As we’re all dealing with our own individual challenges through the pandemic, fashion may not seem like a necessity but it still has an important place for us mentally and emotionally. For some of us fashion runs deep and not just because it’s the career path we chose.  For many more of us there is a real connection to how we feel when we are wearing the clothes that make us feel just a certain way. Whether it means feeling dressed up for a special event, cozy and cuddled up on a lazy weekend or dressed to take on a day full of errands, work and kids’ events – there is a feeling of joy that we get when we are in our element in just the right fashion choices that we make every day.

The recent success of Tocaya has much to do with the fact that it’s always been a brand built on the idea of elevated, casual easy wear pieces based on comfort, ease and versatility. They can easily be mixed and matched to take a woman from morning to evening looking chic and stylish yet absolutely comfortable. In this pandemic world, the brand is even more suited to today’s way of living for many of us and it is definitely making many women happy in their daily choices of what they wear.

As the CEO of my lifestyle brand, Tocaya…bringing NYFW to the suburbs is how I decided to present my Fall 2020 fashion show this season! Previously based in the heart of the fashion district before lockdown, I’d held my NYFW events in midtown Manahattan, but in a season of tough retail selling and with the limitations and strict parameters of live events, everything about NYFW proposed many challenges for this upcoming season. I wondered how could I make the best of this situation with a still relatively new brand managing the financial and social challenges of the pandemic. Finding ways to collaborate, barter services, be thrifty and continue to step up all forms of marketing have always been part of the approach I’ve used to keep bringing exposure to Tocaya and that’s what I continue to focus on. That’s why the option to NOT have a fashion show did not register in my head for one second. I was really thinking how can I figure a way to do this somehow to make sure I don’t miss a season of great brand exposure. After all, these days shows can be live streamed to anyone in the world or captured and put out via social media channels to make sure no one misses the newest pieces I’m showing for the season.

Using an outdoor location at the Shannon Rose in Ramsey, NJ, I turned a social distancing live concert (which in and of itself was an event that many people were already looking forward to) into a rock and roll runway show. The location venue, the Shannon Rose did a spectacular job of keeping everyone separated in their own assigned parking spots to be safe. The event had the feel of an outdoor concert with a bit of  tailgating. With the backing tunes of the rock band, Arena at the venue and the services of a vintage limo rolling up to the event in style, the models showed up and cat-walked on the blacktop. The audience enjoyed the summer afternoon enjoying  great ’90s rock music and got to see the newest fall fashion looks all at the same time!

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