”
On Sunday December 3rd at Boston’s First Annual Runway Ball at Park Plaza, Bogosplit -the renowned platform dedicated to empowering emerging designers in Boston- will shed some light on that very topic by unveiling the city’s first “Designer Wall of Recognition” as part of the evening’s festivities.
“People are often surprised at the sheer quantity of talented designers we have in the city and throughout Greater Boston,” Bogosplit co-founder Keyla Cineus-Williams says. “Using the resources we have to shine any kind of light on as many of them as possible is something we -and my brother especially- are very passionate about.”
Kenelly Cineus, Keyla’s brother and Bogosplit co-founder, first approached Matt Ribaudo (co-founder of The Runway Ball) on ways to conceptually heighten the visibility and recognition for local designers about a month ago.
“The opportunities for recognition through fashion shows are few and far between for the vast majority of designers in the city,” explains Kenelly.
After playing around with different ideas on how to add more designers to Ribaudo’s publication, BostonMan Magazine, they shifted their discussion towards The Runway Ball in more detail.
“The evening is going to be an overall celebration of community, culture and fashion,” says Ribaudo, who will be releasing the 5-year anniversary edition of BostonMan Magazine at The Ball. “While we can only physically showcase seven designers on the runway itself, there is a lot more we can do during the cocktail reception portion of the evening.”
With that, came the birth of “The Designer Wall of Recognition” and Kenelly as the driving force behind it.
The plan, according to Bogosplit and BostonMan, is to showcase as many independent designers and boutique shops on a large scale projection wall in front of The Runway Ball’s red carpet as possible. Each designer will have their own slide that accentuates an image or logo, their name, their brand, and a social media handle. The “wall slides” will rotate on a loop every five seconds throughout the course of the evening. The Runway Ball and Bogosplit are absorbing all associated costs to construct “The Designer Wall of Recognition” allowing each designer that makes a submission to be highlighted at no costs to them.
“Finances can be an obstacle for a lot of independent designers,” Kenelly points out. “This is something we want to do for them, that could be a small piece of recognition that helps lift them to bigger opportunities.”
Kenelly says he has already compiled over 200 entries to be featured on The Wall. Submissions will continue to be accepted up until Friday, November 24th.
If you are a designer or boutique shop owner and would like to be one of the highlights on “The Designer Wall of Recognition” please reach out to Kenelly Cineus at: kenelly@bogosplit.com.
If you would like to attend Boston’s First Annual Runway Ball in The Ballroom at Park Plaza, please reserve your tickets here.