Thursday, October 29, 2015

Do It: This Weekend’s Hauntingly Chic Events that Are Not To Be Missed

We’ve got our Halloween costumes ready, candy for trick-or-treaters, and pumpkins ready to carve. Now the question is, what do we do for the entirety of the Halloween Weekend? We are here with some fun and spooky events taking place in Detroit that is sure to send shivers down your spine or send you running to the dance floor.



October Badass Ladies Happy Hour | Thursday, October 29
Grab your girls and come out this Thursday, from 6 to 8 p.m. for a Badass Ladies Happy Hour at Bobcat Bonnie’s. With the city of Detroit bursting with awesome ladies, it's exciting to get the ladies together to have a few drinks and celebrate being fabulous. This cocktail hour encourages support, mentorship, friendship, and strengthening our lady community. Visit the Detroit Bad Ass Ladies Facebook page to RSVP to this event.

Bobcat Bonnie's is located at 1800 Michigan Ave., in Detroit.


Culture Lab Design: A Surprise Pop-Up Shop at Nora | Friday, October 30
Culture Lab Detroit hosts conversations and collaborations between Detroit and the international design community. It has just launched Culture Lab Designs, which is an exclusive line of products that were all created with the theme of “green space.” Celebrity event designer, David Stark, has conceptualized and created the pop-up shop that will feature and sell these home designs produced by internationally renowned designers in collaboration with Detroit artists, companies, and organizations. Get to Nora when doors open at 11 a.m. to get your limited edition creation from some of Detroit’s most talented artisans.

Nora is located at 4240 Cass Ave., in Detroit.


Motor City Funk Night: Devils Night 2015 | Friday, October 30
Instead of smashing pumpkins or hoping yours don’t get smashed, spend the night before Halloween listening to heavy funk and soul music, dancing until you know you’ll be sore in the morning, and sipping on the most ghoulish of drinks. Featuring strictly vinyl music to the sound of artists like DJs Head, Dez/Andres, Frank Raines & Eastside as well as a live performance by Guilty Simpson. Trick or Treat? It’s a treat that entry is only $5.

Funk Night will be held at 1315 Broadway, in Detroit.


Haute to Death: 8 Year Anniversary | Saturday, October 31
Haute to Death is one of the hottest Detroit-based dance parties we have ever seen. Celebrate its 8-year anniversary on one of the most festive nights of the year, Halloween. Get the finishing touches to your costume and hurry down to Detroit’s historic Temple Bar for heavy-handed cocktails, dancing, music, and decadence to celebrate another 8 years (costumes not required, but heavily encouraged). Featuring Post Punk, New Wave, Italo, Electro, and Diva House, show up, look good, and dance with Detroit. Cover is only $2 before midnight and only $3 after, 21 and up welcome.

Temple Bar is located at 2906 Cass Ave., in Detroit.


Haunted Detroit Bike Tour | Saturday, October 31
Don’t be a zombie this Halloween and come celebrate with the Wheelhouse. Instead of devouring candy this year, celebrate Halloween with Wheelhouse Detroit on a 10 to 12 mile bike tour visiting spots, which are rumored to be haunted, throughout Detroit. The bike tour will start at 5:30 p.m. and stop at Fort-Shelby, Leland Hotels, the Majestic Theatre, Elmwood Cemetery and the Masonic Temple to learn about the events that transpired in these buildings and maybe even sense some haunting shivers while listening to the haunted past of Detroit. Tickets can be purchased on the Wheelhouse website for $25 if you supply your bike or $35 if you need to rent one. This tour will sell out before Halloween, so make sure to purchase your tickets as soon as possible.

The tour leaves from the Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Shop located at 1340 E. Atwater St., in Detroit.


A Nightmare on Trumbull 2 | Saturday, October 31
Spend this Halloween in your best costume, jamming out to some awesome local talent like Staring Nots, Unholy Two, Paint Thinner, Casual Sweetheart, and Rebel Kind DJ’s. Bring out the cauldron and witch’s hat to celebrate Halloween with some awesome music. This event is for 21 and over with a $10 cover at the UFO Factory, doors open at 9 p.m.

UFO Factory is located at 2110 Trumbull St., in Detroit.


All Things Detroit | Sunday, November 1
Recover from a late night of celebrating Halloween and take off the costumes to support Detroit’s small business community this weekend. Stop by Eastern Market from 12 to 6 p.m. to kick off the holiday season while enjoying an afternoon of Detroit/Michigan apparel, handmade jewelry, artisan food products, custom artwork, and more. Start your Christmas shopping early while supporting Detroit and these businesses, and grabbing personal and quality gifts for your loved ones. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5 and children under 12 are free. It doesn’t get much better than free parking, door prizes for the first 300 guests, 100 local vendors and a puppy adoption hosted by Homefurever. Please visit www.askjennyfer.com for more details and to purchase tickets.

