Tallahassee’s blossoming fashion community was on full display this past Friday in 621 Gallery’s “Kailon” fashion show. The show was nothing short of transcendental, with every designer testing the breaking barriers in fashion and creativity.
Six different local designers came together to produce “Kailon” in all of its extravagant glory: Mia Modified, Crispy Kartel, Yukaotic, Reverie, BMK Boutique and Nidia & Co. The show saw everything from hand-sewn dresses to elaborate ball gowns and casual streetwear.
“Kailon” is a passion project of two local creatives and business owners, Mia Lopez and Nidia Alverez-Nguyen. It took close to a year and a half of planning to bring the show to life. “Kailon” was designed to be a celebration of the unique contributions that Tallahassee makes to the fashion world.
“We have a huge fashion community in Tallahassee and we wanted to find a way to celebrate New York Fashion Week here,” Lopez said. “Hopefully, this will become an annual event to celebrate everyone who designs clothes in the fashion community here.”
Coordinating with all of the designers, models and businesses in Railroad Square to put on the show would not be possible without the incredibly tight-knit community the Tallahassee fashion industry has. Despite their differing styles, they all hold a passion for authentic self-representation.
“This project started with just me and Nidia [Alverez-Nguyen],” Lopez said. “The more we started posting about the event, the more people were willing to take part in seeing it succeed.”
The level of artistry from both the models and designers is something that Tallahassee has never witnessed in the same space. While the general aesthetic of most designers teetered towards the punk and grunge style, every artist offered a unique interpretation.
The clothing featured was intentionally designed to be out of the box. Most of the clothes were hand-crafted for the show. The intricate beading and unique silhouettes set the clothes apart from the mainstream, offering a glimpse into the next era of fashion.
“Kailon” exemplified the future of fashion in Tallahassee. A center point of the show was the amount of diversity in the models, body types and design styles. Each designer challenged existing fashion and modeling norms.
At NYFW and other high fashion events, models are expected to be stoic, passive canvases for the seemingly more important artistry of the clothes they’re wearing. The models at “Kailon” completely upended that expectation, incorporating elements of theater and personality in their walks.
The dynamic nature of the show reflected the larger goals Alverez-Nguyen and Lopez had for “Kailon.”
“‘Kailon’ has two meanings: one is to recognize that beauty is more than skin deep,” Alverez-Nguyen said of the inspiration behind the show’s title. “The other is to achieve the highest moral good and achieve the best version of ourselves that we can be.”
Throughout the show, it was clear that “Kailon’s” recognition of beauty and moral obligation was tethered to one true meaning: fashion is for everyone, no matter who you are, what you look like or what your background is.
One model in the show, Mairen Manning, represented just that. Prior to hearing about the casting call, she had no experience with modeling.
“I’ve always been a huge fashion person, but it was hard to get started on my own,” Manning said. “The flier inspired me to get involved with fashion again, and all of the models are so fun to be around. It’s a great community.”
Returning fashion to its roots of authentic self-expression was a central goal of Lopez when envisioning “Kailon.” When she first became interested in fashion, she was shocked with the stigma that came with simply expressing herself through clothing.
“I attended private and charter schools my entire life, and the first time that I got to experiment with my personal style was in college,” Lopez said. “So many assumptions were made of me when I started dressing how I wanted to dress — people assumed that I was uneducated or a drug addict. I want to make it known that fashion is just a way to express yourself and nothing more.”
In just an hour, “Kailon” was able to achieve all of its original goals and more. Tallahassee might not be viewed as a fashion capital, but the artists and passion that go into making our streets unique with interesting looks are invaluable to our local culture.
“Collaborating with everyone was the most rewarding part of this,” Alverez-Nguyen said. “Seeing that it all came together after so long and that it paid off is an incredible feeling.”
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