MNfashion Recap #5: 9/26

Originally posted at l'etoile magazine:

Saturday, September 26: SCENEaSOTA, Invigorate, & Worn to be Wild

by Jahna Peloquin

It’s Saturday night, and everything seems to be coming full circle. Spirits are high as the who’s who in the local fashion community gather in the Ignite Modeling studio for the second annual SCENEaSOTA fashion show.

[A look by Renate Adjei / Image by Stephen Stephens/Digital Crush]

The first five designers included returning SCENEaSOTA designers Renate Adjei, Carmichael Claith and Jenny Carle, and newcomers Ashley Busch and Kathryn V. Without the touch of stylist Angie Hanson, everything would’ve have come across as fairly basic. At best, the clothing was wearable and well-made, particularly from Renate Adjei and Carmichael Claith, who showed some interesting details and mostly-nice-looking fabrics. Adjei added a twist to her usually feminine shapes in soft fabrics by incorporating African-print fabrics from her native Ghana and stiffer fabrics for more structured silhouettes.

[A look by Carmichael Claith / Image by Stephen Stephens/Digital Crush]

For her part, Carmichael showed increasingly sophisticated silhouettes from the last time we saw her at Voltage this past spring; her plaid hooded capelet was quite adorable, and she added some interesting twists in proportion on some of the skirts and tops. But overall, this group of designers seemed unable to inject much personality into the clothing, seeming to prefer saleability over pushing it design-wise. But from my spot on the runway I could see more than a few puckering seams and straggling threads from the other designers, and cheap-looking fabric abounded. If Michael Kors or Nina Garcia would’ve seen that on the “Project Runway” stage, they would get have gotten themselves a tongue-lashing!

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE at l'etoile magazine.