Oneofakind Baton Rouge Fashion Week housed shows For Kids By Kids and BARE, but Saturday’s BIG Night featured designers of all styles to showcase artistic talent throughout the South.
BIG Night had a lineup of eight spring and summer collections combined into one runway show. The evening was hosted by Igor Matkovic, host and co-producer of Style Savvy on WBXH.
During his opening speech, Matkovic said he was thrilled to be hosting BRFW and was happy to see all the shows from the week had sold out, including BIG Night.
The first designer of the night was Christopher Youngstar from Dallas, Texas.
Youngstar displayed four designs, three male and one female. The designs consisted of black-and-white deconstructed formal wear. The majority of each design was painted onto the models’ bodies with some fabric involved, like a female model’s tutu or a male model’s shirt collar.
The second collection was from Lacie Cupani of Cupani Fashion in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Cupani presented at Friday’s BARE show, the all-natural show of BRFW during which models wore no makeup, with her “Sensuality” collection, but she presented a different selection of designs at BIG Night, titled “Simply the Best.”
The clothing comprised crochet tops, skirts and dresses, with some designs including leather overlays. All clothing came in light spring colors like cream, yellow, blue and brown.
Next was the BARE presentation, another reminder of Friday night’s show. Select pieces were put on display again for those who did not get a chance to see it and to allow guests another look.
Another designer who presented at both the BARE show and BIG Night was BRFW creator and founder Brandon Campbell.
Campbell presented a second collection from his line, iME. The clothing line consists of graphic T-shirt and sweatshirt designs with phrases focusing on today’s generation, such as “Like Addict” with the Facebook thumbs-up icon.
BIG Night also included many University student designers.
Textiles, apparel design and merchandising junior Peyton Simms presented her clothing line, Perfectly Taylored. The designs included T-shirts with catchy sayings, such as “I’m on a champagne diet.” Simms said the goal of her designs was to blend comfortable with chic and ensure the wearer is happy and having fun.
A Baton Rouge native, she said she participated in BRFW because she wanted to support her city’s fashion industry.
The textiles, apparel design and merchandising department had four other designers present their cotton-themed collections from University work as one joint show.
Seniors Eric Prestley, Ki’Yada Jenkins, Jane Gressaffa and Nimia Cabrera showed outfits in soft hues of purple, pink and white. Most of the designs were cocktail or floor-length gowns, with one design being a white, wide-legged pant paired with a tan and floral crop top. The designs were created for TAM assistant professor Lisa McRoberts’ draping class in fall 2014. The fabrics and funding for the designs came from McRoberts’ and TAM associate professor Chuanlan Liu’s Cotton Inc. grant.
The show included two children’s designers: Ms Smitty from Maumelle, Arkansas, and MEROCKI from Dallas.
BIG Night ended with Shreveport designer Johnathan Darden’s Balloonatic Fashions. The designs were balloon dresses for children and women in various lengths, colors and shapes.
BIG Night model and mass communication junior Laeh Alexander found BRFW to be an event that brought the city together.
“It’s another event to bring community members together, have fun and enjoy seeing local designers showcase their talent,” Alexander said.
You can reach Meg Ryan on Twitter @The_MegRyan.

Gallery • 9 Photos

Haley Rowe-Kadow

Designs from Ms Smitty clothing based in Maumelle, Arkansas at Baton Rouge Fashion Week on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015.