After a Fashion
Your Style Avatar's new lease on life as an affirming and supportive avatar starts, ahem, with Fashion Week
By Stephen MacMillan Moser, Fri., Aug. 12, 2011
THE REPORT Following last week's column in which I committed to try to be more supportive of new fashion and new designers, I face my first challenge with Launch787's upcoming Fashion Week. While I've had issues with Fashion Week during its two-year history, clearly it isn't going to go away. So instead of criticizing it (or worse, ignoring it), I'm going to jump aboard the train this year and chug my way through it, pretending it's the real thing. I mean, we don't have the real thing here in Austin (Fashion Week, that is), and although various promotional events wrap the cloak of holy fashion sanctity around themselves, it's not the Fashion Week you hear about in New York, Paris, London, and Milan. That said, Launch787's Fashion Week is the biggest fashion-related event in Austin, spawning an array of satellite events that piggyback upon it. This year's lineup begins Saturday, Aug. 20, with the kickoff party, Style, Speed & Glory, at Cowboy Harley-Davidson. Showcase events at the Driskill begin Monday, Aug. 22, with the Apparel & Accessories Showcase; continue Tuesday with the Jewelry Showcase; Wednesday with Swimwear & Resort Wear runway presentations; Thursday with Eclectic & Edgy runway presentations; and Friday with Classic Couture runway presentations. Saturday caps the event with the Austin Fashion Awards at the Moody Theater. In addition, Austin Fashion Week showcase events will take place from Sunday, Aug. 21, through Friday, Aug. 26, by area of town: midtown, Sunday, Aug. 21; Downtown, Monday, Aug. 22; West Austin, Tuesday, Aug. 23; South Austin, Wednesday, Aug. 24; and 2nd Street District, Thursday, Aug. 25. Get your tickets and complete info at www.fashionweekaustin.com.
THE SHOPPING BLOCK Last Thursday was the grand opening party for Edge Boutique (www.edge-boutique.com), founders Phillip Solomon and John Goeth's stylish spread at Fifth and Brazos (the former Kathy Womack Gallery). Attracting a diverse crowd of fashionistas and their admirers, the shop primarily features menswear, with a few treats for the ladies thrown in. I wanted the men's clothes to be as edgy as the shop's name implies but had to be satisfied with the fact that the clothes on display looked just like the clothes most of the men present were wearing. Though not exactly visionary, the clothes are staples of a fashionable Austin man's wardrobe. What did shine was the store's jewelry assortment for men. Dangling silver chains and dinner-plate-sized belt buckles glittered wildly as the sun set through the windows, turning relatively sober outfits into showstoppers. The boutique is indeed beautiful, the owners very accommodating, and the merchandise is what men (and the women who shop for them) want to see now.
AWARD WINNERS The Jackson Ruiz Salon team, headed by co-owner Allen Ruiz, took home top honors at the North American Hairstyling Awards in Las Vegas. In addition, Jackson Ruiz's Clarissa Luna won Makeup Artist of the Year. This salon, which thrives on national and international competitions, regularly takes home awards from NAHA as well as other trade associations. Their winning entries can be seen at www.probeauty.org/naha/press.
THE LIST Here's a fashionable reminder that Hospice Austin's Beauty of Life event, featuring jewelry superstar keynote speaker Kendra Scott, happens Friday, Sept. 9, 9:30am at the Renaissance Austin Hotel. Details can be found at www.hospiceaustin.org... Women & Their Work gallery (www.womenandtheirwork.org) asks you to dress artfully for its upcoming Red Dot Art Spree on Sept. 15. Promising "fabulous art, beautiful people, and incredible silent auction packages," the Spree (and its VIP Pre Spree) offers 200 pieces of art priced at less than $500. After the Spree (après spree?), the art will remain on exhibition through Sept. 25 at the gallery... Ballet Austin's ( www.balletaustin.org) annual Fête is Friday, Sept. 23, at the W Hotel, 6pm. Tickets for the Fête's legendary afterparty, fête*ish (8pm), are available separately.
