‘A shared cultural event’

FITCHBURG — Artist and designer Racheal Xavier is presenting “Raw Couture: The Art of Handmade Fashion in Fitchburg” this summer, a free public fashion event celebrating handmade design, upcycling, local history, and creative collaboration.

Scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 29 at the Fitchburg Arts Community from 2 to 6 p.m., the all ages friendly affair will be spread out through the space located at 62 Academy St. that Xavier calls home, with an upstairs fashion showcase, backstage community room, local performers, and more.

“Raw Couture” is supported in part by a grant from the Fitchburg Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. The special project features new handmade fashion created from reclaimed and upcycled materials, blending streetwear, couture, performance, and storytelling through themes of survival, transformation, sustainability, and community.

“Rooted in Fitchburg’s history as a city shaped by labor, industry, immigration, reuse, and reinvention, the event treats fashion as more than clothing. It becomes a form of authorship, memory, and public expression,” Xavier expressed. “Presented at the Fitchburg Arts Community, ‘Raw Couture’ brings handmade fashion into real community space and frames the runway as a shared cultural event rather than a distant luxury experience.”

Xavier is the founder of Valentina Ventura XX, her fashion and conceptual multimedia art practice. According to the Valentina Ventura XX website, the talented artist works through runway, installation, and visual story telling to create sculptural garments conceptual art to explore intimacy, transformation, and the power of vulnerability.

She is offering “Raw Couture” through Valentina Ventura XX as a way to bring the creative and greater community together to celebrate arts and culture and is currently seeking involvement from local artists, residents, businesses, performers, and supporters in roles including models, performers, photographers and videographers, backstage assistants, setup and installation support, collaborators and co-creators, promotion partners, and in-kind material and equipment supporters. In addition, city-based businesses are welcome to promote themselves at the event, but no sales or vending can happen.

The current event team includes Xavier as the show producer and show coordinators Thomas Moser and Giulia Sena, and participating collaborators so far are Gallery Marquee and Digi Chivetta’s Grove Temple, with more to be announced. Those interested in getting involved can reach Xavier via email at [email protected].

“Raw Couture” is free and open to the public, street parking is available, and the venue is wheelchair accessible. For more information and to RSVP visit eventbrite.com/e/raw-couture-the-art-of-handmade-fashion-in-fitchburg-tickets-1986136969140.