Event August 19, 2006
Gallery 555

By Tom Carbone

On a hot and humid August night, the “Detroit Fashion Week 2006” main event took place in the 2nd floor space of Gallery 555. The folks at 555 are making solid progress upgrading their performance space – while completely irregular in form and finish, the space’s 25 foot ceiling and ancient Detroit factory appearance is looking quite comfortable. This year local designers and fashion students showed together for a single all-encompassing runway presentation which was pared back from last year’s multi-night extravaganza.

As always, I like to talk with my fellow audience members before the show. Sitting next to me was Roman Hall a young fashionably dressed real estate agent attending in support of his girlfriend – the very attractive aspiring runway model Christian Johnson, both from Detroit. Noticing Roman’s impeccably chosen outfit I began to notice what the other younger men in the crowd were wearing. Many of these men wore coordinated hats, shirts, trousers, and shoes that clearly required a great deal of effort to assemble. Part of the look is the “brand new” aspect of the clothing; the way the fabric looks, lies, and wrinkles in a way that can only be had from clothes that are just a few hours old. These young men are extremely fashion conscious and I dare say will remain so as they get older and dress more mainstream.

The show kicked off when the 150 plus guests were seated. The runway cut a diagonal path through the room at floor level making for the greatest number of front row seats possible. The music was just right for this event, serving to keep the large crowd involved.

Standouts from the show were Robrena Davis’ summery light pieces – one of note was made up of a brown halter-top and a mid length floral patterned skirt.
Dana Keaton a.k.a. DivaGroove wrapped up the runway event with a diverse collection that included some very elegant and sexy nightclub outfits. As a mainstay in the Detroit fashion scene Dana continues her high level of quality works.

All together the show presented too wide a range of clothing types and would have benefited from a more focused theme or direction. It is important that the best of the best continue to show together leaving the rest to come up to standard. Detroit has to make a special effort in fashion one show and one event at a time. A distinction also has to be made between fashion consulting and fashion design; simply dressing models in ready to wear clothing cannot be presented as design. And as for the stripper outfits with team logos? Well, I enjoy beautiful women wearing virtually nothing as much as the next person. However, I don’t see how this type of thing is creative or beneficial to the cause.

In short the event was well organized and the dedicated designers shown through as expected, let’s continue to support them, they have earned it.

Tom Carbone is the Arts Calendar Editor of thedetroiter.com and an avid supporter and contributor to the worlds of fashion and device.