Entertainment professionals often wear many hats, such as writer, producer or designer, but Brandon Campbell seems to rotate roles daily — most recently with his work in the Baton Rouge fashion industry.
Oneofakind Baton Rouge Fashion Week’s founder and producer, Brandon Campbell, said his professional career started when he was a student at the University of Iowa, where he started laying the foundation for his career in live production.
He began producing various events, like the school’s homecoming show and back-to-school parties. Campbell even started his own television show on campus. Before he graduated, he worked professionally at The Daily Iowan and the Iowa City Press-Citizen, focusing mostly on entertainment pieces and features.
From there, Campbell elevated his work to acquire jobs at Nickelodeon in New York City and later at Fox News Channel, where he produced obituary packages for celebrities.
“I had a hunger for entertainment,” Campbell said. “From New York, I moved to L.A. with the dream of wanting to be a producer.”
At 25, Campbell said he had his mind set on what he wanted to do with his career, and producing almost any type of entertainment show was what he strived to do.
One of his mentors at Nickelodeon took him under her wing and became an inspiration to him because she was also African-American and a producer since a young age. He said he set his mark to model his career in the same way she did and become a young, professional producer.
Campbell eventually worked his way up to work for E! Entertainment and Style Network as a social producer, and he continued to climb the ladder, learning more about fashion along the way.
Live events were especially appealing to Campbell, and they became his passion and eventually, his bread and butter. He brought that passion to World Wrestling Entertainment with his position as a writer and producer for “Friday Night Smackdown” and WWE.com.
Amid the various projects Campbell was working on, a spark of inspiration came to him, and he decided to bring a fashion week to his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas. He ended up moving back to Arkansas with the sole purpose of focusing on fashion and an event to help ignite the scene in Little Rock.
Campbell said the fashion week exploded. After its third year, he started getting inquiries about doing the same thing in different, often smaller cities.
Eventually, he connected with Visit Baton Rouge CEO Paul Arrigo and began to visit and research the city as a possible location for his second fashion week.
“I always had a love for the area, and it reminded me a lot of home,” Campbell said. “The people were nice, creative and cultured, as well.”
Laying the groundwork for another fashion week, Campbell said he later partnered with Capitol Park Museum, which became a major influence.
Together, Visit Baton Rouge and Capitol Park Museum helped and inspired Campbell to continue the necessary work needed to create the fashion week. Sharing the vision about what the show could do for the city was immensely important to him.
That vision is one inspiration and a sense of passion for one’s work, as well as “doing it now,” Campbell said.
“…It doesn’t have to be a big city. This world is smaller and is shrinking,” Campbell said. “You might have a diamond in your own back yard, but sometimes it takes someone to come down on it for you to really see it and take pride in your area.”
Though this vision includes highlighting small areas, Campbell said he does not want to mimic New York Fashion Week or other larger city’s events. He wants to bring a new angle and energy to the show.
Additionally, he said his other vision is to provide an opportunity to showcase emerging designers who don’t necessarily have the resources to promote their pieces and give them the chance to make their work known.
While he was living in Los Angeles, Campbell said he saw countless designers promoting their work through small-scale events in bars and clubs because they didn’t have the resources to be featured in the city’s fashion week.
“There is a lot of desire for something new and openness to creativity in the Baton Rouge fashion scene,” Campbell said. “And now, people are seeing the potential in their city and the great things that could come of the scene.”
Looking at last year’s fashion week, the people in attendance were dressed in their formal wear and lingering, connecting with others long after the events had ended. Campbell said he uses this to his advantage.
“I don’t look at the numbers,” Campbell said. “I look at how people are responding after the shows … To me, that’s how you measure success.”
Campbell said one of the most exciting events of this year’s fashion week that attendees should look forward to is the Bare Fashion Show, an all-natural show where the models refrain from wearing any makeup, offering a provocative and distinct show experience
“We have some things that we’re about to show that fashion shows have never shown in Louisiana,” Campbell said. “It is going to be unbelievable, and I believe people will be talking about it.”
Additionally, Campbell said Balloonatic Fashions and Christopher Youngstar are examples of what makes Baton Rouge Fashion Week one-of-a-kind. Both artists will present at the Big Night on Feb. 28, and he said they are the sure definition of what “fashionment” is: A great blend of creativity, showmanship, talent and skills.
As one of the week’s first events, Campbell visited Country Day School of Baton Rouge and read a children’s book to a small group of students.
He was joined by fashion week staff and models who were dispersed throughout the school reading their favorite tales.
Before reading, Campbell told his group of students how he recalled “big people” coming to his school to read or speak with him and his fellow classmates. Since then, he decided he would do the same if in a position to influence young people.
“You can make an impact on people’s lives that will last forever,” Campbell told the students.
You can reach Michael Tarver on Twitter @michael_16.
National producer brings fashion week to Baton Rouge
February 25, 2015
Brandon Campbell
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