Listen to this articleKey takeaways:
- Meg Mundy, a co-founder of Fashion Week of Rochester, has launched a new venture — Meg Mundy Style LLC — after 15 years with the high-profile event.
- The new company will focus on boutique runway experiences, designer trunk shows and youth programming, including the launch of Fashion Camp 585 in January.
- Mundy brings deep industry experience, including training at FIT and early work in New York’s garment district with European designers.
- She said the new venture represents a “full-circle moment” returning her to hands-on, creative fashion work.
After 15 years helping to lead Fashion Week of Rochester, Meg Mundy is stepping into a new chapter with the launch of Meg Mundy Style LLC, a venture aimed at expanding and elevating Rochester’s fashion ecosystem through intimate, high-impact fashion experiences.
“This is a cool place; a great, creative town, and we should all celebrate it,” Mundy said.
A New Jersey native and graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, Mundy began her career in New York’s garment district collaborating with European designers and managing trunk shows for French, Italian and English brands. She moved to Rochester nearly 30 years ago when her husband’s job brought the family to the region.
Mundy’s influence on Rochester’s fashion landscape runs deep. Inspired by a trip to Toronto Fashion Week, she helped found Fashion Week of Rochester in 2010 as a three-day community event showcasing local designers, boutiques, businesses and artists—while raising awareness and critical funds for The Center for Youth and its programs supporting youth experiencing homelessness.
Over the years, the event has grown into a major annual celebration of creativity, philanthropy and inclusive beauty, becoming a signature Rochester tradition.
“Fashion Week has always been about more than fashion—it’s been about people,” Mundy said. “Together, we’ve created awareness, built shelters and celebrated beauty in all forms.”
Fashion Week Rochester will continue. Event organizers said a reimagined Fashion Week would be held in October and further details will be announced early next year.
For Mundy, a second spark of inspiration from Toronto—this time after encountering London designer Adebayo Jones—led her to later present a Rochester runway show of his work. It also marked the beginnings of what would become her next evolution in fashion entrepreneurship.
Her newly launched company will focus on boutique-runway events, designer trunk shows and Fashion Camp 585, a youth program designed to build creativity and confidence through hands-on fashion industry experiences.
The five-week camp, for ages 8 to 16, begins in January at the Five Star Bank Plaza downtown, where Mundy is headquartered. It will include guest speakers, a local retail field trip and a final runway show created and produced by participants.
Another new event — Cocktails and Closeouts — is planned for February, offering local retailers an opportunity to sell end-of-season merchandise while connecting with customers in a social setting.
Mundy emphasized that philanthropy would remain central to her work.
“This new venture feels like a full-circle moment,” she said. “I’m returning to the kind of fashion that first inspired me, while continuing to uplift others and give back to the community I love.”
[email protected] / (585) 653-4021
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