Eastern Market Detroit is located at 2934 Russell St., in Detroit.


Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Do It: Feed Your Mind at Lunch & Learn


After a great FashionSpeak, the motivation in Detroit to build a successful companies has never been more powerful. One of the biggest aspects in you company’s success is the team of people with whom you are working. By finding and hiring the right talent, you can build your company to its fullest potential with a team of well-fit and enthusiastic people by your side. This Tuesday, October 27, stop by Lunch & Learn, an informative luncheon where you will learn the essentials to building your team while you enjoy a delicious lunch. Feeding your brain and your belly has never been so easy.

Optimum, the lunch sponsor, is a unique company that has a culture that values innovation, dedication to their consultants and clients, and a philosophy of “doing the right thing.” By deploying the best talent for each project and assignment, Optimum’s clients are able to “define the technology of tomorrow.” By knowing how to find the best talent and how to get them to join your company, you can make leaps and bounds in regards to the success of your business.

This luncheon will consist of an open Q&A on finding fabulous talent, learning why it’s beneficial as well as cost effective to utilize staffing firms, and how to find the right staffing partner. Brainstorm with other entrepreneurs as we dive into the depths of employment and where to find your next great asset.


Lunch & Learn will be held at Bamboo Detroit located at 1442 Brush St., in Detroit. The luncheon will be held from 12:00 to 2:00pm, this Tuesday, October 27. Being that it is a free lunch, seats go quickly! RSVP on EventBrite.com, or on the Lunch & Learn Facebook page.

Friday, October 23, 2015

FashionSpeak 2015: Flash Back Friday

When working an event, it's hard to really see it all in big picture as its happening. So many little details need to be taken care of that important parts of it can be lost. Here at DGG, we try to soak in as much of the event as possible but for our recap we wanted more, so we sent our intern, Emily Semroc, to FashionSpeak to partake in the conference as one of our 10 bloggers. From continental breakfast to cocktail reception, she has helped us capture the whole day so if you missed any of it, or would like to relive it one more time, read on.

Photo c/o Emily Semroc

From floppy hats and Louboutins, to leather jackets, some of the best dressed fashion enthusiasts of Michigan came together for a very educational and cutting-edge day of workshops and networking at the beautiful One Woodward Building for FashionSpeak 2015. As soon as the doors opened, every single chair was quickly filled with the excitement, gaining momentum with each passing minute bringing us closer to the first presentation.

The morning started with a tasty breakfast of pastries, coffee, tea, and goodies from On the Dunes as we all got settled into our seats preparing for a day of networking and learning. Taubman kicked the day off with our first presentation, “What Does it Really Take to Open a Store?” where they taught us the in’s and out’s of being successful in your own store front. It was helpful to hear that Taubman offers temporary leasing opportunities as well as a permanent lease. When digging into which type of lease is best suitable for you, we have to ask ourselves what is your product? Is it seasonal? Can you fill the entire space? Is this a short-term or long-term product? By answering these questions we can learn that maybe a kiosk, cart, or temporary store would be the best fit or maybe your business is a bit more substantial and you would benefit from the permanent leasing. 

Once you decide which type of lease you want, it is important you use the resources Taubman provides to support it’s businesses such as creating a custom eBulletin, Facebook posts tagging your business, press releases, and in-mall media. With a lot of smaller companies that haven’t been too exposed, getting people into the store can be a very hard step in the process so we are very excited that Taubman is here to help us out! Owner and Operator of Gameday Detroit provided us with some insight as to what his experience was like when trying to open a storefront. His biggest piece of advice is to be very smart when it comes to the location of your property and knowing that to be a successful free standing store, you must be a destination and people already know about you, where if you’re located inside a mall people are more willing to wander into your store to keep shopping. I found his presentation to be very genuine and realistic, especially when he said that your company will consume your life and you need to be willing to work full-time to create the best company you can.

Following the presentation from Taubman about moving into a physical store location, our analytical side of the brain kept going while we listened to Kim Banat from First Merit Bank present, “Money: How to get it, what to do with it, how to make more of it”. Getting capital for your company can be a seemingly impossible task and she provided us with a cheat sheet of possibilities for your company. Her biggest piece of advice for business owners is to attend the workshops at the Small Business Development Center. These workshops focus on putting together a business plan, networking, expanding your business, and learning more about all the loans available to you. An important aspect of getting a loan is ensuring that you have an eligible credit score. With capital coming in slower than hoped, many businesses use their credit cards and completely max them out. Banat’s advice for those in that situation is to keep a 20% cushion between what your credit limit is and what you actually borrow on that card. By paying down a little bit and not going past the 30 day late payments, your credit score will slowly start to rise. Once we get the capital or loan we need, what do we do when we actually start making money? It’s so easy to get excited with profit or money flowing into the company that we can make rash decisions and not use the money to the best of its ability. By investing excess profits in your company, purchasing new equipment, continuing your education, and upgrading software you are investing for future growth of your company by doing any of these strategic moves. Money can be a hard topic to focus on, and a stressful one at that, but with the tips from Banat about lowering your credit score, investing in yourself, and be smart with your capital, we left the workshop feeling much better about our financial situations and the potential opportunities with getting a loan.

