The Des Moines Tattoo Festival

The Art of Fashion Runway Show

Des Moines, Iowa is a growing hub and has become a great place for artists and musicians to work and live. Local bands are getting national and international attention and local tattoo artists are being featured nationally, but Iowa designers and clothing companies aren't getting the recognition they need and deserve. That's the idea behind the Art of Fashion Runway show. To bring attention to talented designers from Des Moines and the surrounding areas. This runway show will feature the designers art influences as well as the fashion ideas that only Iowa can offer.

The designers involved will also be selling their apparel at the event on Saturday and Sunday. These designers are Nightmare City Apparel, Pink Revolver, Magpie, Rok:her:roots, Serana Rose Designs, Yellow Elephant, Savedeth and Dorothea's Closet.

Nightmare City was started in early 2005 as a product development and marketing project in a college graphic design course. Originally named Scenester Clothing, the idea behind it was to satire the music scene and corporate fashion. The shirt designed for the project were in such demand it was decided to keep the clothing company going after the project finished. A year later brought a new member to Scenester Clothing. It was then decided to change the focus from satire to more art/fashion influenced and oriented. With the change in look it was decided a change in name was in store. After months of deliberation and going back and forth a name both founders loved, Nightmare City. On November 30th 2006, Nightmare City Apparel became a full fledged company and has been growing ever since. With people such as Kat Von D (Miami Ink, LA Ink), Jason Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks, Mallrats, and the other Kevin Smith films) and The Enigma (X-Files, Identity, LA Ink, Ripleys Believe it or Not, National Geographic and more) owning Nightmare City apparel it can't help but grow. Nightmare City Apparel can also be seen on bands such as Inhale/Exhale, Rookie of the Year and the Rock 'n Roll Soldiers. With the growth of Nightmare City it was decided to bring in a new member to the Nightmare City Crew. Forget the corporate mall stores that try to sell "artsy" fashion (we are all former Hot Topic employees). So if you want a hot topic to talk about think Nightmare City. Everyone involved in Nightmare City lives and breathes by the motto "Art, Fashion, Life" and hopefully you do too.

Yellow Elephant is the art collective of Hilary Nelson, Philip Rabalais and Dominic Rabalais. A few years ago we taught ourselves how to screen print, using our bathroom as a studio and dark room and printing on our hands and knees. We have since upgraded to a basement studio and formed our small tee-shirt compony called Yellow Elephant.
We represent the D.I.Y. attitude and aesthetic with what we do and make; partly out of choice and partly out of necessity. We've worked hard from the ground up, pouring a huge amount of love into every aspect of Yellow Elephant to make it as fun and wonderful as we can. Our models are all our good friends; people without whom, life would definitely be no fun. So thanks to them and thanks to any one who feels what we do. We love Iowa and we love making stuff.

MAGPIE

MAGPIE is an Independent Clothing Line originating out of Des Moines Iowa. Magpie clothing and bag designs are inspired by the vintage materials from which they are constructed, and are always a little quirky - with a nod to the past and a wink to the future. The pieces are individually designed and constructed and are available at Vintage Vitae design collective at 1733 Grand Ave. in Des Moines, and can be seen at vintagevitae. com

Pink Revolver

Pink Revolver Designs owner, Melissa Speridon, designs and creates every unique piece. All of the pieces are steeped in vintage influences pulling from the love of quirky 60's and 70's fabric designs. Creating flattering looks and spontaneous garments satisfying everyones need to be an individual. Pink Revolver is available at Vintage Vitae located @ 1733 Grand Avenue in Downtown Des Moines.

Dorothea's Closet Vintage

Dorothea's Closet Vintage sources and sells genuine vintage clothing & accessories from the 1880's to the 1980's. Owned by Angela Petraline, the shop is located at 1733 Grand Ave in Des Moines and carries both mens and womens vintage. We offer tops, skirts, dresses, suits, pants, hats, handbags, shoes, jewelry and lingerie. For the Tattoo Event Dorothea's will be featuring specifically vintage lingerie from the 60s with a nod to the burlesque!

Serana Rose

Serana Rose, a fashion designer, musician, and stunt performer, has toured the world doing shows and selling clothes. Her latest appearance was on Comedy Central's "The Gong Show" where she and her partner, The Enigma, were seen doing some interesting things with a chainsaw. This musical stunt show, called Electric Acid Theatre, has been the inspiration to go more theatrical with her fashion line this season. She designs every garment worn in this quite dangerous and very unique performance. The fashion line is titled "Dolls on Parade".
Influences are many, including things like 1930's circus photographs, grunge rock, circus freaks, lucid dreams, theatrical costumes . . . even evil fairytale witches, and voodoo magic. Serana has created a colorful clothing line consisting of charming dresses, dramatic vests, and classic skirts, which are accessorized with colorful aprons, heavy corsets, garter belts, petticoats, lacey socks and chokers. Many metallics and upholstery fabrics are used in corsetry and vest making, embellished with tassels and dyed lace. Other mediums she enjoys include recycled cotton t-shirts, dyed canvas, upholstery fabric, feathers, velvet, vintage curtains, and spray paint. The durability and function of each garment is very important to Serana.
Of course, Serana Rose also credits her creative friends, as they help bring out the individuality and splendor of her clothing line. Fashion photographer, Brindlie Deitrick of BrinnyD Photography, takes exquisite photographs, which capture the color and texture of each garment. Marilyn Andersen of Two Cedar's Weaving and Fiber Art has helped enormously with the corset construction and mini-mass production of this rare fashion line. Hair artist, Sonja of StudioX in Ames, IA, creates the unusual hair styles worn by the models. Sonja specializes in extensions, dreadlocks, dread extensions, highlighting, and color, which capture the interesting look in each photograph. At last, the imaginative mood of Serana Rose's fashion wouldn't be possible without the dedication of gorgeous dolls posing in photographs and parading down the runway! For more information, visit www. SeranaRose. com.