As many of you know I have written countless restaurant reviews, poems, and stories about wonderful extraordinary people, establishments and events. I usually refrain from superlatives, but this is my favorite — and for a plethora of reasons. Especially given the fact that the fashion industry, the ballet culture, the film industry, etc. is infamous for subjugating and objectifying — this, my friends is the healthy wholesome antithesis. Trust me on this one. And my friend, Meghan McNamara Mundy is the soulful, creative, caring impetus! (And Meg got her poem!)

 

THE STORY

On certain spring evenings in Rochester, when the light softens against the limestone walls of the city and the trees along University Avenue begin to glow with the first real warmth of the season, you can almost feel the possibility of reinvention in the air. The kind of evening when people linger a little longer on sidewalks. When music drifts out through open doors. When a city remembers that art, beauty and human connection are not luxuries at all — but necessities.

 

And on May 29, 2026, inside the gracious halls of Memorial Art Gallery, one of those evenings will arrive again.

 

The event is called Style That Serves: Runway to Benefit the Arts. Hosted by Meg Mundy Style LLC, it promises an “elevated” runway experience filled with local and international fashion, live music by the acclaimed violinist SVET, curated pop-up shopping, and a performance by 25 North Dance. But to describe it merely as a fashion show would somehow miss the point entirely.

 

Because for Meghan Mundy, fashion has never really been about clothes. It has always been about people.

 

And if you spend even a few minutes listening to those who know her best — the designers, volunteers, young models, nonprofit leaders, retailers, artists and quiet observers who have watched her build a career across decades — you begin to understand something important.

 

Meghan Mundy is not simply a figure in Rochester’s fashion world. She is one of those rare community builders whose influence stretches far beyond the runway lights.

 

Long before Rochester knew her name, Mundy was learning the rhythms of style in New York City’s garment district. A New Jersey native who studied through FIT’s continuing education program, she worked among high-end linen houses and Madison Avenue boutiques, absorbing the elegance and urgency of the fashion industry by day while attending classes at night. She dressed sophisticated clientele. She worked in spaces where names carried weight and appearances often determined treatment.

 

Yet the lesson that stayed with her came not from the fashion houses themselves, but from her mother.

 

Treat everyone the same.

 

It sounds simple enough. But in industries built on exclusivity, it becomes something close to radical.

 

Mundy has carried that principle with her ever since. It shaped the way she approached customers in Manhattan. It shaped the way she later welcomed nervous young models backstage in Rochester with respect, safety, warmth, acceptance and an embrace from a Mom — much like her own. And it shaped the culture of every event she would go on to create and every person she meets.

 

When she arrived in Rochester nearly three decades ago, following her husband Mike after his work brought the family here, the adjustment was not easy. Manhattan’s energy gave way to unfamiliar winters and quiet suburban streets. Like many transplants before her, she wondered where she belonged.

 

But over time, Rochester revealed itself. She saw beauty in the neighborhoods. Character in the people. Possibility in the arts community. And perhaps most importantly, she saw a city and young people that deserved to dream a little bigger about itself.

 

That instinct would eventually lead to one of Rochester’s defining cultural events.

 

After attending Toronto Fashion Week on a press credential while working as a stylist for the Democrat and Chronicle’s magazine Her, Mundy returned home inspired. She gathered a small group around her dining room table and proposed an idea many considered unlikely at the time: a true fashion week for Rochester.

 

Not an imitation.

Not a novelty.

 

A genuine celebration of creativity, artistry, philanthropy and style. And in 2010, the very first Fashion Week of Rochester debuted — fittingly — at the Memorial Art Gallery.

 

It sold out.

 

Over the next 15 years, what began as an ambitious local event evolved into a cultural institution. Rochester Fashion Week brought together designers, boutiques, artists, musicians, photographers, stylists and dreamers from every corner of the region. It transformed warehouses, waterfronts, tents and galleries into worlds of imagination. It raised more than a million dollars for the Center for Youth. And perhaps just as importantly, it reminded Rochester that elegance and compassion could exist in the same room.

 

That was always Mundy’s gift.

 

She understood that glamour without humanity quickly feels hollow. So she made certain there was heart beneath the spectacle. Fashion Week became a place where overlooked young people found confidence. Where local businesses found exposure. Where artists discovered collaboration. Where women who had long saved their “good outfits” for trips to New York or Las Vegas suddenly realized there was something worth dressing up for right here at home.

 

And through it all, Mundy never seemed interested in ownership or gatekeeping. In fact, she often celebrated the very thing some industries fear most: more voices, more creators, more opportunity.

 

“There’s enough room for everybody,” she has said.

 

This tells you nearly everything you need to know about Meghan Mundy.

 

Now, after stepping away from Rochester Fashion Week, she begins another chapter with Meg Mundy Style LLC — and once again, the emphasis is not on exclusivity, but inclusion. Her new ventures include intimate runway experiences, trunk shows, youth programming through Fashion Camp 585, and charitable partnerships designed to connect creativity with community impact.

 

Fashion Camp 585, in particular, feels deeply aligned with who Mundy has always been. Young people from different backgrounds learning not only about fashion, but about confidence, collaboration and self-expression. Children discovering they belong in creative spaces. Teenagers realizing their ideas matter — because they do.

 

These are not accidental outcomes.

They are the product of someone who notices people others sometimes overlook.

 

And perhaps that is why Style That Serves feels less like a debut and more like a continuation of something enduring.

 

On that Friday evening in May, guests will arrive beneath the familiar arches of the Memorial Art Gallery. The violin will play. Lights will rise over the runway. Models will walk. Cameras will flash. Conversations will hum through the corridors.

 

But somewhere beneath all the beauty and movement will be the quieter truth of the evening: that one woman has spent decades using fashion not as a symbol of status, but as an invitation.

An invitation to gather.

To celebrate.

To create.

To give back.

To believe in Rochester.

And most of all, to see one another clearly.

 

Cities are shaped not only by politicians or developers or institutions, but by people who imagine new possibilities for how a community can feel. People who create occasions for joy. People who insist that art belongs to everyone. People who build bridges where there were once only separate rooms.

 

Meghan Mundy has been doing that for years now.

 

And if Style That Serves is any indication, she is only getting started.