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Wednesday was the first night of runway shows at La Zona Rosa for Austin Fashion Week, and it was a night of both highs and lows.  The night started off strong with 12 year old local Austin designer, Isabella Rose Taylor, stealing the night.  I’m sorry , but all the other designers who showed on Wednesday are just going to have to come to terms with the fact that they were outdone by a 12 year old.  You can see all of Isabella’s collection and read my review of her line here.

After Isabella, the night started to nose dive.  Katherine Michael, a West Texas native, specializes in reconstructing old wedding gowns to create unique and sometimes over-the-top gowns.  While I was able to appreciate the creativity and the work put into these gowns, I found the aesthetic to be very costumey.  Unless there is an underground world of garden fairies or 5 year old little girls getting married that I don’t know about, I have no idea who Katherine Michael is designing for.  And while there is sometimes a fine line between high fashion and costume, in the case of most of Katherine Michael’s designs, I think the line was pretty thick.

 

Tropicouture was the collection I had been dreading ever since the designer announcements for Austin Fashion Week had been made.  Was there anything redeeming about this collection?  Everything from the choice of fabric to the silhouettes was completely outdated, lacking creativity, and looked very inexpensive.  Why are we even talking about this collection? Next…

 

Libellule is a line based out of New Orleans, and, although there wasn’t anything that bad about the collection, there wasn’t anything extremely memorable about it either.  The fabrics at least looked expensive, and there was some nice movement with a few of the garments.  But will I be thinking about this collection after this week is over? No.

 

I had recently gotten the chance to see Catherine Carter-Hite‘s collection at the University of Texas Apparel Design Program’s annual fashion show last month.  Her black velvet ball gown was one of the dresses that stood out amongst the other UT student designs, and when placed next to the other Austin Fashion Week designers’ pieces, it still stood out.  While I feel that her designs lack a certain modern edginess, they are well constructed and do have a rich feel to them.

 

Gwen Stefani’s line, L.A.M.B., was presented by  Young & Fabulous, a boutique located in Bee Caves.  I feel like Austin Fashion Week sort of jumped the shark with this one.  Unless Gwen Stefani is coming to Austin and showing her real collection (btw that black dude who walked out after the show was NOT Gwen Stefani in case you were confused), I’d rather just see local designers.  I can’t even comment on the clothing, because I feel like it would be unfair, since this really wasn’t a true L.A.M.B. show.

 

Raggdahl was my second favorite collection of the night after Isabella, and it was really all about the coats.  Raggdahl designer Christine certainly has an eye for creating beautiful outerwear.  I loved the structure and the lines of her pieces.  However, I do think that spikes have been way overused in the last couple of years and they are finally on their way out, so I could have done without the spiked embellishments.  I think the structured designs would have stood on their own without the added edge.  My favorite Raggdahl piece of the night was the final coat at the end which screamed sophistication.

 

Rare Trends is still a fairly new brand, founded by sister team Paola Moore and Marina Silver, and is based out of Austin.  I was introduced to their line last year, and felt it had a mix of interesting pieces and some not so interesting pieces.  This year, I felt more underwhelmed than I had in the past.  I think styling played a big part in it, but their collection at the Tribeza Style Week show last year seemed to look a lot more interesting.


Joanna Wilkinson

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