Where Style Takes Flight Micah Lee on Building Toledo’s Fashion Community Through WBTS 419

Fashion is more than what someone wears. It can be a form of art, a source of confidence, and a way to bring an entire creative community together.

In this episode of Taylor Community Connection, Terry Crosby sits down with Micah Lee, founder of WBTS 419, Who’s Behind The Show, to talk about his lifelong connection to fashion and his mission to create a stronger platform for the designers, models, photographers, makeup artists, hairstylists, and other creatives shaping Toledo’s fashion scene.

For Micah, that passion started long before WBTS 419. It began at home, watching someone he admired take pride in how he presented himself to the world.

A Passion Inspired by His Father

Born and raised in Toledo, Micah has spent much of his professional life working in retail, but his appreciation for fashion goes back to childhood.

One of his earliest influences was his father, a local businessman who owned a marketing company in Toledo. Micah remembers watching him get dressed each day, almost always in a suit and tie and rarely in jeans. What stood out was the pride his father took in his appearance.

That example stayed with Micah.

As his own interest in fashion continued to grow, he eventually created his clothing brand, Rebel Air, giving him another outlet to express his creativity and put his ideas into the world.

But Micah also saw an opportunity to do something bigger than building his own brand.

He wanted to help build a community.

Creating a Fashion Ecosystem in Toledo

WBTS 419 is a Toledo based fashion nonprofit created to strengthen what Micah describes as the city's fashion ecosystem.

Music and visual art are often immediately recognized as parts of a community's arts and culture scene. Micah wants fashion to have that same recognition.

WBTS 419 creates a space where people who appreciate fashion can connect while giving local creatives an opportunity to have their work seen. Now in its second full year, the organization is focused on bringing together the many different people required to make a fashion event successful.

That includes far more than designers and models.

Makeup artists, hairstylists, photographers, social media professionals, marketers, and other creatives all play a role. By bringing those talents together, Micah hopes to create opportunities for collaboration while showing Toledo just how much creativity already exists here.

It Takes a Team

One message Micah and Terry return to throughout their conversation is that success rarely happens alone.

Building WBTS 419 and producing its events requires collaboration, coordination, late nights, and people who believe in the vision.

Micah credits the team surrounding the organization and the partnerships that have helped it grow, including Metroparks Toledo, Imagine 901, 424 Degrees, and Taylor Automotive Family.

For Micah, those partnerships make it possible to create something larger than any one individual or organization could accomplish alone.

As Terry puts it during their conversation, it takes a team.

Micah agrees wholeheartedly.

Metamorphosis II Where Style Takes Flight

That teamwork will be on full display on Saturday, September 12, 2026, when WBTS 419 presents Metamorphosis II: Where Style Takes Flight at The Ribbon at Glass City Metropark.

The event will bring Toledo's fashion community together in one space, showcasing the work of local designers and creatives while giving audiences an opportunity to experience the city's fashion scene firsthand.

Even the venue itself will become part of the creativity.

The Ribbon is known as an ice skating destination, but for Metamorphosis II, Micah and his team are transforming that familiar space into a runway. It is exactly the type of creative thinking WBTS 419 hopes to encourage by looking at what already exists in Toledo and imagining something entirely new.

Attendees will see the finished show, but Micah emphasizes that there is an entire community working behind the scenes to make that moment possible.

That idea is at the heart of the organization's name: Who's Behind The Show.

Giving Toledo Creatives a Place to Be Seen

Ultimately, Micah's vision is about visibility and opportunity.

There is fashion talent in Toledo. There are designers creating original work, models developing their craft, photographers capturing it, beauty professionals completing the vision, and creative professionals helping tell those stories.

WBTS 419 is working to bring those individuals together and give them a platform.

What began with a young boy noticing the pride his father took in getting dressed has evolved into Micah's own clothing brand and now a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening an entire creative community.

With Metamorphosis II, Micah and his team are inviting Toledo to see what has been here all along and celebrate the people behind it.

Taylor Automotive Family is proud to support WBTS 419 and Metamorphosis II as Micah Lee and his team continue creating opportunities for Toledo's fashion and creative community.

👉 Watch now to hear Micah Lee share the inspiration behind WBTS 419, his lifelong passion for fashion, and what audiences can expect when Metamorphosis II takes over The Ribbon at Glass City Metropark on September 12.