Art Met Fashion
Art met fashion last Saturday at a fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign and the Salt Lake Arts Center. Some of our readers may have gone to the first Art Meets Fashion event, held in Park City last fall (sponsored by Park City Magazine as a fundraiser for The Peace House and Summit County Friends of Animals).
As fun and successful as the Park City event was, this time around AMF really took it up a notch. Six local designers introduced full-fledged fashion lines. Each designer had his/her own aesthetic which was discussed in a five- minute video screened before the models hit the floor. Depending upon your own taste, you may or may not have liked what you saw. But whether you would ever choose to wear such clothes or not, it surely was a vicarious pleasure watching the models strut their stuff along the catwalk.
Designer Rachael Domingo was up first, which may have been unfortunate since her line of clothing was a hard act to follow. Outrageous hair and makeup was the rule, with dos for both men and women teased out to extreme lengths and configurations. For example, one male model had two curving cones of hair that corkscrewed forward, bringing to mind a very well dressed Beelzebub. One woman had a mock tattoo painted on her arm with the bottom purposefully allowed to run and drip past her elbow. And then there were the clothes – wild colors and artistic prints made you think that you had stumbled into a promenade of the fairy folk. Which maybe wasn’t too far off the mark.
The next several designers were more sedate in comparison, though they still presented lines more stylish than anything I have worn since the ‘80s. McKell Maddox's line combines casual funky-punky and sophisticated elegance. Krista Nielson specializes in swimwear that blended modern chic with a mid-20th century sensibility. Rebekah McKinney works mainly with grays and pinks to create power-business wear with a flair for hip coolness and understated sexiness. Jordan Halversen’s forte is colorful patchwork pants, tailored shorts and jackets. Keith Bryce displayed a widely varied fashion sensibility with influences ranging from punk chic to neo-baroque. Do I know what I’m talking about? Not really. But despite my lack of fashion sophistication, I still thought this was an amazing display of inspired haute couture.
That was the fashion portion of the evening. The art side of the equation was equally well-represented in a series of presentations in between each round of fashion displays. Opera, ballet, modern dance, belly dancing re-imagined to accompany arias and club music, solo electric violin … the performance art was as impressive as it was varied.
Delicious food from several local restaurants, liquid refreshments, a live photo-shoot featuring fashions from Michelle Boucher, video and fashion installations courtesy of Salt Lake Community College’s Institute of Fashion rounded off a wonderful evening. All in all, AMF really brought it. The Salt Lake Arts Center was filled to near capacity and a high level of enjoyment was clearly seen. Kudos to producers Anne Cummings-Anderson and Heidi Gress of (a)perture marketing along with Mary Cummings and the rest of the AMF organizers, HRC staff, volunteers and participants for the hard work and creative energy they brought to this event.
AMF hopes to present shows in other cities across the country. Personally, I can’t wait for the next one to come to Utah!
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