Roslyn Karamoko was next to take the stage as we were on the edge of our seats to hear her tales of entering the world of buying. Originally from Seattle, WA, Karamoko has worked as an unpaid intern, merchandising assistant, buyer, and now store owner. When asked why she loved the world of fashion, she replied with loving it because “it represents a group of people in the most unique and individual way that is very personal to them”. She walked us through her exciting life in New York, trying to find her passion, and finally finding it through a training program at Saks Fifth Avenue. After working up the corporate ladder, she moved to Singapore where she led a jet-set lifestyle with fashion shows, trunk shows, and designer meetings. The job not only sounds fashionable and fabulous, but it also provided the ability to bring relevant fashion to under deserved and isolated regions while giving brands exposure and customers access. After traveling and making strides in Singapore, she returned back to the United States where she attended courses at the BUILD Institute (which just so happens to be one of our incredible sponsors). Detroit spoke to Karamoko because of the rebuild and how persevering the city was to overcome the negativity. She created the iconic brand, Detroit is the New Black, and opened her own stand-alone store in the heart of the city, just this past year. Karamoko’s vision is to represent Detroit in a way that isn’t shown to outsiders, so each season she introduces new designers, brands, and fashion to the city in an accessible way with varying price points and styles. She is creating the platform for future retailers to find success in Detroit. After giving valuable insight to pricing metrics for success, market positioning tips, and ways to trend forecast, the audience was captivated for the Q&A portion of the workshop. Many students were in the audience that was very inspired by not only her presentation, but her life’s work as well. Some of the valuable advice she gave to us was to make sure your trends aren’t just about fashion, but that there’s an emotional connection with the customer and what they are buying as well.

When the third presentation of the day came to a close, the atmosphere in the audience was hopeful. All these entrepreneurs came to this event and in just 3 short presentations the idea of opening a store and being successful seemed possible. Being noticed in a city such as Detroit that isn’t as known for being a Fashion Capital can seem daunting, but having heard first hand stories of success and presentations on companies that are there to support you, it has never seemed more possible. As we closed our notebooks and started chatting, the smell of pizza overtook the entire room. Buddy’s Pizzeria generously provided lunch for the conference and everyone jumped to get in line. While people were waiting for food the Glam App was there providing hair, makeup, and nail touch-ups so we could look our best for the cocktail hour after the conclusion of the last speaker. After a tasty and filling lunch, reapplication of eyeliner and lipstick, we sat back in our seats to absorb more knowledge about how we can be successful.

Kristen Deryck, production manager at Detroit Sewn was up next to present. Her presentation focused mostly on the logistics of pattern making, sourcing, and the development process. She really emphasized making sure that we have consistent grading patterns and that our selling period correlated with the buyers buying period. This means that we should be designing our collection 1 year in advance seeing that buyers are buying 6 months in advance. With tips on delivering to stores, being at the beginning of the buying window, and what kind of samples to provide, we learned the ins and outs of the technical aspects that go into getting your pieces ready and in stores to be sold.

Before we knew it, it was 4 p.m. and the final workshop of the day was upon us. Keynote Speaker, Kevan Hall, was waiting backstage as we all anticipated hearing from such a successful and local designer. Kevan Hall brought life to the room with his humor, genuine desire to help Detroit, and his years of experience. With a discussion led by DGG President Karen Buscemi, we were led through his life as a struggling designer trying to find success with his red carpet appearances dressing some very well known actresses. Hall was a perfect example of the perseverance needed to start your own line or business, he road tripped to stores all over the country with his line in the back of his car. He was persistent and focused, which led to orders being placed. He really focused on having a cohesive brand identity so that he would be recognized more easily. He did this by asking himself what resonates with me personally as well as the public? What do my images say about my brand? Hall explained the key to brand identity is to be consistent with any singular aspect in all of your pieces as well as being realistic about what you’re designing to ensure it’s sellable and press-worthy. 

