The West 18th Street Fashion Show isn’t just for designers who can whip up a dress in no time flat. Everyone knows accessories are the icing on the cake, and no runway would be complete without them!  Accessories designers have always been an important part of the West 18th Street Fashion Show, and this year we want to encourage even more of you to apply.

If you design original jewelry, hats, or other accessories, we invite you to apply to be part of Gilded Summer, our 13th annual show, which will take place on Saturday, June 8th. Please visit our website to view the application, and submit by March 18th. Accessories designers will be chosen and announced just like clothing designers. Once selected, our resident design expert Hadley Anne Johnson, will thoughtfully pair accessories designers with clothing designers who share a complimentary aesthetic and would benefit from working together.

Please refer to the call for designers for additional deadlines and application requirements.

Here’s what a few past accessories designers have to say:

“Being involved [in the West 18th Street Fashion Show] allowed me to meet other designers, photographers and models in the industry and several opportunities were a ripple effect off the show. I had been working so hard in my studio but the exposure that came from the fashion show was phenomenal. Lets just say I haven’t been bored since!”

-Sara Cramer

Being an accessory designer for the W. 18th st. show is such a fun experience. For me, coming from a jewelry background, it was really a chance to push myself to design bigger, bolder pieces. It’s the only fashion show in Kansas City that supports true creative experimentation from start to finish. This show really goes above and beyond to try to connect and promote all it’s designers and that kind of support has been invaluable to me as a young designer.

- Erica Voetsch

Paired with an original clothing collection that will get print and online media exposure, this is a fabulous opportunity for your original pieces to appear on the West 18th Street runway. In addition, each year the show is contacted by people looking to purchase what they saw on the runway, giving you a unique and prestigious opportunity to generate business and collaborate with other designers in the Kansas City community and beyond.

For additional information, please contact Coordinating Producer Molly Bingaman at 18thstreetfashionshow@gmail.com or Executive Producer Mark Southerland at 18thstreetfashionshow@gmail.com, and visit our website: www.westeighteenthstreet.com.

Today, after months of anticipation, we’re so excited to share  the theme and date for the 13th annual West Eighteenth Street Fashion show: Gilded Summer, happening June 8, 2013.

The theme, Gilded Summer, is based on the Gilded Age in U.S. American history, and this theme will serve as artistic inspiration for the original designs that will be debuted on the runway. Eighteen designers will be hand-picked from the large pool of applicants to present an original collection.

The producers of the West Eighteenth Street Fashion Show encourage interested designers to give this theme a modern meaning. In recent decades we are said to be living in our own “Gilded Age”. We are looking for designers that can reveal some simple truth about our troubled yet beguiling time.

Designer applications will be accepted through Monday, March 18, 2013. Application instructions can be found on our website: www.westeighteenthstreet.com.

The West 18th Street Fashion Show will be held outside at dusk on Saturday, June 8, 2013, in the Crossroads Arts District on West 18th Street between Baltimore and Wyandotte. The event is free and open to the public, with a limited number of ticketed runway seats available for purchase beginning Wednesday, May 1, 2013.

The West 18th Street Fashion Show is hosted by the merchants of West 18th Street and Birdies. If you have additional questions, please email us at 18thstreetfashionshow@gmail.com.

The 12,500 square foot sound stage complex was once used to manufacture postal carrier bags, and required a lot of creative planning to turn the space into three stages designed for optimal sound quality. In addition to the three sound stages, there are several lounge and common areas, a spacious and well-lit dressing room, and a full kitchen with coffee that’s always available. Our models loved the dressing area!

Our dress rehearsal took place in the 5,000 square foot StagePort event space. In all, there were about 150 people present including producers, musicians, the show emcees, plus all the designers and their models practicing on a fake “runway” which we taped on the floor. It was wonderful to have enough space to accommodate our needs and our extra-large production size.

5,000 sq. foot space where our rehearsal magic happened!

Another angle of the event space.

Meeting area between the hair/makeup area and the event space.

