She Culture: A collaboration of fashion

The night of the Farasha and Ballet West fashion show was unlike anything I’ve seen put together in Utah. Located in an aircraft hangar, the event was something accomplished by a collaboration of several local businesses. As for the people involved – only the best in their industries. The joining forces included Farasha Boutique, Ballet West, Landis Salons, Million Air, Audi, Porsche Design and many more. It was an occasion so outstanding and flawless that only the cooperation of so many creative minds could achieve it.

The theme of the evening was the concept of Farasha’s owner – Vanessa Di Palma Wright. She introduced her “Jet Set Collection,” using the lovely dancers of Ballet West as the runway models, a clever accent to contrast the norm of the ordinary fashion show.

Consisting entirely of a volunteer staff, the planning and preparation for an event of this magnitude usually take anywhere from six months to a year.

Di Palma Wright gathered the collection from designers around the world, and Heidi Gress and Eddie Collins put together and organized the event without a hitch. The tickets sold out to 300 guests who participated in the silent auction, proceeds of which benefited Ballet West.

Di Palma Wright travels internationally, selects the designers and collects the clothes for Farasha, which is based out of Park City and, interestingly enough, does not have a storefront. Rather, they assemble and erect “pop-up boutiques” throughout the country.

I had a moment to speak with Di Palma Wright to describe her business:

“Basically what Farasha does, is we are an incubator for emerging designers from around the world. Obviously that includes domestic and local Utah designers.

We thrive on the fact that we don’t have a storefront – we do temporary pop-up boutiques all over the U.S. So we’ve done New York, we’ve done Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, Sun Valley, Idaho during the holidays, California, Seattle and Portland, so we just move around.

We’re based out of Park City, Utah, and we have a website, FarashaStyle.com, so the idea is that we get people excited about the emerging designers that we represent at the pop-ups, and then we hope to create a following online, so that when we’re moving around we’ll grow our clientele that way… Farasha is all about collaborations, and I think this [event] is the epitome of collaboration, it all comes together because of all the people behind this.”

Behind the scenes of the show was an event in itself. With models and stylists scurrying about, the energy behind the stage was booming with excitement and anticipation.

Behind the pristine, white curtain, Nikki Breedlove was the lead on the creative team on behalf of Landis Salons. A cheerful bundle of energy, we discussed her role in the event.

It was their third year doing this show with Ballet West; however, it was the first year that they had used the ballet dancers in the place of professional models.

Of which she noted, “This year we are actually working with ballerinas, who are not only stunning, but they walk a runway better than any model I have ever seen!”

She described the preparation involved in this type of project. There was one night where they all came together creatively as equals to work out the final details of the presentation of the hair and makeup, to ensure that the models looked great up close, from afar on stage and after having tried on several outfits.

“It came down to a sleek, smooth look, and I was happy about that. We played around with big beehives, and volume, volume, volume to look like ratty, ratty, ratty. So we had sort of a sweat-back look.”

When asked about the future for Landis and fundraising events she responded, “We are going to be part of the HRC this year. My wife, Sarah Viola is the third chair in the event, so we got Landis to do a whole table that they will be sponsoring… Usually if it’s the right cause, Richard Surber (owner and operator of Landis) is willing to work with them.”

All in all, being in a building full of beautiful people and creative geniuses was a thrill like none other.

The fashion was outstanding; the hair and makeup was inspiring; the music, lighting and stage design was perfect. It was yet another reason and reminder to support local businesses, as well as cultural and creative industries as a whole.

The cause for the fundraiser was honorable, the event was one to remember, and the months of preparation for it was, without question, worth the impressive outcome.

Special thanks to backstage manager, Heidi Gress. Congratulations and best of luck to Farasha, Ballet West, and Landis.

(Photos by Annalissa Millo.)