Hollywood resident and fashion designer Kayce Armstrong has more than sketches and fabric swatches, supermodels and fashion shows on her mind. Although the owner of Art of Shade in Downtown Hollywood has received numerous awards and recognitions — including the Designer’s Choice Award at Miami International Fashion Week last month — for her high-fashion designs made entirely out of recycled materials, Armstrong feels passionate about bringing more art, culture and fashion to the Downtown Hollywood area in an effort to boost the local economy.
Armstrong, who opted to forgo the hustle and bustle of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and instead bought a house in Hollywood, opened Art of Shade in Downtown Hollywood because she saw the potential of growing her business in the area. But eight years later, Armstrong admits she feels frustrated with the current art and culture scene of Downtown Hollywood and the current business scene as well.
“Half of Downtown Hollywood is vacant, and it’s going to stay that way unless we turn it into an artist’s community,” Armstrong said. “I’ve been seeing business around me crumble, and I’m upset with what’s going on. It’s time that somebody speak out because I think it could easily turn around.”
With the success of her business, Armstrong is looking to expand to a bigger location in Hollywood — a location that would feature a teaching center and a recycling center and would create more jobs. The avid Hollywood supporter would also love to bring fashion shows and charity events to Hollywood to attract business and visitors but said she needs help to do that.
“I’ve wanted to do fashion shows here, but who’s going to come, who’s going to support it, who’s going to fund it,” she said. “We need the spaces [in Downtown Hollywood] to be little cafés and bars and art galleries. This will draw people to Hollywood.”
Armstrong said she would love the City to work harder to fill the vacant store fronts in Downtown Hollywood and would love to see them better publicize the existing stores and restaurants. Although she’s excited that the City brought back the ArtWalk and that they are building a new performing arts pavilion in ArtsPark — expected to open June 3 and to include concerts and seating for around 2,000 people — she said without filling vacant store fronts, people will not want to come back and frequent Downtown businesses and events.
“The City needs to motivate the owners of the empty buildings to negotiate prices to get businesses here,” she said. “On some days, Harrison Street is a virtual ghost town.”
To bring people to the area, Armstrong and her employees host trunk shows at her store, located at 2028 Harrison St., and to support local businesses, she recommends various restaurants and boutiques in Downtown Hollywood to her customers. They in turn send customers her way, as well. She said the small business owners in Hollywood stick together.
And any visitor who walked into Art of Shade would have a lot to look at.
Art of Shade presently has nine different collections that have been inspired by everything from global warming to the DJ group Birdy Nam Nam, according to the boutique’s website. And, all her designs are made out of recycled materials like hand-me-down clothes, seat cushions and shower curtains.
“I am inspired by the world around me,” Armstrong said on her website. “Things in nature, politics, music and art. I will not allow myself to be confined by corporate demands for mass production. Fashion to me is more of an art and an expression of individuality and gives us the opportunity to be different.”
To revitalize Downtown Hollywood, Armstrong thinks the City should take a cue from Delray Beach because she noticed it has a great downtown area with restaurants, boutiques and stores lining streets with hundreds of patrons visiting them. In addition, she would like to see the City of Hollywood revamp Downtown Hollywood like they did Hollywood Beach and the Broadwalk. She said she notices Lisa Liotta working like crazy to do just that but wonders how much one person can do herself.
“I think we need to be progressive and current,” Armstrong said. “We need Downtown Hollywood to be full of flavor and full of things to do for both residents and tourists.”
And because Hollywood is her home and her business has reached a point where it’s successful enough to expand, Armstrong would love to keep her boutique located here. She loves to ride her bike to work and envisions a thriving Downtown art and culture scene where she can expand her passion for fashion and for Hollywood.
“We’re sticking it out and only hope to grow,” she said. “We’re hoping to bring more jobs and business to Hollywood. To me, Hollywood can be a very special place. We have all the potential in the world.”
For more information about the Art of Shade and Kayce Armstrong, visit www.artofshade.com.
