After many years of participating in San Francsicos thriving young DIY and Urban Couture fashion scene I have decided its high time someone took a stand. I will not sit silently by and participate in events and vending projects with organizers who simple want to use and abuse artists and their time. So......I have started the BAY AREA GREY LIST, to educate each other on the progress of some of these questionable organizers and their events. Keep in mind this is not a BLACK list...I am a forgiving and understanding person and I belive people can change. This is simply a list of questionable coordinators,designers, artists and fashion industry reps who are at this time doing questionable business. Please feel free to add and comment on this issue.
Bay Area Grey List #1
Jonni Know and McNeil Stafford
(This is the write up on Yelp as it appears)
www.yelp.com/biz/jonni-knox-oakland#hrid:SymWOXph74rrfjDmCArafA
Once again I find myself wishing there was a way to give minus stars. Unfortunately I am writing this review to warn others about this complete disaster of a supposed company.
Jonni Knox......is run by a single person. Posing as a event coordinator with NO experience and a giant ego.
While no artists,designers, models or personelle are paid, you are expected to arrive for 8 and 9 am call times to rehearsals and fittings where no one arrives. When asked for information you are met with nothing but headaches and childish antics. Anyone who has ever been involved in fashion events or events of any kind knows that communication is key.
I have never been so INSULTED by any single person in the fashion industry as I was by the head of Joni Knox. Participating as a designer in her Truly beautiful fashion event turned out to be a truly unthinkable disaster.
I design and make all of my one of a kind eco friendly couture clothing items and take my art seriously. This process takes an immense amount of time and energy, so to arrive to a show and be told "you don't get to TOUCH your clothing.: and "Can you just leave" when I am not paid and no effort has been made to assure me that the 5 unpaid "interns" are not just going to trash my clothing is retarded. Plus who the hell kicks designers out of a fitting room???? Designers don't just "drop off the clothing" as I was told. The fact that someone would feel okay with disrespecting a designer like that was simply amazing.
This event coordinator was unable to book her own models with two months advance planning, left one of the plus size designers with ONE model (right up to the day of the show) after assuring her it would be taken care of and then decided to not promote for us to boot. The event coordinator had no problem however taking money for booths for vending when she knew there would be no one in attendance to shop these booths as she had promised. Really awesome for people trying to make a living off of their art as well as wasting money and precious time on participating in their event.
I went out of my way the ENTIRE time to help despite her Egotasic attitude and unnecessary scoldings about running late to 9am fittings (I live an hour and a half away) where no one arrived at all. I booked models for the show, for myself and for her to use, you would think a THANK YOU would be in order. Instead I was told I wasn't going to get to use any of MY CASTED MODELS and they would be for the show anyway.
I was not even able to sit and watch the fitting, that was just unthinkable. WOW. REALLY???? Since when do designers who fit and make clothing for the models they have had to book themselves not get to make sure the clothing fits correctly and is on the right girl for the runway????? Please some one pipe up....this makes no sense.
After being verbally abused, paid money, and wasted hours of time on this event I arrived day of to find that the ego fun was going to continue. Well you know....I've been around too many years to put up with that. This is one designer that will not be abused by some come lately for the sake of making their terrible production look better.
This company has no business even doing any further events and I warn anyone looking to work with McNeil Stafford or the Joni Knox company to run in the other direction. Unless of course you enjoy verbal abuse and being treated like trash.
No one went to this show and I doubt anyone else will be going to future events, Im glad I made the decision to spend my Saturday at Picnic day doing a photo-shoot in Dolores park with my models instead. Even though as I was leaving I asked for my booth funds to be returned as clearly the event was a failure and no shopping was to be done I was told that the funds would not be returned. Nice. Well see you in small claims Joni Knox. ......should be fun.
Run ......Run away.....FAST!!! TERRIBLE. So hurt and trampled on from this festival of crap I can barely type.
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