Seattle is not a cultural desert. There were two fabulous fashion shows highlighting Asian touches shown last week. One was Bunka Women’s University fashion show from Japan at Seattle Central Community College on Sept. 27. The other was A World of Cultures presented by Refugee Women’s Alliance ReWa’s annual fund-raising dinner on Oct. 1 at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel. The two different programs mirror how you can organize fashion shows expensively and inexpensively.
Bunka's models
Close to 50 students from Bunka’s Fashion and Culture Studies came to Seattle all the way from Japan. They organized the program free for the public, from designing to sewing, accessories arrangement to image presentation, modeling to producing the show, coordinating music to lights. They also ran press conferences. The students gained first-hand experience in planning a fashion show from scratch.
So who paid? In addition to making all the clothes, each student had to pay $2,500, which included airfare, hotel expenses and renting the Broadway Performance Hall.
In contrast to Bunka’s, ReWa’s fashion show consisted of 27 models, ReWa’s staff, who just dug out clothes from their closet — the most gorgeous native costumes. And they practiced on their own without the guidance of a modeling agency.
From ReWa's fashion show
Both Bunka and ReWa’s entertained the audience in their own special way, although Bunka is more professional. The clothes, hairstyles and accessories of Bunka’s models always matched their shoes. ReWa’s models focused on the top part of the body and tended to forget about other parts of the body such as hair and the color or style of their shoes.
Don’t be said for ReWa though. They raised a lot of money for their annual dinner.
When are tickets available and what are the dates and times for the 2014 September Bunka show??? Thankx.