Kansas City Fashion Week: Red Carpet Runway Showcase featuring Wayside Waifs

You read that correctly, featuring these two adoptable cuties:

*Photos courtesy of KCFW and Atherton Photography

After being photographed on the red purple carpet, we headed upstairs to find our seats.  Phil hooked us up with front row seats ("If you aren't in the front two rows, you don't matter." ~ P'Trique*) and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I met a mother of several models, the parents of a designer, and sat next to Meggy of Chasing Davies.  

Designer Anita Kealey of Lenzanita Couture brought a sense of sophistication with perfectly pressed pieces. My favorite piece from her collection:

Margie Hogue for Awava brought us a piece of Jamaica, with the Pink-Ladies-of-Grease style.  The bold use of colors and patterns paired with high-waisted capris was stunning:

American Trash designer Karma Jade.  I might be a bit biased - I love her!  She is so sweet and personable (so is her mom!)  I love the amazing recycled handbags turned clothing she showed in February, but she forewarned me that this collection would be a bit more feminine; the use of silk prints alongside her signature recycled leathers.  I couldn't choose just one favorite:

The last designer's collection we saw before our intermission was Juantiesha Christian's SuShe by J. Tracey. Bringing yet another twist to sequins, she uses vivid color and textures to showcase her talent:

Intermission:  

I'm in awe at how far the Kansas City Fashion Week has come in two short seasons!  Not only has the KCFW team single-handedly, spur of the moment, raised $200 for Wayside Waifs (in just under 20 minutes) but they have also managed to create the perfect atmosphere of fun, culture, fashion, business and entrepreneurship.  Add in a eight slices of amazingly talented and diverse fashion designers, all with incredible and polished designs, and one sassy MC........

Back from the break, we are treated to an exciting display of enthusiastic irreverence from Tiffany Hadley of Donna Faye.  Her models gloated down the runway, adding personality and joie de vivre!  I let this photograph speak for itself:

Photo courtesy of J. Robert Schraeder Photography and KCFW

Up next was Cheryl Eve Acosta, who has collaborated with Chelsea Riane Smith of Chelsea Riane Designs, to create some amazingly artistic pieces of......art.  I hope to see more of this collaboration in the future:

Meet Hilary Brown.  I first met her at the model castings in Strawberry Hill.  She is instantly disarming with her sweet-as-honey smile and warmth.  This is her debut show at Kansas City Fashion Week, and she killed it!  She too had more than just one favorite:

To end the show, Lisu Vega brought us a little piece of sophisticated Miami with a twist of showmanship.  She had gorgeous, flowing pieces that made me wish I were walking along Ocean Drive in South Beach.

It was such a fantastic evening, I might not have noticed my feet hurting until I got home!

These photos and more can be seen on the Pretty, Polished, Perfect Facebook page.

*If you haven't seen S%#* Fashion Girls Say....at New York Fashion Week!, you can see it here!

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