Fashion experts bring first 810 Day Fashion Show to downtown Flint

Flint, MI — Dressed to the nines, Flint celebrated 810 Day this year in style with a sidewalk runway and a showcase of the area’s high fashion apparel.

Flint residents, designers, models and fashion enthusiasts gathered in Buckham Alley on Wednesday, Aug. 10, to watch some of Flint’s best local designers in the first ever 810 Day Fashion Show.

The show featured six fashion designers from Flint and their brands including Caron Roberts of Damaged, Tyeshon Griffin of Survivor, Ashanti Miller of Federal Apparel, Rayonna Smith of Rays Royalty, Mala Blanco of Clutch Collections and Erica Walker of Erica’s Show Room. The show also featured Veezy, a designer from Grand Rapids and his brand Fashionaire Family.

Adriana Lanice, the fashion show’s producer, said she put together the event to showcase local designers, models, makeup artists and hair stylists.

“I just want to bring everybody out and push them above and beyond so they can start doing the things they love to do,” Lanice said.

Lanice began her fashion career as a model and worked her way up to being a runway coach and eventually organizing and producing shows. She hosted another fashion show in the city in the spring of 2022 and she hopes to make the 810 Day Fashion Show an annual event. Lanice is also planning to host a show in Flint in winter.

“It’s something that you don’t normally see in Flint,” Lanice said. “For everybody to come together like that, unite and do a big show and a successful show, it’s something that a lot of people don’t expect to see.”

The fashion show was one of several events on Buckham Alley on Aug. 10, a day known as 810 Day in Flint celebrated because of its shared numbers with the city’s area code.

Erica Walker, one of the designers featured in the show and owner of Kold Karma and Erica’s Show Room, holds a fashion design mentorship for girls ages 12 to 17. This show was the first Walker got to show her designs in this year.

“[This show] means a lot because there’s not a lot of resources to learn how to do fashion design,” Walker said.