Nightclub fashion shows are hard to pull off, but organizer Kathy Mouacheupao knew that she had a hit on her hands when 800 people packed Visage last year for the Twin Cities' first Hmong fashion show.
The show, called Fresh Traditions, is back, this time at the Varsity Theater, where five Hmong-American designers will mix their cultural history with contemporary clothing.
The highlight of the show is an outfit challenge -- à la "Project Runway" -- that Mouacheupao posed to the designers. While designers created their own unique lines for the show, they were also asked to make one outfit that uses five fabrics (blue and black satin, a heavy black velvet and fluorescent pink and green chiffon). These fabrics are normally used to create a full-bodied traditional outfit called Zam Hmoob, worn for the Hmong New Year.
Last year's designers found the challenge, well, challenging. But Mouacheupao said it's a way for a new generation of Hmong-Americans to connect to the past.
"I'm not asking them to make modernized versions of traditional Hmong clothing, but I am asking them to think about that tradition," Mouacheupao said.
The show will open with a performance by a Hmong hip-hop dance crew. There will also be music by a group performing with the qeej, a traditional Hmong instrument made of bamboo that resembles Scottish bagpipes -- without the bag.
While last year's show was a success, Mouacheupao said, one thing was missing. This year she added an emphasis on something many nightclub fashion shows do not address: the careers of the aspiring designers. Mouacheupao worked with local fashion maven Anna Lee, who produces Voltage, on helping to develop real career options in a field that is as cutthroat as they come. They worked with the designers for months before the show on pricing and getting their clothes into stores.
"There's more to these fashion shows than just the runway," Mouacheupao said.
