When apparel industry people get together for a day-long business meeting, it’s not all panel discussions and lectures.
Two style shows helped enliven Saturday’s Fashion and Creative Enterprises Business Symposium at the Denver Art Museum. Six models presented short, snappy fall and holiday designs from the Frock by Tracy Reese collection during a luncheon program featuring designer Lady Soule. And for the program’s finale, the work of two dozen Colorado professional and student designers was shown, including everything from T-shirts to evening wear.
Presented by Fashion Group International and attended by 250 industry members and students, the event was an indication that Colorado designers are trying to build businesses here. No one presumes Denver is going to challenge Los Angeles or New York as a fashion capital, but local creators who want to stay in town are eager for advice on sourcing, manufacturing, legal issues, marketing and social media. A local fashion incubator is in its nascent stage, and programs like the FACE symposium are arming entrepreneurs with the tools they need to get started.
Having a local designer — Mondo Guerra — doing well on Lifetime TV’s “Project Runway” competition doesn’t hurt, either.
“A lot of designers are doing custom work or ‘one-offs’ because they don’t know how to build a business,” says Carol Enright, who chaired the symposium.
Enright, who’s also an educator at Colorado State University, says she sees many college graduates struggle with how to find their way in the fashion world. Many of those who are successful, like Soule, end up in New York.
Soule is a New Mexico native and graduate of CSU’s fashion program who has spent the past eight years at Tracy Reese in Manhattan, helping it grow from $1 million to $8 million in annual sales.
Soule said her typical 50- to 60-hour workweek is short on design tasks and long on a lot of other duties. Frock delivers fresh dresses every three weeks to retail stores like Nordstrom and Chelsea in Boulder, which keeps Soule busy sourcing fabrics, creating samples, meeting with retail buyers and troubleshooting. “Ten percent of my job is designing; 90 percent is communicating and solving problems,” she said. “If you can only do the creative part of this job, you’re not going to make it.”
For FACE’s other fashion show, Colorado designers were invited to submit designs in red, white and black, in categories that included accessories, day wear and evening or special-occasion clothes. More than two dozen looks were presented and awards were given — mostly bragging rights, Enright said.
“There are a lot of talented designers here. The goal was to give an opportunity for professionals to showcase their work and for the students to see that as well as participate.”
The looks were judged by how on-trend they were, plus wearability, salability and construction, according to Lisa Elstun, a judge and a custom designer in Denver.
She was particularly impressed by a few designers now at CSU.
“The students that won were really remarkable,” Elstun said, citing a necklace made by Cindalena Milhoan, a jacket by Wildrose Hamilton, and the hand-painted silk chiffon dress by Diana Walker as being particularly well-designed.
“They are ones to watch,” she said.
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Suzanne S. Brown: 303-954-1697 or sbrown@denverpost.com
