"If you want to be a cowboy, you go to Texas," says Steven Kolb, executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), and if you want to be a fashion designer, you have to be in New York. "That's just the way it is."

But despite this well-known tradition, other US cities are vying for attention from the fashion industry. Fashion Weeks are popping up in places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami, and some younger, newer designers are choosing to stay out of New York. Forbes highlights five designers in these cities as well as in New Orleans and Seattle:

• Suzanne Perron - bridal wear designer out of New Orleans with Vera Wang and Carolina Herrera pedigree
• Orlando Espinoza - women's separates and dresses in Chicago
• Colleen Quen - dressed Tyra Banks and Paris Hilton out of San Francisco
• Nicolas Felizola - Venezuelan designer in Miami
• Suzanne Jaberg - her line Suzabelle is out of Seattle