Fashion Friday comes to Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., April 27 -- Fashion Friday, a collaborative effort to celebrate fashion, support shopping and highlight local businesses, will be held in downtown Cape Girardeau on Friday, May 3. Participating retail stores downtown will provide discounts and giveaways and will feature mini-events including live mannequins, photographers, jewelry design presentations, local fashion designer showcases, and much more.

Fashion Friday events begin at 10 am and last until 5 pm with some stores extending their mini-events into the evening. Main Street will be closed from Broadway to Themis from 10 am to 5 pm for Fashion Friday participants to walk the red carpet and enjoy in-the-street festivities including live music, artist sketches, and refreshments.

The current lineup of Fashion Friday participants includes Somewhere in Time Antiques, Reruns, CP McGinty Jewelers, Sloan + Themis, Pastimes Antiques, Stash, Annie Laurie's Antiques, Philanthropy, Renaissance, Sweet Designs Boutique, Kids Bazaar, Gung-Ho Militaria, Hempies, Annie Em's at Home, Back Porch Antiques and Collectibles, Judith's Antiques, Hotshots, The Rose Lady of Heartland Roses, Belle Blossoms, Jimmy John's, and Dad's Hotdogs. An afterparty at The Library will begin at 9:00 pm.

Fashion Friday Event Director, Jory Rapps, is a Southeast Missouri State University senior majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Fashion Merchandising, Business, and Interior Design. Fashion Friday is the culmination of Rapps' independent study with Dr. Erin Fluegge Woolf, professor of management in the Harrison College of Business and faculty fellow of the Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at Southeast Missouri State University. Sponsored by Velosity Electronics and supported by iluvlocalplaces.com, the CIE, and Old Town Cape, Fashion Friday is the first event of its kind in Cape Girardeau.

Rapps' inspiration for the event came from VOGUE Fashion's Night Out, launched as a celebration of shopping designed to stimulate the economy. Rapps participated in Fashion's Night Out 2011 in New York City while interning for the fashion label Donna Karan. During his time in New York, Rapps worked with fashion designers, retailers, buyers, photographers, models, and countless others and has since wanted to bring excitement from the streets of New York City to Cape Girardeau.

Additional details about Fashion Friday including times, locations, and mini-event features can be found by visiting http://www.fashionfridaycape.com.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, including how to participate as a store, visit http://www.fashionfridaycape.com; contact the Event Director, Jory Rapps at (347) 871-5679 or joryrapps@gmail.com; or contact Dr. Erin Fluegge Woolf at (573) 651-2090 or erfluegge@semo.edu.