Runway Report: Pink Carpet Project
SLIDESHOW: A look back at the March 1 Pink Carpet Project Runway show and party at Fred Wildlife Refuge.
The show opened and closed with burlesque performances; the local indie fashion community is very closely knit with several troupes in town. Here, the Heavenly Spies.
The Pink Carpet Project was organized by local designer Cameron Levin and PR/media gal Grace Kelly.
These two women put the Pink Carpet Project together in about a month. Pretty phenomenal. "Just 30 days ago we heard the news that Susan G. Komen was going to cut funding to Planned Parenthood’s preventative clinical breast exams for disadvantaged women. Although they have reversed their decision, our local fashion community felt it was important to come together to show our support," said Kelly before the runway presentations began.
Levin was also a presenting designer; here, she readies her first model.
That’d be me on the stage. I was happy to be able to help by emceeing the show. As I told the crowd that evening, we often see chefs and musicians come together in support of community and shared causes, and it was great to see the this aspect of the fashion set rally together and collaborate for the evening.
French-born designer Kate Mensah presented her line Kreati-Ka; Mensah is one of the designers currently based at House of Fashion.
Looks from Olga Sved’s Bellevue boutique, La Belle Reve.
Katie Chrisman’s line, like many others in the show, is available at Spun Sustainable Collective.
Guys? Oh, yeah, the runway show included them too. Here, a model from Banchong Douangphrachanh British-inspired menswear presentation is coifed backstage.
Models from Miriam Reynold’s Clear Coated line whoop it up after the final looks were shown. After the show, Levin said, "I think [our success] had a lot to do with diversity in the designers and having a celebratory, unpretentious and inclusive energy to the show. Seattleites, I feel, want to connect with fashion—they just need to be engaged in an inclusive, meaningful way."
Party goers Jeanie Oliver from Style Lab and award-winning jeweler designer Shamila Jiwa will be happy to know that Levin is planning to keep the Pink Carpet Project going.
Grim’s (owners of Manhattan Drugs Steakhouse, Po Dogs, and the Woods) were among the sponsors who donated party provisions.
The independent fashion community that came together on March 1 wasn’t just made up of designers. Makeup artists and hair stylists, many from Milagros Salon and Spa, donated their services to prep over 60 models.
In the end it made a lot of sense that burlesque performance spotted the runway show; representatives from Planned Parenthood spoke briefly that evening and presented a short video that illustrated the whole keep-your-hands-off-my-body thing, and the ridiculous false messaging and lies that circulate among some right-wing government officials and their media alliances. Burlesque was, in a way, like an interpretative dance about sex-positive politics and the need to take good care of the gorgeous human form.
