With so many people in the fashion industry curating designs for women, Dwight Carter decided to pivot towards bringing innovation to men’s fashion and the St. Louis creative scene.
He is also the founder of the fashion event planning and consulting firm BrainChild Next – where he is an event consultant and producer of Gent, the longest running fashion week solely dedicated to men’s fashion.
“There were a couple different markets, but none have lasted this long,” Carter said. “We consider ourselves redefining men’s fashion, educating men on how to dress and how to style and just giving men’s fashion a larger platform.”
This year’s fashion week events have included a soiree held at the Two Rivers Stone Boutique, a luxury stone retailer specializing in Italian Marbles. It also featured a fashion law panel discussion including the Certified Clothier Tailored Gents owner Darryl Tyler.
The programming culminates on Sunday (Feb. 16) with a fashion show held at the newly developed Energizer Park. For this 10th anniversary celebration of “Gent,” Carter is partnering with the Siteman Cancer Center and the Fashion Group International St. Louis chapter – where he is a board member – to bring the tradition of the Blue Jacket Fashion Show to the city. The fashion show takes place in New York during the first week of February and is aimed at spreading prostate cancer awareness. It features a series of blue jackets worn by the oncologists, survivors and others who are directly impacted by the disease. The “Gent” fashion show will also include a segment of blue jackets designed by local artists. Carter’s father, a prostate cancer survivor, will be wearing one of the jackets.
Carter has worked in the fashion industry for almost 20 years. He started out managing and styling musicians for area concerts and music festivals. He went on to produce designer competitions – and produced fashion shows for Saint Louis Fashion Week. In 2014, he and designer Paulie Gibson had a conversation about how the fashion week and many other shows did not feature much men’s wear. It was from this conversation that “Gent” came to be.
Gibson, the unofficial co-founder of “Gent,” has participated in every one of its fashion shows since its inception. And with each year that goes by, “Gent” has continued to revolutionize the men’s fashion market. Carter has gained recognition from Forbes and Women’s Wear Daily. “Getting in GQ, and Men’s Vogue you know, and getting St. Louis recognized as the men’s fashion week [is the goal],” Carter said.
Along with Gibson, the “Gent” 10th anniversary fashion show will feature Julius Evans, a recent SIBA graduate and fresh face on the fashion scene. The show will
open with Barbra Bultman, a designer of formal women’s wear who created a men’s collection specifically for this show. The show will also feature Shop Ambition, a collection of streetwear and bomber jackets and Rocket Supernova. Terry Singh, a groundbreaking designer from New York, will headline the show.
“The challenging part is to make people aware that we have men’s fashion shows and opening people’s eyes to men’s fashion in a different way,” said Carter. He eventually hopes to have designers submit to be a part of “Gent.” But for now, he will continue curating a fashion week featuring diverse men’s styles – primarily from local designers.
“I curate it to get a variety of men’s styles,” said Carter, who is also a board member of the Saint Louis Fashion Fund. “We have streetwear, eveningwear, avant garde. We try to mix it up every year and have something different. We want that wow factor of a runway show.”
Carter is also ensuring the future of men’s fashion by partnering with fashion students at Lindenwood University.
“We want to encourage student designers to start making men’s fashion so we can keep it going,” Carter said. He challenged six students to create one look to be featured during the fashion week. “We call them the future of men’s wear.”
The culminating fashion show for ‘Gent’ Men’s Fashion Week will take place at 6 p.m. on Sunday, February 16 at St. Louis City SC’s Energizer Park. For tickets or additional information, visit www.brainchildnext.com/gent
Living It content is produced in partnership with Regional Arts Commission.
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