I don’t know if you’ve ever attended a “real” fashion show. I know I haven’t – at least not the kind that are in New York/Paris/Milan and feature celebrities and much pouting and frantic snubbing and all that Prêt-à-Porter stuff.
Even so, I know the fashion shows I have attended – the kind that take place in nightclubs, parking lots, and people’s houses – are: 1) both less and more pretentious, 2) more creative, 3) smellier, and 4) fun.
Treasure City, possibly the best thrift store/social movement of the century (along with event co-throwers ilovemikelitt), met all criteria at Oct. 13’s fashtravaganza, holding the torch for an Austin that is not so much “weird” as “freakish,” in a good and not particularly mass-marketable way.
Pre-runway proceedings combined puppetry and improv, possibly my two least favorite art forms, but carried the day with gusto and guile.
Following that, emcee nonpariel Rev. Flint Fancy intro’d a precocious passel of kids’ designs – kicking off with Lulu Golightly modeling designer Justice Dischordia’s complex, layered party gear – quite sophisticated and, naturally, playful. Being our future, the child designers were invited to answer a single question from the hostess: “What one thing would you do to change the world?” Answers ranged from “I’d be in charge of it” to “I’d arrest everyone who drives a Hummer.” We all slept well that night.
The main event – featuring designs by such luminaries as Thunderpuppet, Leslie Tobett, Glade Whitworth, Liza & Karen, Rachel Fields, Sea & Enemies, and Austin Craft Mafia’s Tina Sparkles and Hope Perkins, who were encouraged to make (re)use of Treasure City’s bounty in their designs – is a blur of legs and appliques in my memory, but standouts included Fields’ layered velveteen shift that combined the best of the decorative arts, including trim, sequining, brocade, pleats, and upholstery, and Lorelei’s masterful Gothic-Lolita-meets-Little-Debbie frocks (shown in white and pink and more seasonal black-with-spiders, also paired with dreamy Frankensteinian wedding boots). It all became very Arbus when Sally Shrimp sent out her sewn-together “twins,” and I was a goner.
Lest one think it was all kicks and showmanship, I should note the high level of workmanship and sophisticated sensibilities at work beneath the Brechtian whimsy; Whitworth’s green pocket dress, Sea & Enemies’pink plaid dress with brown pleated collar and side panels, and (be still my heart) Thunderpuppet’s Holly Hobby-appliqued shift, along w/the aforementioned Lorelei and Fields, are especially noteworthy.
ilovemikelitt, an organization whose mission is to “celebrate the creative life,” plans its next soiree at Scoot Inn on Dec. 1. Called Acknowledge Me, the event will feature DIYness of many types (zines, crafts, music, and vegan treats). Until then, inspire yourself with the prodigious photo gallery above.
This article appears in October 19 • 2007.