Urban Fashion Experience is coming to Fall River. Here's what's happening.

FALL RIVER — Fall River earned the nickname “Spindle City” for its historic ties to the textile industry. The organizers behind a new event are hoping to highlight the current ways the industry is making an impact on the city.

“A lot of people say the textile industry is gone, gone, gone, but we still have some amazing international textile manufacturers here in Fall River,” said Sandy Dennis, founder of the Creative Arts Network. “It’s where we’ve been and it’s where we’re going.”

Dennis is one of the organizers behind Urban Fashion Experience, a new event planned for Saturday, Aug. 19 that will showcase local textile manufacturers and artists through a fashion show, auction and live music.

Fall River’s historic cotton mills closed their doors long ago, but plenty of textile companies like Matouk, American Blanket Co. and Vanson Leather still call the city home, she pointed out.

“They’re all international distributors,” she said.

When is the Urban Fashion Experience?

The event will kick off Saturday afternoon with a showcase of local textile manufacturers that will include a silent auction. Starting at 5 p.m., there will be live music and DJs highlighting the city’s Hispanic and Cambodian population and a classical cellist, alongside a fashion show presenting clothes made by companies in the region like Party Dress Express, JLCS, Vanson Leather, Korber Hats and Matouk. Fashion students from B.M.C. Durfee High School and UMass Dartmouth will walk the runway as models in the show.

Local artists will do live paintings outside on the rail spur, which previously allowed trains to run towards Fall River’s busy mill district. Guests will have the chance to paint and take home old spikes from the former Fall River train tracks.

“It’s something very different for Fall River,” Dennis said. “I think it’s a springboard for new, exciting events.”

Urban Fashion Experience is planned for 3:30 to 9 p.m. this Saturday at the newly created Rail Spur Gallery and the historic Carriage House, 104 Pond Street, Fall River. Tickets for the fashion show are $15 and are available through Eventbrite and at the door.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Urban Fashion Experience highlights Fall River's textile history