Fashionably Cleveland Spotlights Local Design Talent

Cleveland has a vibrant and active fashion scene, said Allison Halco, a 2001 Mayfield High School graduate who founded the fashionablycleveland.com website in April 2009 and branched out earlier this year with a quarterly magazine.

"There is this fashion scene in Northeast Ohio that is there, but there's no unifying force," Halco said. "The fashion programs at and are not getting the kind of recognition they deserve."

The "full Cleveland" look – a polyester leisure suit – comes to mind when we think about how this area's fashion style is considered nationally. But Halco said Cleveland designers have made a name for themselves and are starting to get positive attention.

"People get down on Northeast Ohio, but there's an undercurrent of Cleveland that is growing and this is part of it," she said. "We have so many boutiques and salons and designers here and people don't realize it."

She said designers such as Yellowcake's Valerie Mayen, featured on Project Runway, are making a name for themselves in the fashion world.

The first issue of Fashionably Cleveland covered Blue Orchid Handbags, jewelry designer Nicole Meyer of Chardon and Style Lounge boutique in Beachwood.

Halco said the website evolved as an outgrowth of a Kent State graduate project in media management. "Once I graduated, I thought, 'I did all this work, I wonder if there's any interest in this.'"

The daughter of an electrical engineer, Halco said she's a computer nerd by default and that, combined with her interest in multimedia, made it a natural to get involved in operating a website. But there are still some things that don't translate as well on a computer screen as on paper, she said.

"It's not the same impact as a glossy spread of a model in cute clothes," Halco said. "The topic lends itself well to print."

In addition to covering designers and style in print and online, she plans to make Fashionably Cleveland part of the local fashion scene by getting involved in runway shows bringing fashion industry people together.

"I think that there's a movement. We're not quite there yet," she said.