E. Vincent Martinez
E. Vincent Martinez

Writer and editor E. Vincent Martinez and his well-known Fashionado website have joined the Encore Atlanta family. Look here regularly for fashion news, columns, opinions and photos.

Fashionado is a fashion, lifestyle and trend destination, where readers and viewers can find invitation-only runway shows, fashion news, boutique launch parties and fundraisers. The site also reports on electronic dance music and new products through interviews and style-focused special events.

The Fashionado universe includes a blog, FashionadoTV and an Instagram presence.

Martinez, who was born in Havana and grew up in Miami, uses his website to track fashion and lifestyle trends. He earned his B.F.A. from Miami’s Barry University, trained at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and earned an M.F.A. in photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.

He earned his teaching certification at Georgia State University and joined the Grady High School faculty in 2002. He was named Grady’s Teacher of the Year in 2007. In 2010, he received the district’s highest honor, the Families Award for Excellence in Education.

Today, in addition to Fashionado, Martinez is a full-time professor at the Art Institute of Atlanta and the driving force behind several charitable efforts. His “UrbanCouture” program began when he was at Grady High School, helping transform students into young fashion designers. He and some of his students started the “Feed the Models — Save the World” campaign in April 2007 to raise awareness about the dangers of eating disorders. His “Doggies on the Catwalk” is an annual fundraiser that pairs celebrities with service dogs in a runway show. The 10-year-old effort benefits Canine Assistants, a nonprofit that trains and provides service dogs for children and adults with physical disabilities or other special needs.