A great piece of advice he gave a fashion student at Central Michigan University, was to focus on the quality of your pieces as it is all about the finishing details and fine-tuning. He also stressed the importance of being aware of how you present yourself to the world, as YOU are your brand. Being an adaptive designer is very important in order to stay on the forefront of the world of fashion and Hall realized that he had an entire market that wasn’t being reached when it came to sportswear. Women that were wearing his evening gowns were finding that they had nothing to wear on the golf course that made them feel as feminine and beautiful as his dresses did. He internalized this information and found the inspiration to make a women’s active line that focused on the use of fun colors, moisture wicking material, and femininity. By appealing to the “athelisure” market that is dominating today’s sales, he created a collection that women could wear and feel confident in from the door, to the greens, as well as to the clubhouse. His advice to us was to be prepared, do your homework to know who your customer is, know how to get financing, know how to generate buzz and interest and know how to manage a team. It was remarkable that this piece of advice was the final thoughts he left us with that day so we could sit back and realize that every piece of his advice was addressed in todays workshops.


Once I got home, I sat down to really think about what I learned and I was shocked at the level of information received, the credibility behind it, and how so many aspects of the fashion world were addressed. The audience was full of students, bloggers, designers, manufacturers, sales reps, and business owners and each of these groups had incredible takeaways from the day’s activities. FashionSpeak 2015 was an incredible day where I met some of the most talented people in metro Detroit, networked with fellow fashion enthusiasts, learned from very experienced professionals, and was treated to tasty treats and cocktails from some of my favorite metro Detroit restaurants. As I was driving home that night I was filled with so much hope and excitement for Detroit due to the reception of this event and how passionate everyone was. 2015 has been a great year so far and after this day of workshops, I truly feel 2016 will be even more incredible while continuing to build Detroit’s Garment District.

Photo by Emily Semroc

Photo by Emily Semroc

Photo by Emily Semroc

Photo by Emily Semroc

Photo by Emily Semroc

Photo by Emily Semroc

Photo by Emily Semroc

Photo by Emily Semroc

Photo by Emily Semroc

Photo by Emily Semroc

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Do It: This Weekend’s Fashion, Beauty and Style Events that Are Not To Be Missed

This weekend is chock-full of fun and fashionable things to do, so if you’re itching to hit the town, these events will keep you busy!

Image from Grand Circus Magazine

Issue 2 Rooftop Party | Friday, October 23
Celebrate the release of the second Grand Circus Magazine, this weekend. Come grab the brand new issue featuring lots of rich, Detroit culture and urbanism. Held at the top of The Auburn, join Grand Circus Magazine and the crew for a beautiful view of Detroit, Our/Detroit cocktails, and the new issue! While you flip through the pages of culture, warm up by the fireplace as you de-stress from the busy workweek. The release party will be from 7 to 11 p.m. with an extravagant after party at the Anteitam for more cocktails and tasty cuisine.


Kit and Ace is located at 4240 Cass Ave., in Detroit.


A.R.T. H.A.P.P.E.N.I.N.G. | Saturday, October 24
SKANDOUGHLESS is making its first ever appearance as an artist collective with collaboration from members in Cleveland and Detroit. SKANDOUGHLESS is an up-and-coming fashion performance label and artist collective founded by Lindsay Cashews only 2 years ago. After feeling that art is becoming stagnated in the gallery setting, she decided performance and fashion were her next steps. This art is one of a kind, creative, inspiring, and cutting-edge that features music on the runway that Cashews wrote specifically for this show. From 6 to 9 p.m., you will have the opportunity to absorb and internalize the art in the gallery showing featuring art that is a performance and spectacle, as well as wearable pieces of art that can be translated into street fashion. From 10pm-1am celebrate this experience and art with DJ PrismViews and a guest musician performing all night. SKANDOUGHLESS has been shown in Chicago and New York Fashion Week and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome her to the streets of Detroit.

This event will be located at 333 Midland St., located in Highland Park.


Colorosity: The Annual Science Soiree | Saturday, October 24
This all-ages event features color and sparks curiosity through new exhibits, interactive art, and design adventures. Act like a kid for the night and have fun with the paint and “messy” materials included in this interactive art, so make sure you aren’t wearing your favorite outfit! Partake in hands on art as you watch performances by the Detroit Windsor Dance Academy. Not only will this event be fun for all ages, it also benefits the Michigan Science Center’s high-impact programs. Tickets can be purchased on their main website with prices of $125 for adults and $50 for children; this event will sell out, so make sure to get your tickets today.

Michigan Science Center is located at 5020 John R. St., in Detroit.


2016 Calendar Girls Release Party | Sunday, October 25
This weekend is full of release parties, and this is one you don’t want to miss. Join us at Tongue’s Coffee from 4 to 9 p.m. to celebrate the release of the 2016 Calendar Girls. DJ Paulo Dusicska will be spinning music all night as you enjoy appetizers, pumpkin spiced lattes, and socializing. Calendars will be available for purchase at the event for only $15. Not only will this be a great event to attend, but all proceeds from calendar purchases goes to the Guidance Center Kids- TALK CAC, which is a charity for sexually and physically abused children.

Tongue's Coffee is located at 2958 Biddle Ave., located in Wyandotte.