I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser, Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week (#NWAFW).

When Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week kicked off a few years ago, it was immediately clear it would be a fun addition to the local cultural scene in the region. Local boutiques were represented, local designers and artists created fashions, and local people who had been watching Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model and wishing on a star were given a chance to “work it” on the runway themselves. All of these things are still awesome in 2014, but for me, the best thing about the event has always been the fact that the event proceeds benefit some outstanding charity organizations serving Northwest Arkansas. They started with seven in 2012, and this year they are benefiting eleven!

One of my favorite nonprofits to receive support from NWAFW is Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Northwest Arkansas. Helping single parents go back to school to improve their career opportunities is great, but that isn’t the only service they provide that makes me love them. They also support their scholarship recipients in their lives away from class. They coordinate networking opportunities, find mentors, and schedule social events that help single parents form friendships, spend quality time with their children, and find other resources in the community.

Having a daughter who is a single parent and a past scholarship recipient, I see how important these connections are. Getting a degree is a vital step toward independence and a better life for her and her daughter – but without access to a template, or the understanding of what successful parenting and career-planning looks like, the pathway to achieving goals can be very difficult to follow.

This year’s #NWAFW was bigger than ever, and I was really looking forward to seeing what they had in store. The venue for the 2^nd and 3^rd night of the event was the old Daily Record building in just off the square in Bentonville. It is a wide open warehouse-like space, which made it perfect for the fashion show. It was tricked out to give it an elegant vibe, but the industrial touches that were still visible – concrete floors, exposed metal beams, huge garage doors at the entrance – made it just edgy enough to keep things interesting.

I dug through my closet and subjected myself to too many changes of outfits before I finally settled on something I thought would work. I was going a fashion show, I had to look somewhat put together. And for a freelance writer who donated most of her “office clothing” last fall, it was a challenge. I debated on wearing a skirt vs. pants, but once I arrived I was glad I chose pants. These poor girls had to be FREEZING – it was in the 30s that night and I’m not sure the space was heated…

So, here are some of my favorite images from the evening…

If you didn’t make it to the event this year, be sure to get your ticket early next year. They sell out quickly, so keep an eye on the NWAFW Facebook page for updates. And, of course, you’ll be making a difference in Northwest Arkansas, which makes wearing heels and extra hair product worth the time and effort, right?

Finally, I’ll wrap it all up with this quick video of a gorgeous, real-sized model strutting her stuff. For me, fashion is something that EVERY woman should be able to embrace, and I love that there were models on the runway who represented the reality of beauty in every size. Enjoy!