Bringing Couture to Columbus

With its own fashion week, a Top 10 design school, and a wealth of clothing companies, Columbus is home to a thriving fashion scene - enough for one 2012 study to determine that the city has the nation's third-highest number of fashion designers behind New York City and Los Angeles.

"Fashion is built into our culture here in Columbus," said Thomas McClure, the founder and executive director of the Columbus Fashion Council.

McClure calls the Columbus fashion community, with its ecosystem of designers, makeup artists, models, photographers and others, a "theater of artistry."  

Five local designers sat down with The Dispatch to discuss that artistry and the future of couture in Columbus.