Free finale of the ICT Fashion Tour features novice, experienced designers

The finale show of a local fashion movement called ICT Fashion Tour will feature 15 collections with more than 100 looks hitting the runway in Temple Live’s Great Hall on Saturday.

A local artist who goes by one name, Anri, started ICT Fashion Tour last year “as an effort to showcase local designers, ranging from a high schooler who hasn’t sewn anything on this level to experienced individuals” through a series of pop-up shows at various venues, said Anri, a mixed media artist.

“We have a really great art community here,” said Anri, who said the idea for the movement came out of pandemic boredom. “Fashion is art that just happens to be displayed on the body.”

The movement’s first pop-up show happened in October in the alley near the Public at the Brickyard in Old Town, with more than a dozen designers, including Hazel Stable and Christopher Gulick, artists who have both seen their work on the runways at New York Fashion Week.

Other smaller shows were held at The Sewing Center in west Wichita, the Wichita State campus, CityArts in Old Town and even the Happy Acres Farm in Augusta.

A Juneteenth fashion show at CityArts featured youth who had participated in Mulberry Art Gallery’s Meet the Challenge ICT program that provides one-on-one mentoring among professional artists and under-resourced youth to help expose the youth to career opportunities in art and entrepreneurship.

While the free show on Sept. 17 at Temple Live (the former Scottish Rite Temple) in downtown Wichita is the movement’s official finale show for the season, the designers aren’t hanging up their collections quite yet.

Some of the designers will participate in a ball-like event at the Chain Link Gallery on Douglas on Oct. 22, Anri said.

The 13 ICT Fashion Tour designers for the finale show will feature novice and established designers, including newcomer Lynn Vuong, Maria Egger of Milkweed Clothier, Danny Sun of Dummy Apparel Co., Yvi Tovar of Home Girl Threads, Gulick, Anri, Nina Winter of Tissu Sewing Studio and one of her former students who took sewing classes at the studio.

The show will also feature guest designers from the Meet the Challenge ICT program and Oiha Potapenko, a Ukrainian couture bridal designer living in Kansas City.

For those who attended previous shows, Anri said, the finale will be an opportunity to see how some designers have progressed in their work. Unlike Stabler and Gulick, who had experience at participating on a famous stage like New York Fashion Week, many of the designers hadn’t had previous experience showcasing their works on a runway.

The show also includes a vendor fair, where attendees can purchase works from some of the show’s designers as well as other local artists and designers.

ICT Fashion Tour is recruiting designers to participate in its next season of pop-up fashion shows.

ICT Fashion Tour finale show

What: final show of the ICT Fashion Tour’s 2022 season and vendor fair

When: 5-9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, doors open at 4 p.m.

Where: Temple Live (former Scottish Rite Temple), 331 E. 1st St.

Admission: free

More information: facebook.com/events/1078063399737602, ictfashiontour.com

This story was originally published September 15, 2022 at 7:49 AM.