Last week was the 25th anniversary of
South by Southwest, a media and music conference and festival celebrated around the world as one of the great institutions of independent music, film and interactive media and anyone else in search of the next cool thing.
This year, however, SXSW decided to mix things up and showcase a new fashion event that celebrates the long-standing relationship between music and style, with a sharp focus on emerging talent.
Style X (pronounced Style By) was a free two-day style event at the Austin Convention Center that showcased emerging designers, style shows that showcased SXSW musicians turned models and shopping opportunities that could keep fashionistas occupied for hours. Did I mention the American Apparel Flea Market had items that were marked down from 60%-80% off?
Founder of this event, Joah Spearman, made it clear that this was not "New York Fashion Week," and the purpose of this event is to focus on up-and-coming brands, not who sat in the front row and who didn’t. This event was done SXSW style, featuring merchants not only from Austin, but from all over selling really neat stuff.
Just like how SXSW is known for its fair share of celebrity appearances, Style X hosted a few familiar faces of its own with a series of insightful panel discussions on various fashion-related topics. Chloe Dao, Project Runway season two winner and owner of Houston boutique Lot 8 hosted a conversation on fashion vs. style and tips on how to break into the industry.
Not knowing what to expect for its first year, the turnout for Style X was quite impressive. Maybe next year they could incorporate it more with SXSW and have some live music playing. Overall, I loved seeing this event emerge to bridge the gap between technology and fashion.
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Also this weekend, the Domain played host to Simon Fashion Now, a yearly event in which Simon Malls around the country hold runway shows to highlight the upcoming trends for the season. The fashion at a mall show is obviously not supposed to intrigue and inspire your wardrobe creativity, but rather to inspire you to buy these wearable items. Everything that walked the runway was safe and well put together. This was definitely different from your usual outrageous couture runway shows, which was good but slightly boring. However, the biggest difference between a big corporate fashion show compared to the spontaneous local Austin shows is that the models are professional and actually know how to walk the runway. The Simon Fashion Now show gave you a real look at what trends we can expect to see in stores right now and in the next couple of months. According to these shows, it looks like bright colors, color blocking, crochet tops and floppy beach hats are in for summer.
