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Photo by Nathan Parker
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Photo by Nathan Parker
Broadcast journalist and former 'Today' show host Tamron Hall walks in a design by Saint Louis Fashion Incubator designer Reuben Reuel.
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Photo by Nathan Parker
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Photo by Nathan Parker
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Photo by Nathan Parker
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Photo by Nathan Parker
This past Saturday evening, Saint Louis Art Museum hosted its summer fundraising soirée. One of the highlights of the evening was the Saint Louis Fashion Fund fashion show, a concept André Leon Talley conceived during a recent visit to St. Louis. The former Vogue editor and style icon was in town a few weeks ago to support the Saint Louis Art Museum's exhibit Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear, 1715-2015. During his visit, he met with the inaugural class of designers from the Saint Louis Fashion Fund Incubator.
Talley extended his trip to spend extra time at the Incubator, and that's when the idea for a fashion show came to life. “Before I knew it, he was pulling looks and directing and we had a show,” says Saint Louis Fashion Fund chair Susan Sherman. “It was an incredible afternoon, one that I will never forget.”
Talley describes this aha moment as "just a meeting of the minds." He adds, "It happened organically out of a conversation." Talley asked incubator designer Reuben Reuel to try on one of his own designs, a printed shirt dress. “It actually looked very good on him, so it came upon me that this could be a fluid moment.”
Saturday's fashion show, Fluid Fashion 18, was comprised of 18 gender fluid fashion looks created by the Incubator's designers. Male and female models walked the runway together, wearing the same pieces, but styled differently. Special guest television personality Tamron Hall, formerly of NBC's Today show, walked the runway wearing one of designer Reuben Reuel’s printed dresses. It was paired with thigh-high purple Balenciaga boots. Brent R. Benjamin, the Barbara B. Taylor director of the art museum, was also styled by the designers. He sported a gold lamé blazer with shorts.
The full video of the fashion show is below.
