Nik Kacy, the founder and president of gender-free luxury brand, Nik Kacy Footwear, brings the first Equality Fashion Week to Los Angeles, CA. As a transmasculine individual who also identifies as gender non-binary, Kacy’s designs are inspired by their personal identity, style, and activism.
Equality Fashion Week (EFW) is in partnership with the newly-renovated boutique hotel, Montrose West Hollywood and will take place during LA Fashion Week. EFW is the first LGBTQ-focused fashion week to take place in Los Angeles, celebrating the queer fashion community in a five-day experience of LGBTQ artists and designers. Montrose West Hollywood will exclusively host all EFW-related events which will include pop-ups, fashion displays, and an exclusive fashion show on the rooftop of the hotel.
EFW will kick-off October 5 with an exclusive fashion show on the rooftop, hosted by reality television personality and Rupaul’s Drag Race contestant Carmen Carrera.
Participating designers include DapperBoi, Fem/Haüs, Hologram City, Lior Boroda, Sharpe Suiting, Stuzo Clothing, as well as NiK Kacy Footwear.
“I decided since it’s LA’s first queer-focused fashion week, I wanted to give all the local designers a chance first to participate,” Kacy explains. “Some designers are relatively new and still building… and just need a platform to show their work. I put most of the focus on including designers who were POC, trans, and gender non-conforming since they are the most under-represented in our beautiful spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Montrose West Hollywood Rooftop Pool
Beginning October 6, each featured designers’ collection will be on display at the host hotel for public viewing. From 4 – 7 p.m. each day, various designers will be available for a meet-and-greet during the hotels complimentary “Vino & Vinyl” happy hour in the hotel’s Tone lounge.
“People can expect all the usual glitter, unicorns, and rainbows that come from a queer fashion show because we know how to celebrate our diversity and creativity,” says Kacy.
EFW is a non-traditional event that plans on breaking all the rules and defying conventional standards with a loud message of diversity and inclusion. With the endeavor to create a morally accountable fashion week, Kacy is rallying fashion enthusiasts around trans issues and partnering with the TransLatina Coalition who will receive proceeds from the event.
“The thing that sets this fashion show a part is that it’s not going to be an audience of our peers or friends. Instead it will be predominantly faces of strangers, media, and industry folks who might not know anything about us but have the power to elevate our community, increase visibility, and hopefully increase the economic opportunities for our queer talent,” says Kacy.
Kacy also hopes EFW brings visibility and a new audience to Montrose West Hollywood. Kacy expresses how “incredibly grateful [they are] to the establishment and the staff for helping make this a reality.”
A full schedule of events will be available on the Equality Fashion Week website, equalityfashionweek.com. You can also watch the fashion show live on Instagram (@equalityfashionweek) 7 – 9 p.m. PST on October 5.
