On October 17, I had the opportunity to attend Milwaukee Art Museum After Dark: Run Up to the Runway. Run Up to the Runway is a fashion show runway event sponsored by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra League’s Evening Associates in collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum. The event was created four years ago, with only 75 people in attendance. By this year, it had grown to a total of 1300 people attending. The event showcased designers from Mount Mary College, Milwaukee designers Amanda Ergen, Delanie Seamon and Mink, as well as local retailers Aala Reed, Shop and Valentina.
I arrived at the MAM at about 8 p.m. to a large mass of people in Windhover Hall. The large ceiling was adorned with soft purple lighting with Run Up to the Runway shown over it. There was a large white catwalk that measured about 30 feet with about 100 white chairs surrounding it. The fashion show was not to start until 9 p.m., so my friend Anna and I went to check out the new exhibit, Art/React, which I highly recommend to anyone who visits the museum. As the name implies, the exhibit consisted of pieces of art that reacted to the individual. These ranged from a white canvas, which would record your movements that would then play on a video loop with twelve other black silhouettes that had been recorded earlier from others who stepped in front of the canvas, to a wooden table in a very soft lit room, that when you touched the table, different sentences would ring out of the speakers that surrounded the room.
By the time my friend and I were finished exploring the new exhibit, it was almost time for the runway show. Before the show began, students from Mt. Mary’s College were displaying their designs on the catwalk. The designs of the students varied greatly. From a ballerina-inspired dress in a light pink, purple and red, to a brown leather dress with a leaf adorned corset, with long black strips of fabric lying over a torn brown skirt. The winning look was a high-waisted gold pencil skirt with a large gold rosette, paired with a sleek black sleeveless turtleneck.
After the announcement of the winner, the show began. The first designers to display their work in the runway were Amanda Ergen and Mink. My favorite of their five dresses was an off-white dress that was gathered at the shoulder with a purpose flower. The fabric was nicely draped, creating a flow to the dress as the model walked down the runway. Next was the collection from Delanie Seamom. Her collection showed a great deal of range, offering different looks, and some of her clothes were my favorites of the night. I really enjoyed her last outfit, which consisted of a ruffled mini-skirt in eggplant with a fitted corset top in steel grey. It was topped with a wool swing jacket in yellow. What I liked most about this outfit was how the yellow jacket really brought to life the eggplant and steel colors. Sometimes when there is a bright color, it can distract from the other aspects of the outfit; however, the jacket complimented those colors and made for a well-put together look.
Next up was Shop. What really caught my attention during their show was an outfit which consisted of a simple purple scarf, a Mink Pink soldier jacket in black, and a brown to black whirlpool print dress. It seems that this season many designers are embracing the structure of the military jacket. I like this coat because it plays with the idea of masculinity and femininity. Its use of design and structure gives it that masculine feel, while the cut and shape of the jacket maintains its femininity with the cinched waist, smaller armholes and soft, slender shoulders.
Next on the runway was Aala Reed Men’s. To be honest, I was not crazy about the looks Aala Reed Men’s put together. The first outfit was a sequined Superman logo t-shirt with a pair of jeans that had a great deal of embroidery on them that I thought it could do without. The high point in their collection was a Ted Baker jacket with a Hugo Boss turtleneck and dark skinny jeans. The jacket embodies a militaristic feel with its double-breasted closure, stiff structure and use of epaulets.
Following Aala Reed Men’s was Aala Reed Women’s. I must say that Aala Reed Women’s put on a much better show than their male counterpart. I really liked two pieces in their collection. First was a deep v-neck halter dress in a midnight navy by Ingwa-Malero. The second was a Ted Baker “Lola” dress. What I liked about this dress was its uses of geometric shapes to create an intriguing and beautiful silhouette. Sometimes geometric patterns on a dress can make the dress seem busy or confusing and the dress gets lost in a mess of shapes, but this dress was not like that. The last to show was Molloy’s, who provided the audience with a variety of beautiful dresses. My favorites were a black and gold brocade cocktail dress and red charmeuse one-shoulder gown, which swayed back and forth on the runway as the model walked.
Overall, I thought the event was a great success. I saw many things I liked, and some things I did not. It is nice to see a growing community of people who are interested in fashion and that Milwaukee is trying to create a name for itself with some of the young designers who reside here; however, there is a still a lot of work to do before Milwaukee can claim that it is a fashion hub.
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