Voltage: Fashion Amplified to take hiatus in 2012

MNfashion, the organization behind MNfashion Week, is set to make some changes to their programming this year. MNfashion Week will now be known as Minneapolis-St. Paul Fashion Week, the organization announced last month on its blog, and will next take place from February 19-26 rather than in April as was previously the case.

"By aligning ourselves with the cadence of the rest of the fashion industry, we are able to give our local designers more opportunity to sell their collections to local shops and boutiques across the country," said MNfashion executive director Emily Blanche in a statement quoted in that blog post.

In a change that will be more noticable to local music lovers, Voltage: Fashion Amplified—the event that pairs local designers with local bands and has reliably packed First Avenue's Mainroom for years—will not be held this year, confirmed MNfashion spokesperson Amy Overman (filling the position formerly occupied by Voltage coordinator Angie Arner, who is no longer involved with MNfashion) in an e-mail.

"Voltage is on hiatus this season as we're working to develop Minneapolis-St. Paul Fashion Week and, in particular, The Shows," writes Overman. "Voltage is certainly near and dear to our hearts, and we plan to bring it back in some iteration in the future, however, with our small volunteer staff we chose to focus energy on The Shows."

Overman adds that the Fashion Week schedule will likely be finalized this week.

Photo: Voltage: Fashion Amplified 2011. Photo by Jay Gabler.

Jay Gabler

Jay Gabler (jay@tcdailyplanet.net, Twitter @JayGabler) is the Daily Planet's arts editor.