Spring 2015

Saturday, April 4th @ 7:00 pm Please join us for the social event of the season! Fashion Weekend here in Rio Blanco will be crowned by a special night of Spring Collections displayed in spectacular runway tableaus! The night will be crowded, hot, tasty, unforgettable and hot. Did I forget to mention that it will be HOT? Thankfully the weather in early April here in Vermont is still a tad on the chilly side, you'll have a chance to cool down on our lovely patio with some fine refreshments and lively conversation. Please note Seating for the show is limited. Advance tickets are available here.

The Main Street Museum is proud to present its first annual "runway event" showcasing all local talent and independent designers. After more than a decade of Revolution's Tip Top Couture being on display, religiously, twice a year for both spring and fall seasons–the popularity of the Revolution Runway has increased so much over the years, that it has outgrown the practical means of its bi-annual production. But not to worry, it's easy to remember now: It's Revolution in the Fall and the Main Street Museum in the Spring! This season sample the styles and collections of:

ReneFrancesG's "Supersymmetry"

"I've spent 14 years working in various aspects of the arts. Starting as an art department production assistant for a television pilot while living in Los Angeles as well as assisting a unit photographer. After gaining a invaluable working knowledge I returned home and attended cosmetology school. Having a love for make-ups ability to transform and realizing I could extend my love for painting to the human face I began work as a make up artist on a variety small film and fashion projects as well as sales. Shortly after I moved to NYC and found myself creating simple things to wear because I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. My grandmother taught me how to sew at an early age. It wasn't until I was a few months into a four year luthier apprenticeship, in my mid twenties, that I thought to endeavor into fashion design. There was something about working with a large variety of tools and machinery from simple to complex that pushed me to educate myself  further and apply my new skillset to fashion design. I have since been able to combine my love of color, expression, and harmony with the skill of sewing that has sustained me in my adulthood." http://www.renefrancesg.com/

Sigrid Lium's "Tropical Vermont"

Upper Valley artist Sigrid Lium has been sewing clothes since age seven. She studied classical painting in Norway and footwear design in England.  For the past several years Sigrid has been living in Florida.  Her projects included seamstress work on international fashion shoots in Miami Beach.  The theme of Sigrid's Spring 2015 Collection is "Tropical Vermont."

Mark Ezra Merrill's "Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights"

April 2015 begins my sixth year of working nearly exclusively with design and textiles. Fashion, once a sworn enemy to everything that I knew was good, noble, or true of my artistic pursuits, now occupies an even more peculiar place in my personal pov! The uniqueness of this craft, I have found, allows me the opportunity, both literally and figuratively, to 'fix' my mistakes. How valuable is that? The potential of a 'design industry' could be one of a great problem solving aesthetic, as I see it. For what is 'fashion' apart from the very values which we wear upon our sleeves?

 

This season I have chosen to present a collection of eight looks inspired by characters from Gertrude Stein's very strange 1938 libretto "Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights." Each of these eight characters represent different aspects of four individuals, who in turn are actually just two people (and one dog). My adaptation of the dramatic action of this operetta will, quite literally, work itself out on the runway. 

Special Guest Appearances by Ethan Shoshan

The Team:

Hair-Styling by Connie White

Make-up by Katie O'Day and Jessica Pecora

Lighting, Sound and Runway Guru Tim Duggan

DJ Jill Savage

Photographer Ben Fleishman

Photographer Eric Herlihy

Photographer Scott Achs

Key Support Bonnie Lou Arnold