Manisha Joshi shows off petite clothing from A'Propos boutique Feb. 10, 2025, at the Jessie Ball DuPont center in Jacksonville. | Michelle Corum, Jacksonville Today
Published on February 17, 2025 at 10:00 am
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Manisha Joshi will proudly tell you that she’s gifting a runway fashion show for her daughter.
The fashion show Feb. 22 in Downtown Jacksonville is geared to models 5 feet 4 inches or shorter like her daughter, who was told by agencies she was too short to model.
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Manisha Joshi has her own consulting side business called Style by Manisha so she dipped into her savings (and expertise) to stage a fashion show at the Jessie Ball duPont Center. “I rented this space last year and when I reached out again this year, there’s a whole new set of models.”
Joshi wants to provide a platform for models who have long been overlooked. “The average height of an American woman is 5 foot 3 so the fact that petite women are still invisible in the fashion industry is a call for change,” she said.
And, since Jacksonville doesn’t boast a full-on fashion industry, Joshi is doing what she can to lay out a runway for budding fashionistas. Seeing her daughter feel defeated, Joshi sprang into action.
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“As a parent you have to do something, especially where I work at Leadership Jacksonville, we’re all change-makers, so that’s why last year I said ‘if someone’s not giving you a runway, you make your own’ and that’s where I came up with this idea,” she said.
“If someone’s not giving you a runway, you make your own” — Manisha Joshi
Fashion show features
There will be three capsule collections as part of the show — one from Miss Teen St. Augustine Juliann Gill, petite clothing from local boutique A’Propos, and designs by 13-year old Ramsey Salter of Ponte Vedra, who says her focus is to design off the concept of “feeling comfortable in your own skin, like self-confidence; it doesn’t really necessarily have to matter what you look like.”
In the long haul, Salter plans to tailor her designs for any height or age.
Joshi hopes her show, though geared toward the petite, will provide a platform for other models, clothing and fashion designers who may be overlooked.
“To be honest, I feel we used to have a stronger industry — we had Jacksonville Magazine Fashion Week, First Coast Fashion week and then COVID hit, and we don’t even have St. Augustine Fashion week, So I feel like there’s a really big hunger. People have asked me will you do this bi-annually, to include all heights,” Joshi said.
Sixty-four Inches of Style: The Second Annual Petite Fashion Show will take place Feb. 22 at the Jessie Ball duPont Center. Keynote speaker will be Ari Jolly, expert counsel at Florida Blue and 2025 JAX Chamber chair.
