Fashion Week San Diego was a whirlwind of fashion starting on Oct. 2 at the Port Pavilion on the Broadway Pier Downtown. The first night featured The Art & Beauty Behind Fashion, where local artists from RAW: natural born artists gave live art demonstrations as models posed as muses. Beauty industry experts were on hand to give industry tips, with Jan Nordstrom Arnold of MUD discussing upcoming trends in nails and showing new available treatments.
Thursday night featured the first runway show, with the collections of Kathryn Elizabeth delivering true standout styles. Each one of her designs was a convertible dress, which could be transformed into a different style. The last design came down the runway as a short dress before the model changed it into a long dress. The evening finished with a collaborative show featuring “Styled to Rock” designers. Veteran designer Andre Soriano showed his pre-fall designs and Cecilia Aragon showed her menswear collection. The models came down the runway dressed in all black, most of them equipped with handcuffs. Dexter Simmons showed two looks on the runway: one combining heavy metal with science fiction, the other joining tribal ritual with people in the Costa Rican rain forest. “Styled to Rock” is a new reality show that will air on the Bravo Network on Oct. 25. Friday night’s fashion show brought a variety of talented designers, including stylish swimwear from Dos Caras Swimwear, eco-friendly hats from Greenpacha and beautiful designs by the duo from RHCreation, a partnership between designers in Belize and San Diego. The designs reflected a combination of both Caribbean and Southern California flavor, which the audience clearly appreciate: votes during the runway shows picked RH-Creation as winning designer of Fashion Week San Diego. The evening finished up with a doggie fashion show, with each dog on the runway an adoptable dog from Rancho Coastal Humane Society.
The runway show finale was on Saturday night with emerging designers. One highlight was the incredible jewelry by Yuwei Designs. These fabulous statement pieces thrilled the crowd. Returning to FWSD, A’doreus designs for full-figured women featured a custom-made urban fish design fabric, which was key printed on the fabric for a remarkable print. Ashley Raymond began her collection with must-have black dresses and finishing up with elegant white gowns.
Fashion Week finished up with a trunk show at the Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier. Guests were able to meet the designers and purchase the designs. For information and updates for next year, visit www.fashionweeksd.com.
Upcoming Events
• Saturday, Oct. 19 — Heels2Heal fourth annual fashion show gala, 5:30 p.m., estate of Alex and Laleh Roudi to benefit Miracle Babies; runway fashion show by New York designer Yigal Azrouel. (858) 453-9600
• Saturday, Oct. 19 — Exhibit Ambush Phase 2 at the Port Pavilion (Broadway Pier), 5:30 p.m., benefits Susan G. Komen for The Cure. (619) 955-5285
• Thursday, Oct. 24 — Zandra Rhodes & The Westgate Hotel present California Dreams on the new rooftop pool, 11:30 a.m. Reservations at WestgateHotel.TIX.com or at (800) 595-4TIX. • Sunday, Oct. 27 — Fall Bridal Bazaar, Del Mar Fairgrounds, three fashion shows throughout the day. (760) 334-5500
— Diana Cavagnaro is a nationally recognized hat designer and milliner. She has been operating a fashion business for 30 years, the last 20 years in downtown San Diego’s historic Gaslamp Quarter. She has been teaching in the fashion department at San Diego Mesa College for 20 years.