The hair and makeup area was used for the rehearsal and the day of the show.

The hair & makeup area is well-lit and has adjustable chairs, as well as plenty of counter space and changing rooms. Photo by Landon Vonderschmidt Photography

On the day of the show, we used Stage A as our backstage area. The largest of the three stages, Stage A has two rooms directly off the stage that can act as a green room and a conference room.  It also features a large loading dock which is convenient for production equipment. For our needs, it became the prep area for our 18 designers and their models.

The designers had plenty of room to spread out in the 40' x 50' Stage A. Photo by Landon Vonderschmidt Photography

Stage A has a huge green screen area perfect for film/video projects. Photo by Landon Vonderschmidt Photography

The three stages are available for hourly, daily or weekly rates depending on which stage fits your project’s needs. You can even schedule your space online by clicking here.

Thank you again to Jon Trozzolo and the StagePort staff for being so helpful and accommodating. We look forward to working with you again in 2013!

Coki Bijoux
Amani Skalacki

Congratulations! These accessory designers submitted a formal application during the normal application period, and have been selected to collaborate with one of our official clothing designers. Coki Bijoux will be collaborating with Andrea Long & Margie Hogue. Amani Skalacki will be collaborating with Birdies. We look forward to seeing their interpretation of Triple Crown Summer!

Image Below: 2010 Collaboration between Birdies and Coki Bijoux

So here they are, in no particular order, your designers for the 2012 West 18th Street Fashion Show Triple Crown Summer are:

Whitney Matalone
Dominique Karwoski
Brittany Davidson
Christina Darque
Tara Kloeppel
Katrina Weiss
Andrea Long & Margie Hogue
Yulie Urano & Christina Asako Dougherty
Method
Katie Coble & Jennifer Hunt
Eli Borrowman
Liz Peters
Michelle Schmidlkofer
Hilary Brown
Kimby Sweeney
Birdies
Spool
Maria Creyts

We would like to issue a thank you to everyone who applied. We had an overwhelming amount of applications and the quality of ideas was outstanding. The choice is never easy, and that is a good thing.

To apply, submit the following by March 18:

1. A minimum of three printed photographs of previous original work.
2. A one-page resume.
3. A professional, inspired vision of your collection including five sketches, text and images which explain and illustrate how your designs will interpret this year’s title and theme.
4. Registration Fee: $30 (cash or check made payable to “18th St. Fashion Show”).

Application materials may not exceed 12” X 15” in size.

Please mail or hand-deliver your application packet to:
Call for Artists
West Eighteenth Street Fashion Show
c/o Birdies
116 W. 18th Street
Kansas City, MO 64108

To deliver your application after hours, place it in the drop box. Submissions that do not fulfill the standard guidelines listed above will not be reviewed. Please note: No materials will be returned under any circumstance.

The 18 selected designers will be announced at www.westeighteenthstreet.com on Wednesday, March 21st.

Selected designers must be available for the following events:

1. Sunday, March 25 – Designers Meeting & Orientation – 4pm-5pm
2. Tuesday, May 8 – Designer Party and Collection Review – 6pm-9pm
3. Sunday, June 3 – Show Rehearsal – 4pm-7pm
4. Saturday, June 9 – Entire Day of the Show

After months of anticipation and behind the scenes preparation, we are thrilled to share the name of this year’s theme with you and announce our call for designers. The theme, Triple Crown Summer, is based on the name of the three major thoroughbred horse races held each spring including the Kentucky Derby, and this theme will serve as artistic inspiration for the original designs that will be debuted on the West 18th Street Fashion Show runway. This is one of our most exciting themes yet, and we are thrilled to see what our talented applicants envision for the runway. Complete instructions for designer applications can be found here.

The official 2012 theme announcement and Call for Designers will take place on Friday, February 17th. The information designers need to apply will be provided, as well as the theme and artwork for the show. Feel free to guess the theme in the comments below – we’d love to hear some fun ideas! Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (w18stfashion) for updates and more!