Whitney Port’s fan-funded fashion show: 11 days, $43K to go
Although plenty of recognizable names have used their celebrity status to get into the fashion game, we can’t think of any who have outright asked fans to help fund a clothing line or -- in the case of reality TV star turned apparel designer Whitney Port -- fund a New York City runway show.
Quiz: Name the celebrity clothing line
As we mentioned in passing a few weeks back, the star of quasi-reality shows “The Hills” and “The City” (in full disclosure, before embarking on her reality-TV career, Port was a summer intern at Fairchild Publications when I worked there for the now-shuttered Daily News Record) has been asking fans and supporters to raise $50,000 to fund the showing of the spring-summer 2013 runway collection of her 3-year-old contemporary women’s line, Whitney Eve, in the Lincoln Center tents during Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week.
According to Port’s online appeal, the money will go toward paying production company fees, venue fees, models, a stylist and a DJ. In exchange for pledging funds, Port is offering the kind of perks that only a celebrity designer can, ranging from a personal tweet of thanks (for a $5 contribution) all the way up to a personal tour of the brand’s headquarters in Los Angeles -- complete with a piece from the clothing line and a coffee date ($500).
As of this writing, the campaign, which launched Aug. 1 and is set to end Sept. 10 at 11:59 p.m. PDT, stands at $6,828, which means folks will need to pony up pledges at the rate of about $4,000 a day to make that $50,000 goal a reality.
Although that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen -- though it easily could if even 5% of the 915,400 people who follow Port’s Twitter account chip in the minimum contribution of $1 -- it’s unlikely, from a practical standpoint, that the runway show, scheduled for 5 p.m. on Sept. 12, won’t take place as planned even if the crowd-funding effort falls short.
Either way, we have a sneaking suspicion that this won’t be the last attempt at fan-funded fashion, so we’re going to stay tuned.
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