In the Room Media announces nonprofit group Witness to Mass Incarceration as the 2025 partner for Style Across the Aisle. The annual fashion show, which takes place this year on Sept. 10 during New York Fashion Week, features a bipartisan group of New York City elected officials wearing local designers for the catwalk. The 2025 edition of the show will be held at the New York County Surrogate’s Court in Lower Manhattan.
“Style Across the Aisle was born out of the belief that fashion can build bridges — between neighborhoods, between people and between worlds that don’t always connect,” said Skye Ostreicher, founder of Style Across the Aisle and In the Room Media.
Sen. Kevin Parker in Okaigo at the Style Across the Aisle runway show in 2024.
Focus Studios
“Partnering with Witness allows us to support creative opportunities that empower system-impacted youth and remind us all that justice, creativity and community all belong on the same runway.”
Witness to Mass Incarceration’s mission is dedicated to fostering economic independence for formerly incarcerated, system-impacted and LGBTQIA+ individuals. Recipients of the organization’s support and members of the Art of Tailoring Program, created in partnership with the Queen Economic Development Corporation, are taught how to make and design clothing and will feature in the show.
“We are honored to partner with Style Across the Aisle to showcase the talent and vision of justice-impacted designers,” said Evie Litwok, founder and executive director of Witness to Mass Incarceration. “Our Art of Tailoring program proves that when we invest in people, not prisons; we unlock creativity, entrepreneurship and the possibility of a new future. This show is a powerful statement: formerly incarcerated individuals belong at the center of New York’s cultural and economic life.”
Style Across the Aisle runway show in 2024.
Courtesy of Style Across the Aisle
Those involved in the Art of Tailoring program will design the runway looks for Assemblymember Eddie Gibbs, New York State’s first formerly incarcerated elected official, and Councilmember Julie Won, a representative for Witness to Mass Incarceration’s headquarters in Long Island City.
“We’re thrilled that Style Across the Aisle is supporting the work of our talented Witness students. This program, run in collaboration with QEDC, has the potential to be a nationwide model for system-impacted individuals — and we can’t wait to showcase its success at this year’s show,” said Ben Guttmann, executive director of the Queens economic development corporation.