Fashion designers and artists make their mark on Spokane’s runway | Arts & Entertainment

The Visionary Vault’s local artist exhibition at the Montvale Event Center featured two designers who showcased their sustainable designs on the runway.  

Hailey LaRosa, the event coordinator, said she does a lot within Spokane’s creative community. She said she wanted to create an event that had local designers and artists, which included the models, videographers, photographers and the DJ, Lily Baxter. LaRosa said all of the looks were sustainably sourced, thrifted and secondhand, and that while Spokane has Terrain featuring local artists, there aren’t any fashion events. 

“I wanted to have a very collaborative event because sometimes in the creative industry, people are very competitive,” LaRosa said. “Because it’s my niche, I want it to be shown that everybody can work together and have a good time.”

The first designer whose designs were showcased, Alphonso Williams Jr., is a local artist and fashion designer in Spokane, originally from Liberia. He said his mother owned a successful clothing business there and his father was a refugee who moved here. Williams moved here when he was 11 and said his mother moved his family here for a better life. He said fashion has always been something that has naturally interested him. 

“It’s a form of recycling fashionably,” Williams said. “But also recycling in my family circle.” 

Williams had the models use props as they walked down the runway, one of which held a laptop, one a nail file and one wearing a backpack. He said that he wanted to bring an element of comfort and normalcy through his line “Recycling Fashion Sustainably.”

Williams said that he really turned to fashion four years ago with his friend Miles Mitchell in his first year of college. He said that as he thrifted more, inspiration struck. He said he wants everybody to be able to develop their fashion sense, but unfortunately, clothes are expensive. 

“In reality, we can just go to our neighborhood Goodwill, get an item thrifted or embroidered, or put your brand on there. You can look fly and you’re doing a good deed,” Williams said. “That’s really my whole mindset, I’m trying to make everybody look fly, while creating a brand with it, too.”

Williams said his whole thing is recycling, buying stuff at a low price and putting in time to create things himself. He said going to a manufacturer for his designs takes the value out of it. He said he wanted to teach himself how to use machines to embroider, sew and hand spray paint. 

“Long story short, don’t believe everything you see on social media or on the internet,” Williams said. “When it comes to fashion, you don’t have to buy expensive stuff to look fly.”

The second artist to have her designs shown, Sharnae St. Clair, is an artist from Seattle. LaRosa said St. Clair’s brand, SCSC, is redefining something from the perspective of creativity and repurposing something that once had a significant purpose. The collection shown was titled “Flourish.” 

St. Clair’s designs for this collection were inspired by the hand-knitted rose centerpieces for tables and old grandma-like patterns which she turned into modern street wear. She said she has only been creating fashion like this for the past two years. She said in comparison to her first runway designs featuring brown and dark green colors, these colors were more feminine with florals on all of the models. 

“There is something about flowers, floral and making something that’s really supposed to be mundane, like your grandma’s couch, turning it into a runway piece,” St. Clair said. 

St. Clair said she has always been into fashion and just started to learn to sew. She said she has always been into thrifting and sustainability, and she remembers going to thrift stores or swap meets every Sunday when she was really young. 

“Sustainability has always been at the forefront of my life,” St. Clair said. “It’s cool to see something and then turn it into something like that.”

St. Clair said it is important to thrift and find secondhand items, especially considering how fast fashion contributes to a large part of our waste. She said fast fashion brands like Zara and Fashion Nova are not only bad for our planet but also for the ones pushing it out. 

“We are not consuming it fast enough to get rid of it,” St. Clair said. “What sucks is that this stuff is not biodegradable. It isn’t going anywhere. It’s important for people to understand, thrifting is more than just going and picking through other people’s unwanted items.”

She also said she wants to create a nonprofit for kids to teach them about fashion and design through an afterschool program. Her goal for that idea would be to educate kids how to source sustainably and everything that goes into putting on a fashion show, intending to teach them skills that will help them in life. 

“It’s important not only to teach our youth about sustainability, but also that creative freedom exists,” St. Clair said. “It doesn’t have to look any sort of way and you can make it however you want.”

Christina Sosa, an audience member at the event, said that it was a neat way to showcase local artists with a great atmosphere and a great way to uplift local artwork. 

“I will say that CeCe (St. Clair) had such an amazing showcase and anything from the way that they repurposed the vest and the flowers incorporated into their designs was incredible,” Sosa said. “I have to say Cece’s collection was my favorite.”

Along with the fashion show, the event featured local artists showcasing their art and photography including Audrey Lysette, James Williams, Hailey LaRosa, Rose Honey, Dawn Hatchett, Mindy Keddington and Esto.