Amalia Bracho
BRACHO+BOSCH
For Amalia Bracho, CEO of BRACHO+BOSCH, merging art and fashion was something instilled in her at a young age. As a 15-year-old girl, her father, a renowned muralist, painted her plain white dress before a party. Her mother dried the paint with a hair dryer as he went. The result was a one-of-a-kind piece that inspires her work at BRACHO+BOSCH to this day. She still has that dress decades later.
That merging of original art with design will carry through to her new collection shared at this year’s Tampa Fashion Week. “Guests will experience works of art. Each piece has been created to stand on its own with meticulous attention to silhouette and storytelling. This collection is one of a kind. We will not enter them into production. What is shown on the runway will remain the only original created,” shared Bracho.
Elizabeth Carson Racker
Elizabeth Carson Designs
At the age of 12, Elizabeth Carson Racker, founder of Elizabeth Carson Designs, attended her first fashion show with her dad. It changed her life. “I wanted to do everything. I wanted to design, put on the show, deal with the music, everything about it,” shared Racker. “I was styling, putting on fashion shows all through high school.”
Today, she tailors her designs to women in the prime of their lives, finding themselves while making a statement, focusing on evening wear. The collection she’s revealing on the runway at this year’s Tampa Fashion Week will be inspired by her brother, who was in the hip hop scene before he passed a few years ago. “I’m going to bring some distinctive looks from the 80s, 90s, early hip hop, and bringing it into modern day, into my world,” added Racker.
Erik Wise
Urban Native
Erik Wise, founder and lead designer of Urban Native, didn’t follow a traditional path to become a designer. “It was evolutionary. I am not classically trained. I actually learned from my grandmother,” shared Wise. His first designs were maternity clothes for his wife 35-years-ago. What he thought was a one-time thing turned into something far more. Today, Erik’s designs cater to women with “curves and kids and all the things that go along,” encouraging them to live boldly and confidently.
For this year’s Tampa Fashion Week, he will bring his iconic West African tribal vibe meets Florida coastal look to life in a new way by focusing on multi-use pieces. The intent is to offer pieces that can work seamlessly together or with other pieces in your closet, with the change of one or two items completely altering the look.