Wisconsin Fashion Week: A Recap Continued ...

Streetwear & Emerging Designers Runway Show
This event was held at 345 West Washington, in between the under-construction Hyatt Place and the Capitol West condos. The venue was supposed to convey "urban"--and I think it was a unique place to show off young and/or emerging designers. Designers included UW–Madison's Textile and Apparel Student Associated (TASA), Internal Construction, N.E.W.D. Clothing and Sconnie Nation. If you click on the slideshow you can see what was shown.

My favorite collection was Internal Construction, the line designed by Becky Heller and Jessica Neumann. Pieces were fun and sassy rompers, perfect for a day-to-night look. And that's exactly what the two were going for--pieces that could be worn while biking to work or school but are still dressy enough to wear out at night. I liked the gray/black romper shown last in the show--unfortunately my photo is not great of that piece, but I assure you, it was cute!

One of the strengths of their collection was the total look--Heller and Neumann clearly paid close attention to detail. Each model sported colorful eye shades or stripes of bright, colorful makeup along with leggings in colors like fuschia, sheer black, silver and yellow. In sum, their collection looked pulled-together and fresh, unlike anything I've ever seen.

Some of the TASA students showed some strong looks as well--the fanciful Carrie Bradshaw-esque tutu dress was cute, along with the more conceptual black and white dress with structured skirt and the yellow/white dress whose skirt looked like it was composed of curled ribbons (see slideshow).

Sconnie Nation surprised me with their fresh, breezy collection of T-shirts, sweatshirts, long-sleeve Ts and underwear. Models wore retro-look plastic sunglasses and walked in pairs of guys and gals (I only have one photo of Sconnie Nation in the slideshow).

Other collections had hits and misses--I recall at least one dress that was cut so high it showed, um, the model's behind—which isn't the most flattering look! :) Tim Gunn would have certainly reprimanded said designer for allowing a model to go down the runway showing her goodies off!

Overall the event was fun and represented the look that executive producer Kristi Moe was no doubt going for--fun, youthful and cutting-edge. I think that more work could be done in pulling together an even more cohesive event--the collections (to me) didn't so much say "streetwear" as they did "new emerging talent," so perhaps if this event is held next year the event could showcase strictly streetwear or just the emerging talent.