Designer: Casey Sagisi, modeled by Brooklyn Benjestorf image © Bret Doss All Rights Reserved

Designers from the New York Fashion Academy presented looks inspired by the exhibit “Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion” at the Seattle Art Museum on Thursday, Sept 5th.  (You may have seen my previous blog post).  The show has been a huge hit, receiving a lot of well-deserved recognition and buzz.

VIVAFASHIONISTAS contacted me after seeing images from the show wondering if I would mind if they used my images for an article–of course I didn’t mind, I was honored!  It was a great pleasure to interact with Editor Michelle Elalto Cuneta about images, delivery, credits for the designers, models, etc.. She produced a terrific piece.  We each felt like we owed the other a coffee, and settled on a solution: I’ll buy hers, and she’ll buy mine (I’m gonna hafta figure out what is bigger than ‘venti’ — but, seriously, I am looking forward to meeting her in person to say ‘Thank You!’).

One key aspect of the show is that the NYFA Designers were challenged to present a show with looks inspired by the Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion exhibit.

One of the fantastic things about being a photographer is that I get to meet amazing, talented, and wonderful people.  I’ve met many such people via my collaborations with NYFA. Two of them have posted very interesting perspectives as participants in the event:

Camille Goodman is one of the featured designers in the show, and shares her perspective in her Millie Vixen blog.

Cory Ellen Boberg (who also happens to be a terrific designer herself) shares her experience as a model in the show, from shoe rehearsal to the main event.

Camille and Cory are each singularly & uniquely creative, and they both bring so much positive, warm energy to any space they enter.  In fact, that positive energy seems to be pervasive at NYFA, part of the fabric of the place. It is one of the reasons I enjoy working & collaborating with any and all of them.  If you ask me, their positivity and can-do attitude is one of the reasons that NYFA Designers are so successful.

To see more images from the show please visit the NYFA at SAM Gallery.  For an even larger selection of images, including designers walking with their models at the end of the show, please see this gallery