Is St. Louis a sleeping giant for young talent in fashion design, modeling and looking gorgeous while under duress? It's an argument worth making.
Lately, the persona this region plays on TV has gotten an upgrade. We are a slice of middle America that isn't just a great place to find "What Not to Wear" victims.
Just this year, at least eight locals new to a national audience have been representing the region. And there are more to come. Some say the spark started when events such as St. Louis Fashion Week drew national attention and became a signal that there was more than meets the eye in our fair city.
Today, there's a St. Charles Fashion Week, and a number of local boutiques specialize in local designers. Many of the boutiques and designers being featured in the shows have said that they were just as surprised to find out about the number, variety and passion of designers in the region as everyone else.
Until there were events that pooled them together and flaunted their talents on stages and in venues that didn't look makeshift or garage sale, few would have predicted the potential.
Most people speak of creative flight as an inevitability.
"I think I was just as surprised to see a lot of the designers come out of nowhere as anyone," said Dwight Carter, who created and organizes the emerging designer show for St. Louis Fashion Week called Project: Design!
On Tuesday, he will present the fifth installment of the event, which is now a competition with an attractive prize package. It will be the only night for designers new to the retail world to show off their collections. Six were selected from online voting. The competition attracted designers from across the country, but only one spot in the show will be filled by someone who isn't from the St. Louis region.
"For the first Project: Design! I had to scramble and scrap to come up with people to show their collections," Carter said. So the event promoter who was working as a stylist and retail manager at the time called on people he already knew.
"Now people are coming out of their basements, literally, to submit their work, and it's good," Carter said. "I think they are more out of the box and creative than what you'll see in stores. They are not following a trend. They are definitely creating their own look."
Carter now does outreach at Washington and Lindenwood universities to offer students a next step after graduation. If events like Project: Design! continue, it could spawn more success stories.
Both the St. Louis contestants on this season's "Project Runway" have had collections presented during St. Louis Fashion Week. Designer Michael Drummond presented his Exquisite Corpse collection during the third installment of Project: Design!, and he won the grand prize. Meanwhile, A.J. Thouvenot and his partner Ryan Coyne presented their Trashbiscuit collection before the event was a competition and then later as alumni.
St. Louis Fashion Week can also boast catwalk appearances by Monet Stunson of Glen Carbon, who was on this season's "Big Brother." She was the second house guest evicted, but she won $10,000 swinging on a giant slippery wiener (don't ask).
And Gabrielle Kniery of St. Louis was on this season's "America's Next Top Model" after she strutted on the local fashion week stage.
And sure, she was already skyrocketing toward supermodel greatness, but Webster Groves' Karlie Kloss also hosted an evening and stalked the stage at an early fashion week event.
Ali Turner of Cape Girardeau, Mo., was a top five contender in the Victoria's Secret national model competition last year.
Whatever the impetus, the attention focused on the region is generating more opportunities and more interest.
MTV came to town to shoot its "Made" program with Mikala McGhee of Pattonville High School, a tall outspoken tomboy who was transformed into a graceful ballroom dancer. Her style guru was Julie Stotlar of Byrd Boutique in Clayton, not an imported fashionista.
Lake Saint Louis native Jud Birza will be on "Survivor" premiering Sept. 15. He lives in Venice, Calif., now, but he was discovered locally by Jeff and Mary Clarke of Mother Model Management when he was a student at Wentzville Holt High School. The Clarkes also discovered Kloss and Katie Fogerty, another local modeling success who walked in St. Louis Fashion Week after doing a tour of catwalks in New York, Milan and Paris.
A number of local model management companies are recruiting and employing talent in the region. West Model and Talent Management handles Stunson, who also won a guest spot on "The Young and the Restless" last year and Turner. Talent Plus/Centro Models represents Kniery and another contestant from this season's "America's Next Top Model," Simone Lewis of Kansas City.
You never know when the next discovery will be made, but we know there will be more.
Project: Design!
What • See the top six Brown Shoe Project: Design! finalists compete for the grand prize and a people's choice award. The finalists are: Blue Bird Denim by Anna Friss of St. Louis; Cavortress by Julie Whet of Mount Pleasant, S.C.; Jezebel by Jane Katherine Zachritz of Maplewood; Kristin Archibald of Des Peres; Roberto Mendes of Lake Saint Louis; and SSONN by Silvia Sonn of Chesterfield, compete for the grand prize and a people's choice award.
Where • Third Degree Glass Factory, 5200 Delmar Boulevard
When • 6-10 p.m. Tuesday
How much • $10 online pre-sale or $10 at the door
More info • saintlouisfashionweek.com/projectdesign
