Designer Roger Figueroa took home $10,000 in prize money at last Thursday’s Pins and Needles fashion show held at event space Majorette. Launched by Dwight Carter in 2008, the competition’s past winners have gone on to compete in Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model. Others have shown collections during New York Fashion Week.
Pins and Needles offers young talent the opportunity to learn about pricing, marketing, and how to stage a runway show, featuring their own designs.
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“It’s kind of a designer bootcamp,” says Carter. “Like Emma for example, she’s 19, and this is her first collection. I feel like after this she’s got some confidence and is ready to go build a business. She didn’t know how to go about the social media stuff or [how] to pick the models, the shoes. Now she’s got this idea of what it’s like to do a fashion show, and now she can kill it next time.”
After an application process, five designers spent the summer building collections with fabrics provided by KDR Designer Showrooms. Figueroa’s clothes featured dark colors, boxy shapes, and a Game of Thrones-esque model fit with a large crown and dragging a bouquet of roses on a chain behind her.
Nineteen-year-old Emma Rubinson was the competition’s youngest designer. She showed a collection that featured whimsical, tie-dye gowns with small, colorful flower decorations.
Elyse Anastacia Flores, of Chesterfield, Missouri, was excited about the “riskier” music selection she chose for her models, which were clad in blue-based white ensembles with mirrored, metallic heels. The Chicago skyline-inspired collection, Delores, was paired with large drums and dramatic music. Flores said the most nerve-wracking part of the evening was the 10 minutes just before show time.
Designer Yaşi Fayal of MAANG Studios is originally from Iran and designed her collection in Italy. She says she was inspired by women in movement. Her standout piece: a dress that hit above the knee, half of it depicting a sun and the moon painted with a mesh overlay.
The evening’s judges included Dawn Sturmon of the Saint Louis Fashion Fund, Barbara Bultman, a past Pins and Needles winner; Emily Elbert of Byrd Designer Consignment Boutique, Jamey Edgerton of St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, AJ Thouvenot and Paul Gibson, past Pins and Needles finalists; and Veronica Theodoro, editor-in-chief of Design STL.
Carter says the final Pins and Needles event is like a last episode of a television show. “It’s kind of surreal, like sad,” he says. “It’s kind of like when you see the last episode of something but there are these spin-offs that happen. I feel like I’m going to be doing a spin-off of this.”
In fact, Carter will turn his attention to producing Gent Fashion Week, which will feature men’s clothing.
Since the show’s debut, Carter has watched the designers improve and take the competition more seriously. As a result, he’s been able to provide a prize package that is not just about money, but the things that young designers often don’t realize they need to advance in their careers, like fabric and sewing machines.
