The future of fashion is angular and geometric.
It’s multifunctional and convertible.
It’s also chair upholstery, wall coverings and porcelain tile — if the runway looks shown April 17 were any indication.
The hosted its biennial fashion show, Pret-a-Porter Future: Undefined, before a sellout crowd of fashion lovers and industry members at City Hall.
Interior designers from the city’s leading architecture and design firms, along with college students, teamed up with local product manufacturers to create the futuristic fashions for the event.
Rather than taking a trip to the fabric store … la “Project Runway,” though, these designers had to work with an array of materials more akin to the runway itself. At least 80 percent of each design had to be made from materials in their partner manufacturer’s catalog, whether it was carpet, tile, wall coverings or upholstery.
The final results ranged from sleek cocktail dresses and casual menswear to wild sci-fi/fantasy creations.
Topped by an embellished helmet, a light-colored three-piece suit looked like it was on loan from electronic duo — except that the team created it from materials provided by , a purveyor of office and commercial furniture.
This year’s Best in Show winner, from and , was a showstopper, too. Every inch of the flapper-style dress was shiny ivory porcelain tiles, the kind you’d see on a kitchen back-splash or bathroom walls. A dramatic orange cape was made of SunTouch mat, which is used in radiant-heat flooring.
“I love it, just to see something different, to see it in a different application,” said Vicki Peterson, design specialist and event coordinator at Capco Tile. “We had a lot of fun constructing it.”
The biggest design challenge was the weight of the materials, said Jessica Margolis, a designer at Burkett.
“We focused on everything down to the detail, construction-wise,” Margolis said. “We even glued the seams when we glued the tile to the backing.”
Emilie Rusch: 303-954-2457, erusch@ denverpost.com or twitter.com/emilierusch
