Overview Phoenix Fashion Week is the Southwest's leading fashion industry event, built on three pillars: fashion, education and community. It connects national and international designers with retailers, boutiques and fashion media, and it is known for launching emerging designers and Arizona's Top 40 models. Its home is Gila River Resorts & Casinos - Wild Horse Pass, where an 88-foot runway anchors a full day of shows. On site An afternoon session opens with pop-up shopping and Community Impact shows, and the evening session runs established couture and ready-to-wear runways, the Emerging Designer Bootcamp finale and the Designer of the Year and Model of the Year awards. Guests move between the Style Villa Marketplace, a red carpet, live music and the VIP champagne lounge. Sponsors can name the runway, the red carpet, the Style Villa or the after party, style every model as the official salon, fill the front-row swag bags, or present a live stream to a virtual audience. Audience About seven in ten guests are women, and most are college educated and between 25 and 54. Fashion buying is a high priority for them: most shop several times a month, both in stores and online. The room also holds boutique owners and buyers from a network of more than 500 retailers, plus designers, models and media. Talent and Influencers More than 300 designers apply for a small number of runway slots, and a handful of emerging designers go through a four-month bootcamp led by executive director Brian Hill before debuting. Past winners return as established brands, and mentors include Kym Gold, co-founder of True Religion Jeans. Local celebrities and breast cancer survivors walk in Fashionably Pink, and local influencers model the Little Black Dress up-cycling challenge. Track record Phoenix Fashion Week has run for more than a decade and has drawn designers from as far as Kuwait, Dubai and the Philippines. Its sustainability work led Phoenix's mayor to proclaim a Sustainability Fashion Day, and the Fashionably Pink show raises money for the Phoenix breast cancer charity Check for a Lump. Brand presence Gila River Resorts & Casinos hosts and presents the event. Current supporters include Alani Nu, PHXSoul.com, AZ Royalty Salon, the Skin + Makeup Institute and the Arizona Department of Education. Past partners include Peroni, Ketel One Botanicals, FIDM, Glamsquad, PRIME, Modern Luxury, Penrose Academy, Sanderson Lincoln and Green Living Magazine.