Three generations of the Lopez family showed up Thursday for MODA NEXT Fashion Show at Centro de Artes in San Antonio’s Market Square, part of San Antonio’s Fashion Week.
The week-long event launches a showcase of the Alamo city’s most talented designers and international brand houses, to advance the Latin-American fashion and lifestyle markets.
Martha Lopez came out to the fashion show with both her mother and younger daughter to cheer on her older daughter, Catalina, who was modeling designer Tessa Guerra’s showcase.
“Tessa is fantastic,” Lopez said. “I’m so excited for her. A lot of people don’t know this, but she designs phenomenal children’s clothes.”
MODA NEXT Fashion Show does not focus on any one single designer — there were six different designers all from the Alamo City. Instead of a runway to walk down, each designer took up a station and the models stood stationary while people walked through each showcase. There were no outfit changes.
Here’s my disclaimer. I’m not a fashion reporter. I’m a student reporter. And I’ve never covered fashion show before. But my knowledge of fashion led me to believe designers were going to be eccentric, busy and fashionably late. I did arrive early though, on the off chance I was wrong, and to get a good spot.
Michael Quintanilla, a well-known San Antonio-Express News fashion reporter, used his extra time to pull people waiting for the show and direct them into what I assume were high fashion poses.
Equipped with my reporting notebook, press pass and smart phone I didn’t assume people would respond well to me taking the same approach so I instead decided, like many others, to pass my time people watching.
Once I started people watching, time waiting began to fly by. I quickly honed in on a man with chopsticks in his hair and spent time searching my brain’s fashion compartment for when this became a trendy thing? I’m still working on that fashion mystery a few days later.
At the Centro de Artes, we were directed to go upstairs where the showcase was scheduled for 7 p.m.. I was hoping it would start on time, but was not all that surprised when the show ran late. I did use this extra time to thank the fashion gods that I had worn flats. I was pretty sure I might be on my way to covering a story about the fashion show that had all barefoot attendees.
Among my many other observations, I found — naturally — many fashionably dressed attendees including an Anna Wintour doppelganger, complete with blunt bob and glasses. For those of you have not heard of Anna Wintour, she is the editor-in-chief of American Vogue and holds fashion above all else. She’s known for her brash demeanor and demanding workload as seen in Meryl Streep’s portrayal of her in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
I would describe walking into the showcase a little after 7:30 p.m. as chaos. People were in a hurry to get to all different showcases, from the two designers there showcasing men’s fashion, one showcasing children and three dedicated to women’s fashion.
Each showcase was unique, representing entirely different personalities and styles we see in San Antonio, from edgy to preppy.
It was a lot to take in at one time, and DJ Jarvis had things bumping. The music was great and kept the audience pumped up, but it was so loud I had trouble even thinking at times and felt bad hounding people to repeat themselves.
I know I had a delightful conversation with men’s designer, Christian Alonzo, but because of the music and audience size, I will never know what exactly about. His line, “New Retro,” featured men in modernized ’90s clothing.
His focus, “street meets fashion,” was to “break rules and push today’s industry boundaries.”
The other men’s fashion designer brought the exact opposite to the showcase.
Bruno Horwath’s line was full of San Antonio color. Bright hues and preppy cuts adorned the male models.
“Every piece of this collection is designed for those creative minds hungry for success,” Horwath said. “Those committed to earn the honor of being recognized as a local pride of their hometown.”
I also asked Horwath which of the designs best represented his personal style in hopes of a profound and fashionable response.
“That one,” Horwath said laughing and pointing to the model sitting on the block wearing a bold button down shirt, peacock colored pants and camel colored shoes, “I don’t know why, I guess I like the shoes.”
The three women’s lines would be impossible to pick from. I think most women can relate to the fact we want different things out of our clothes and style each day. If only these designers lived with us, we would be covered.
Joey Ramirez’s line “La Lechuza,” based off an old Mexican folklore about a witch who could transform into a black bird represented that edgy part of fashion. It was dark, but beautiful. Just as Joey Ramirez intended.
“I’d like to keep San Antonio edgy for as long as they’ll let me,” Ramirez said.
Stationed right next to Ramirez was Blanquita Sullivan’s line “El Viaje.” For a traveling women, it should have been called, The Dream.
She was smiling from ear to ear with her hair tucked up with a hydrangea flower in it. Her three daughters sporting long off-white dresses twirling around the floor to the music.
“My line was inspired by my travels,” she said. “I just packed up and went.”
Her designs feature girly dresses, straw hats and a gown stenciled herself.
“I love that gown so much because I hand drew that design myself,” she said. “But, I’d have to say that the wrap skirt would be the one I’d probably wear the most.”
Rounding out the designs was Valerie Perez’s showcase, “In Love and Color.” The colors were bright and youthful. Models all wore sunglasses and eclectic hairstyles.
The line felt youthful. The designs included several hand-knit pieces so if you are looking to be a fashionista that can’t be copied she is your girl.
“I make designs to fit the way they are supposed to,” Perez said. “It doesn’t matter if you are tall, short or what. I’ll do it.”
Each designer brought something to the table that I think San Antonian’s would love which is why I am so upset. I’m upset because most of these designers cannot be found in any local boutiques or shops. Most are online only or by word of mouth.
Seeing as how Texas A&M University-San Antonio leases the Centro de Artes building from the City of San Antonio, where many of Fashion Week’s shows take place, this fashionista almost voted to just give it to the local designers for a work space.
It was nice to see the space utilized and life in it after visiting so many times as a student and seeing the venue empty. If nothing else, I just vote for more fashion there, a lot more.
