Everything you missed at Sleigh the Runway
Students took to the runway to SLEIGH winter fashion
Friday night, Iowa Fashion Project brought Sleigh the Runway, a winter fashion show, to Cedar Rapids. The show featured the work of numerous local designers and boutiques including Jessie Zhao, Zach Owens, Industry, Mercantile and several others.
The event was held at the beautiful Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Cedar Rapids. In addition to the fashion show itself, the venue also hosted a vendor market of fashion lines by featured designers and a cocktail party for the models, production team and VIP and general admission guests.
The show opened to an interpretative dance performed by Lovar Davis Kidd, Malorey Liebold and Anna Slife to the song “Runaway” by Kanye West. Shortly after, models took to the runway, posing as they rode down the hotel’s two story-high elevators and displaying their outfits for guests on the runway floor below. The models, both male and female, showed off a variety of glamorous winter fashion, including cozy sweaters, glitzy formal wear, street wear and a whole lot of fur.
Many of the models that walked in Sleigh the Runway are University of Iowa students who got involved through their membership with the Iowa Fashion Project campus team. Among them is 19-year-old Kennedy Novy from Austin, Minnesota, who responded to a model call for last year’s winter fashion show and has been with Iowa Fashion Project ever since.
After the show, Kennedy spoke with The Tab Iowa and told us, “The Iowa Fashion Project is opening up so many doors for the fashion world right here in Iowa. I hope to use my involvement and experience to help me transition into a career in fashion.” Kennedy also said she and several other students on the campus team are currently working on starting up an online fashion magazine.
Sleigh the Runway was no doubt a success for the Iowa Fashion Project. Simeon Talley, one of the show’s producers, said that it was wonderful to see that even though the show was held in Cedar Rapids this year, the majority of the the huge turnout was made up of supporters from Iowa City. “The program is definitely growing,” he said.