Gala Wrap-Up

Wow! What a night!

Our first Gala and Runway show was an amazing night. Our event sold out days before the show and our fabulous designers amazed the audience with their skill and creativity.

Designer Kyle Nylund’s “Grandstand” features performer Geoffrey Szuszkiewicz in a two-hoop performance. Photo: Jeff McDonald Photography

The show began with performances from La Gogue and Hoop Around. The go-go dancers sported light-up corsets and glowing hula-hoops as they warmed up the audience for the evening. Throughout the event, justcocktails.org served their signature Make Cocktail molecular cocktails selections.

The runway show began with Ferro Fuse by Melissa Skowron and Casey Hughes, showcasing beautiful jewellery infused with ferrofluid technology. Maria Orduz’s runway piece was next, a gown enhanced with sparkling LEDs that brought to mind a sky full of stars.  Night Envy followed with exciting club wear including light-up fedoras, ties, and apparel. Vlad Lavrovsky’s Synthesia launched a never-before-seen innovative wearable accessory, appropriately matched with an upbeat soundtrack and light show.

Laura Dempsey amazed the audience with her motion-sensitive runway dress. Designed with a dancer in mind, the dress responded to the dancer’s movements as she danced and leaped across the runway.

Laura Dempsey’s motion-sensitive dress. Photo: Zev Vitaly Abosh for Fashionsign Magazine

Kath Blair’s mood-sensitive garment took the stage next, followed by Angela Dale’s awe-inspiring “Chameleon Cocktail Dress”. Both dresses were a hit with the crowd and photographers as they showcased the exciting capabilities of programmable LED strips within clothing.

Angela Dale’s Chameleon Cocktail dress was synched to the music and fully-programmable. Photo: Jeff McDonald.

The next segment of the show featured an unexpected live keyboard/vocal performance to launch the “Dori” shine collection jewellery designed by Dorian Kominek. As the singer  proclaimed “shine bright like a diamond”, Dorian’s models walked the runway with beautiful light-up earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

Kyle Nylund continued the performance theme with a breathtaking show by hoop artist Geoffery Szuszkiewicz. Kyle’s piece featured hand-dyed fabric, leather and a primal headdress contrasted with a two high-tech hoops that seemed to multiply as they spun.

The finale of the show was a third piece from the Night Envy team from designers Betsy Hinze, Felicity Hard, Carsen Kendall, Vlad Lavrovsky and Shawn Grover. A regal figure in a ball gown appeared on the runway paired with two male models. The crowd cheered as the models ripped off their shirts to reveal luminescent “tattoos” across their chess. This edgy and innovative finale left everyone with a smile on their face as the models and designers walked the runway for a final bow.

Fairytales come to life with Night Envy’s performance. Photo credit: Zev Vitaly Abosh/Fashionsign magazine.

Huge thanks to everyone who attended the event: we hope you had as much fun watching as we did putting it on! The pieces from the runway show will be on display at events throughout the year: keep checking our website or like us on facebook to keep in the loop.

Another huge thanks to our sponsors and community partners:  Awesome Foundation Calgary, Victoria Park BRZ, WestJet,  Justccocktails.org, Chelsea Klukas Creative, 22nd Century Social Club, Beakerhead, Yelp, Calgary 2012, Endeavor Arts, Evolved Productions, Protospace, EGroup Canada furniture, Ingenuity Couture, La Gogue, Hoop Around, and Make3d!

We would also like to thank Solarbotics for all of their technical help, Designing on the Edge, Arti CAL and Personalize it Fashion for their garment expertise.  Thanks to Ben Reed for his late nights with the laser cutter, Arielle Land for her tweeting expertise, Kevin Loney for his beautiful box making expertise, Vlad Lavrovsky for going above and beyond with his help on the catwalk and lightwall (the lightsmabob!) and Jason Bedard for volunteer help.

We also couldn’t do it without our amazing volunteers – thanks everyone!

Thanks again Calgary for your support, we can’t wait to start planning for next year!

See more photos of the event at these galleries:

Zev Vitaly Abosh for FashionSign

Jeff McDonald

Faby Martin

Anthony Yuen

We will have more photos and videos to share soon!