When the trio known as Love Brigade first thought of coming to St. Louis Fashion Week last spring, Christopher Dang said that because he has family in Minnesota, the first thing he associated with St. Louis was snow, not fashion.

"I really didn't have a clear picture of what to expect," said Dang, who goes by the nickname "Tinypants."

The local fashion week was recommended by fellow designers Wrath Arcane of Cleveland. The Wrath Arcane designers said they were excited about showing their men's collection here and eager to drum up some new fans for their label. The Love Brigade designers figured they didn't have anything to lose by showing as well.

"We had a lot of focus on the coasts (east and west), and even Japan had some big accounts for us, but we've always wanted to generate a line with real global appeal," Dang said. "Coming to St. Louis became a beacon that gave us insight into fashion inside of America ... we never knew before."

He said that it's easy to generalize and stereotype a region if you don't have genuine exposure to it. The designers recently got an order from Nashville. They immediately thought of stocky cowboys, but instead their customer there is a slim rockabilly who wants some edge.

"Not to discredit the Midwest, but we try to be very cautious about where we expand and where we step next. There's a lot of room for error in this business," he said.

He said that it was a no-brainer to return for a second time to St. Louis even though they don't have any outlets that sell their clothing here. This time they will focus on finding a boutique that will be a good fit. Dang said their experience in St. Louis last season, their first fashion show in the Midwest, "blew us away."

And by pure coincidence, the British label that inspired the creation of Love Brigade was also showing at St. Louis Fashion Week for the first time.

"It was like if you're a musician and you met Michael Jackson or you know... your Madonna," Dang said.

Alyssa Key, the designing catalyst behind Love Brigade, attended fashion design school in London and drew inspiration from a collection called All Saints. The designers, Kait Bolongaro and Stuart Trevor, now produce under the label Bolongaro Trevor.

It wasn't until Key was talking with Bolongaro during St. Louis Fashion Week that she made the connection.

Bolongaro Trevor is also showing again for the second season this year.

Attilio D'Agostino, the founder of St. Louis Fashion Week, said he's happy the show has created a network of people who inspire and gain inspiration from one another.

Fashion is considered replete with divas, whiners, manic depressives and hacks, if you believe reality TV, but in reality there are scores of creative minds looking for a way to express themselves and learn the business of fashion.

By sheer virtue of working with a number of smaller, obscure or emerging labels, the founders of each clothing line end up coming to town to represent themselves, and in the process they share experiences and information.

"I really see that there's kind of a little community that's developed," said Jill Manoff, the fashion director of fashion week. "It's funny, that they are all now Facebook friends and end up being each other's cheerleaders in a way."

"Project Runway" semifinalist Jerell Scott, who hosted a design competition at last season's fashion week, started raving about the winner and marveling at his clothes before his third look ventured down the runway. That designer, Michael Drummond of Exquisite Corpse, known for beautifully tortured knits, is now selling pieces from his line in Scott's Los Angeles boutique.

Another emerging St. Louis designer, Michael Snead, made a connection with the Love Brigade crew and has been corresponding with the Brooklyn-based design team.

As fashion week develops, D'Agostino said they are getting more requests each season from designers looking to participate, but he's careful to consider who will benefit from the fashion week and who will contribute to its continued success.

D'Agostino said that the goal was never to develop a fashion workshop, but he's not opposed to it. He said that he's happy there's an environment to educate both consumers and designers.

DIY STYLE

DIY Style is sponsoring its first fashion show as part of a daytime series of shows designed to appeal to a different fashion week crowd. It's not just about lithe youngsters in sharp-edged nightclub attire biding time until the afterparty. The day series hopes to appeal to those who can't make the night shows.

The DIY Style show will feature four fresh-from-graduation designers.

"We wanted to create something that was sustainable as an outlet for students who graduate and have no idea what comes next," said Cindy Cummins. She founded DIY Style two years ago.

Her show coincides with her business' second anniversary and will feature designs by her daughter of Allyce King Designs, which focuses on glamazon frills. The other designers will touch on the-beauty-meets-the-biker look from Conjetta by Connie Bourgeois, bouncy dresses with big band swing from ML by Maggie Laskowitz and full-length evening attire from Stiles by Courtney Stiles.

"We want to get people away from thinking that this is not a place for creative ventures or that forward-thinking people don't come from here or if they do that they have to leave to express themselves," said D'Agostino. "Ultimately, we want to create more opportunity for designers to study here, to stay here and develop here."

That includes inviting emerging designers around the world to come to St. Louis to share ideas and visions, he said.

D'Agostino said: "This way, our designers can inspire them and they can inspire us. The cross-pollination of ideas makes us all better."