Fashion Maverick Brings the Runway to Cowtown

Philip Maximilian isn’t your run-of-the-mill, block pattern designer. He’s the man with a plan to take Fort Worth’s fashion scene from overlooked to optimistic. 

photo credit: Angie Garcia

As the founder and designer of Mener Grand Train Co., a bespoke menswear business, Maximilian spent the last few years building a book of business for himself while keeping his dream of cultivating a prominent Fort Worth fashion scene within a flap pocket’s reach.  

“We have a vision for a Fort Worth Fashion Week (FWFW),” said Maximilian. “We want to have more awareness for fashion in Fort Worth. We know there’s fashion here, but compared to others… the music scene or the art scene… there isn’t something that’s managed to function as a unit as well as those other scenes. That’s what Fort Worth Fashion Week will be.”  

Maximilian and his organizing partners are planning a range of events to take place throughout the year. This summer, FWFW hopes to hold a launch party that will be, as Maximilian puts it, “Big. Real big.” After the summer launch, the organization will host a series of pop-ups, parties, and runway shows, culminating in Fort Worth’s inaugural fashion show in winter 2020 or early spring 2021. Guests will be able to buy new styles right off the rack at some events or special order the latest looks at others–dependent on the designer’s stock and production timeline. Though it’s too soon to release any designer line-up lists yet, Maximilian guarantees that a range of abilities will be represented. 

“We’re going to pick the [designers] who are already established and fresh-out-of-school students, the ones who need a voice.” Maximilian said. He identifies closely with so many fledgling designers looking to take their first leap into the industry but needing a platform from which they can spring forth.  

Maximilian wasn’t always the sleek and chic suit designer leaning on a successful niche business. In high school, he found himself humbly sporting only a few casual outfit combinations: five T-shirts, three pairs of jeans, and two pairs of shoes–one pair for running and one pair for daily wear. It wasn’t that Maximilian wasn’t interested in fashion at the time; he vividly recalls looking up to the “cool kids” who could afford any look they lusted after. His journey to new fashionable heights began, of all places, in an automotive shop.  

“Coming from a background of being first-generation Laotian [American], we had to build a life here.” Maximilian said of his immigrant roots and entrepreneurial background. His family’s businesses kept him moving around frequently, always looking for the next opportunity or business venture. In fact, right after high school ended, Maximilian became an automotive technician at a local Ford dealership in preparation for opening his own automotive repair business soon after.  

photo credit: Angie Garcia

Three years into running his own business, Maximilian found himself with enough financial cushion to indulge in the finest of finery. A love of rich fabrics and his affinity for couture took hold, and he started sharing his new threads on Instagram, where he received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback. “It all kind of started from there.” said Maximilian. “I never imagined I’d take fashion this far.”  

 After enrolling in classes at Petit Atelier, a fashion studio and sewing lounge in Dallas, Maximilian found a love of bespoke clothing, the highly personalized craft of cutting a suit or other article of clothing to the unique proportions of the person who will wear it. At first, Maximilian sold his one-of-a-kind suits for as little as $800 as he learned the craft. Now, having mastered the bespoken tradition, his suits run almost on par with, but not quite, higher end examples that range from $3500-5500.  

Having gone from fashion underdog to local fashion icon, there’s no doubt that Maximilian has an eye for the next big thing. We couldn’t help but ask him about trends he sees coming into fuller view in the next year or so.  

“More formal is going to be coming back–as in women wearing double-breasted jackets and skirts or guys making [suits] more vibrant and flamboyant–pairing more with sneakers.” he said. “In my vision, everything old style is coming back.”  

Maximilian is also sure that collected look chic will continue to thrive in society for a while. He shared that although thrift-store style was hardly in vogue a decade ago, it’s since become inspirational to generations young and old. “It’s not about going to a thrift store because you can’t afford retail.” said Maximilian, who laughed as he shared that he’s seen thrift store t-shirts sell for up to $200 in some places or a pair of vintage Levi’s go for up to $2000. “I’ve been thrifting for a long time, and I can tell you that a lot of nice styles are inspired by old trends.” 

If you loathe the ‘80s and ‘70s styles that have forced themselves back into focus, you may be out of luck for a few years. Maximilian thinks that the youngest fashionistas will take these looks to a new level soon. In the near future, he thinks it’s possible that even men will be wearing jaguar leggings with Def Leppard shirts or cut-off tank tops. If that thought makes you cringe, Maximilian reminds us to live and let live. Or rather, dress and leave well enough alone in their dressing. “Everybody has their own style. You’ve got to be open to that.” he said.  

Fort Worth has a style all its own, too, Maximilian thinks. What he loves most about this side of the Metroplex is that the sense of community invoked here. “We support each other in every way and we’re not [a] saturated [market].” he said. “What’s different here is that we’re incorporating everybody… We’re not going to base ourselves in a high fashion standard yet, but we’re going to be bringing the best quality styles and working with the best people we can.”  

For more details on upcoming Fort Worth Fashion Week events, visit https://fwfashionweek.com/ or follow the organization on Instagram: @FortWorthFashionWeek.  

Jackie Hoermann-Elliott is a senior lecturer and the Assistant Director of First Year Composition at Texas Women’s University. She wrote for newspapers and magazines around the Midwest before settling down in the Lone Star State. Since she moved here in 2013, she’s written for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Indulge, K Magazine, The Dallas Morning News, and GuideLive. For fun, she cheers on her husband, Billy Ryan High School coach Buck Elliott, practices yoga poses with her amazing bonus daughter, “E,” runs after toddler “B the First,” and teaches with brand-new baby “B the Second” hanging onto her every word.