Cosmo Couture is THE design event of the year, attracting nearly 800 attendees to enjoy the runway fashion show showing off inventive design-product apparel. Cosmo provides a canvas to which local designers, teamed with architectural product companies, create what I would call wearable artwork.
When I first arrive, I’m capturing the design teams hard at work dressing their models. There are hair dressers, make-up artists and a flurry of designers frantically pulling it all together before their stage entrance. Not to mention the army of volunteers led by event-extraordinaire Pedro Nunez (of Eighth Day Design) orchestrating the show timing and ensuring every detail is observed.
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Once the models are fully ready, they are joined with their design teams and led into the Green Room where a panel of judges await to critique and get a close up look at the final product. Terry Perry facilitated the session while the panel, comprised of Suzanne Tick (http://suzannetick.com), Aba Kwawu (Regional Director for Fashion Group International of Greater Washington DC and founder of the Aba Agency), Maggy Francois (Fashion Design Director of West Potomac Academy & Executive Director of Special Events of Maggie Francois Inc.), Mike McCarthy (Editor-in-Chief, Modern Luxury DC Magazine), and Philippa P.B. Hughes (Chief Creative Contrarian, The Pink Line Project) made the tough decisions on which team had the best solution for a number of different categories.
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Behold the runway segment of the evening, where hundreds of onlookers get a view of these tremendous achievements in creativity. This year the theme was tropical birds, which encouraged many-a-reference to Rio, Africa and other exotic locales.
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A special shout-out to my friend Ethan Yang and his HereAfter film team who never ceases to amaze with their truly professional-grade capture of the evening. You can watch it here: http://www.cosmocouture.org/eventphotos.shtml
The heart and soul of the Cosmo event is its donation beneficiary My Sister’s Place, a non-profit agency dedicated to eradicating domestic violence. In the last 3 years Cosmo has raised over $50,000. Click here for the full story at the Cosmo Couture website: www.cosmocouture.org.