Fashion in the Factory: Saturday’s Fashion Affair features young designers
By Kiri Lanice Walton, Staff Writer
kwalton@williamsonherald.com
The devil may wear Prada, but fun and flirty fashionistas all over will be wearing Hunter Dixon and Loretta Jane.
New York’s Fashion Week is just around the corner, but Franklin is getting an early taste of the glamour, the fun and the buzz at the second annual A Fashion Affair, which takes place on Saturday night at the Jamison Hall of The Factory in Franklin.
The fashion show is an event by the A Vintage Affair organization, which will celebrate its 10th year of existence next year.
People are excited to see the designs front and center. By Tuesday, the front row VIP tickets had sold out.
“It pretty much started out doing the fashion show with a slam dunk,” said Lauren Magli of A Vintage Affair and chairwoman of the event. She herself will be taking the fashionista role seriously, dressed in an outfit by New York’s Hunter Dixon and her hair and makeup done by Unruli, a Franklin salon.
The runway show is being produced by Robert Campbell of the Nashville Fashion Group. Models will strut their stuff in Loretta Jane and Hunter Dixon designs. Last year, the featured designs were those of American designer Halston, whose vintage gowns had been donated to the Lipscomb University’s fashion merchandising department.
“We started out at the top and didn’t know what to do for an encore,” Drury said.
“I really hope people will come out saying, ‘Wow. I loved that, and I want more where that came from,’” Magli said.
Magli said the main attraction is the fashion show, but that the entire event is so much more.
“It’s the perfect way to support your community while enjoying yourself,” Magli said.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from the event benefit the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Williamson Medical
Center, High Hopes Inclusive Preschool and Pedicatric Clinic and Williamson County Library Foundation this year. To date, nearly $750,000 have been raised by A Vintage Affair events for organizations such as the Mercy Children’s Clinic, BRIDGES, and The Hundred Club of Franklin.
“Once you step in there you forget you’re in Franklin, Tenn., and you’re automatically transported to New York seeing some huge designers,” said Magli.
Loretta Jane
Loretta Jane is a line of clothing designed by Nashville resident Kelli Malina. A 2002 Middle Tennessee State University graduate with a degree in apparel design, Malina, 30, went on to work for a designer for five years before starting on the first season of Loretta Jane, the fall 2008 line. She now teaches at O’More College of Design in Franklin.
Malina said attendees of the event can expect to see a lot of silk mini-dresses, silk camisoles and ruffles. She describes the line as “between casual and cocktail” attire.
The major details in almost all the pieces are ruffles and “the cute, fun prints.”
Though Malina describes herself as being “more of a somber-color kind of person,” the line will have lots of blues, pinks, some gold and definitely black, white and gray.
“It’s really flirty. Not overly girly, but feminine. I like to show a woman’s body without body-hugging, short-short but not risqué,” Malina said.
“Always pretty much the fabrics that inspire me,” said Malina, who uses mostly natural fibers in her designs. “I’ve never been one of those people that’s inspired by the season or the leaves or flowers.”
Loretta Jane is sold in the Hemline store in Green Hills’ Hill Center as well as in the Hemline stores of New Orleans and Sugarland, Texas. The line can also be found in the Forest Boutique in New York City and Laura Kathryn in Birmingham.
However, it was not without a few challenges that Malina was able to get this far in a short time. She said, “It’s really hard to convince people to take a chance on someone they’ve never heard of.”
Because of the current state of the economy, buyers are more cautious about new clothing lines even if they like the design, Malina said.
“I hope to be nationwide,” Malina said. “I want to see my clothes in magazines and walk down the street and see people wearing my clothes.”
Hunter Dixon
The Hunter Dixon clothing line is the product of two friends’ hard work for the last two years. Hunter Lingle, born in South Carolina, is a designer and her roommate, Jen Dixon of North Carolina, does all the business development for the line.
Lingle grew up using her mother’s leftover fabric to create designer pieces for her Barbie dolls. Before beginning Hunter Dixon, she received a bachelor’s degree in fashion design and studio art from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. She then went to New York City to intern for a couple designers and to continue her studies at Parsons School of Design.
“We make a good team,” said Dixon, who received a bachelor’s of arts degree from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a postgraduate degree from the University of Spain in Seville.
Dixon said, “It’s been a long process, been a lot of work to find the right pattern-makers, finding the sales rep…We’ve been putting in 200 percent the whole time.”
After working around the clock, their hard work is beginning to pay off. Their clothes are being sold in Neiman Marcus Cusp and in Anthropologie. Stars like Lindsay Lohan, Heidi Klum, Sophia Bush and Jamie Lynn Seigler are wearing them and pieces of the line have been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, In STYLE, ELLE, and Lucky magazines.
Dixon was working part-time for Hunter Dixon, and is now full-time.
“We were dodging the bullet at other jobs…We’ve done everything we can to keep it going,” Dixon said.
“We’ve been surprised. We’re pleased so far, and we have a lot more to accomplish,” Dixon said.
Hunter Dixon has just signed with a New York showroom, which will help them spread both nationally to the West Coast and internationally. Dixon said the team is hoping to open a boutique probably in SoHo.
She has some advice for aspiring designers, “There are some glamorous parts. A lot of it isn’t glamorous. It’s working around the clock.”
“If you really want to be a designer, do it. There’s so much competition…Just keep moving along,” Dixon said.
The event starts with a cocktail reception at 6:30 p.m. and the runway show begins at 8 p.m. The wine is provided by Mallory Lane Wine and Spirits, and Sperry’s restaurant is providing the heavy hors d’oeuvres.
Reservations are $50 per person, and may be purchased online before Jan. 23 at www.avintageaffair.org or at the door that night. Dress is cocktail attire.
A Fashion Affair is made possible through the generous support of Ward-Potts Jewelers, Memory Clothes Planner, Whats-in-store, The DruryGroup, Inc., who are underwriting the event. Other sponsors include: Williamson Herald, VIP Williamson County, Nashville Lifestyles, Franklin Is…, Shi by Journeys, Unruli Salon, The Premiere Event, Klatt2Design and CAO International, Inc.
What’s Next for AVA
“We’ve got some ambitious ideals,” said founder Ralph Drury. Wine lovers should mark their calendars for April 13-17 for a week of six memorable wine-related events stretched over five nights.
This fall, Drury will host an AVA Leipers’ Fork wine-tasting event, similar to last April’s champagne and country music event at Green’s Grocery as part of A Vintage Affair.
Drury said, “The 10th year is going to be a major blowout.”
He is negotiating with about a dozen French wine vendors and a Sonoma Valley vendors and growers association for future AVA events.
Kiri Lanice Walton can be contacted at kwalton@williamsonherald.com.
Posted on: 1/29/2009
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