St. Louis designers show-off differences
The St. Louis designers proved that there’s nothing homogeneous about the city’s style at Tuesday’s opening of Fashion Week held at the Contemporary Art Museum.
Ashley Dayley and Felicia Pease continued to turn heads with AFV, At First View. My favorite look of the night was a great printed sheath dress by the designing duo. The above-the-knee dress converted to a mini-skirt with a black zipper ringing around the thigh (pictured above with the bottom portion still attached). The rest of their looks were colorful, bold and floral. Dayley called it vintage sexy. The looks included a series of dresses with body hugging details balanced with feminine volume, no baby dolls in sight. One jacket should have carried a caution sign, but the rest of the collection was fun and fresh.
Paul Gibson’s collection was clean and simple in soft hues of plum, mocha and camel. He showed both men’s and women’s wear and did both with polish. A coral blue bias cut dress was a standout and his adeptness at hand-making men’s casual trousers was impressive (see the photo above). His looks for both sexes were body conscious, but not overtly so. He has a fine eye for form and detail.
Amy Johnson of KayOss Designs offered up a socialite collection that was charming and quietly grand. Playful straight skirts with tiered frayed silk fringe were paired with paperthin tees, scarf print skirts in bold hues were topped with form fitting color and silk dresses in muted color prints seemed tailor made for the fashion standout in the ladies-who-lunch crowd (see photo above). Signature tees this season held a single bold exclamation point. Very apt for her collection.
Lesley Timpe of Squasht showed off her cocktail martini dresses and a fresh collection of caps in tweeds and wool. Her aesthetic has a handmade quality, but in a good way. I loved the full skirts with the droopy pockets reminiscent of 1920s aprons, because the look seemed playful and ironic. These were not the calico prints you’d expect from a lady wearing pearls and dusting the living room, the looks seemed very much like mischievous daywear for the girl would might pair it with peep-toe pumps one day and high-top sneakers the next. In the photo at left, that’s Lesley in the middle.
Suzanne Lay rounded out the group of locals with a showing of wrapped dresses and some cocktail attire. Her best looks had fit and flare and flirty details on the sleeves, her worst look was an experiment and not one of my favorites — a bland biege, tiered and shredded above-the-knee cocktail dress that seemed to add about 20 pounds to the girth of the model. Judge for yourself in the photo at right. The designer, who is 4 months pregnant and has a 4-year-old at home already, stands between two much more successful looks, she’s the third from the left.
A wayward soul from Las Vegas, Nevada, who now calls St. Louis home and believes that fashion is relative and capricious, but style is always in favor. 
Amy Johnson of KayOss Designs has a beautiful black skirt and very pretty white silk top shown on your web site. What a lovely outfit! I’m sure anyone would like it for their “special occasion ” outfit.