Passion for fashion: Workshop preps would-be models for shows this – The Recorder

• Modeling coach Jerry Jordan Brown shows Fae Roberts of Northfield how to model a clutch bag. STAFF PHOTO/MAX MARCUS

• Jerry Jordan Brown, a New York City modeling coach, fashion show producer and co-founder of Brooklyn Fashion Week, is co-organizing Fashion Passion in Turners Falls this year. STAFF PHOTO/MAX MARCUS

• Jerry Jordan Brown watches while Fae Roberts of Northfield models a clutch bag. STAFF PHOTO/MAX MARCUS

MONTAGUE — Preparing first-time runway models for a professional-grade fashion show is not easy, which is why Fab Fashion owner Richie Richardson brought in modeling coach and Brooklyn Fashion Week co-founder Jerry Jordan Brown for a runway modeling workshop this weekend.

The show they’re preparing for is Fashion Passion, a three-day program of fashion shows and events this September. The event is an expansion of a one-day fashion show Richardson organized in Turners Falls last September. He hopes to eventually grow it into a full week of fashion events, as there are in large cities with fashion industries.

“I see it being possible,” Brown said.

This year’s Fashion Passion will also benefit from the Montague Planning Department’s new project of twinning Turners Falls with a neighborhood in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Richardson is originally from Trinidad and had a career in fashion there before moving to New York City in 1990. The consulate general of Trinidad and Tobago knows of Richardson’s work, and is sponsoring Trinidadian fashion impresario Richard Young to come to Turners Falls this September to help organize Fashion Passion.

The modeling workshops this weekend were not only for aspiring models, but also for people who wanted to improve their confidence, Brown said. His workshops focused not only on the physical poise a runway model needs, but also on the etiquette of working in the fashion industry — both things that can be applied just as well to other areas of life, he said.

Fashion models who are running late to a job were advised to give a courtesy call. This helps to avoid becoming anxious and stressed over being late, and keeps the employers informed of what’s going on.

“People remember you, and they remember that,” Brown said. “There’s something called a blacklist.”

Taking rejection poorly can also lead to blacklisting.

“Go up to the person, shake their hand and say, ‘Thank you so much for the opportunity,’” Brown said. “It’s not the end of the world.”

Of the amateur local models in this weekend’s workshops, some will be asked to model in “Fashion Passion,” Richardson said.

“This is a marriage of global and local. We want the local to be represented,” Richardson said.

He also wants to tap the local “cottage industry” of people who sew and work with fabrics to participate in Fashion Passion.

“If you make your own things, you are a designer,” Richardson said.

Reach Max Marcus at [email protected] or 413-772-0261 ext. 261.