The WearHouse District, a fashion and style blog based in New Orleans, celebrated how the creative mind of a designer works on Saturday during a three-hour fashion event at The House of Blue’s Foundation Room. The show raised money for The Audubon Institute‘s Audubon Fund, which supports the daily operations of institute’s facilities.
Jordy Marilyn, a designer, performance artist, and self-proclaimed “club kid,” was the emcee for the night. The New Orleans pop band, The Vettes, performed.
The event featured three New Orleans designers, Erica Durousseau, Faye Caston and Michelle O’Reagan, who raced against the clock to create one-of-a-kind wildlife inspired ensembles in front of the audience. AF the Naysayer set the mood for the night playing his electronic, down-tempo beats.
The three unique designs were auctioned with all proceeds going to the Audubon Fund. Michelle O’Reagan won the design competition by bringing in the most money for the fund.
“The WearHouse District was formed as a way to mesh charity, fashion, and fun,” said Dalton Primeaux, editor-in-chief of the blog. “We decided to choose the Audubon Fund for our first event because we have such huge respect for what they do and are all animal lovers ourselves.”
“They have given us so many amazing memories, educated so many and cared for so many animals I certainly wanted to find a way to give back.
“I created the WildHouse event to show a different side to fashion,” he said. “I wanted to prove that fashion can be more about art and self-expression and less about being judgmental or shallow, by giving all the proceeds to a charity that does so much good for our community, the Audubon Fund. I also wanted to use this event to show the work that goes into designing and creating fashion.
“Most people only get to see the fashion after it is completed, either on runways or in shows, and don’t realize how extremely difficult it is to create these pieces and the beauty of the actual design process.”
Steven Forster is an award-winning photographer with more than 35 years of experience photographing the New Orleans party scene. He is a native of the Crescent City. Look for Steven Forster’s Big Easy photographs every Sunday in The Times-Picayune and at Nola.com/society. Follow him on Twitter @NolaPhotog.Article source: http://www.nola.com/society/index.ssf/2013/06/wearhouse_districts_wildhouse.html
