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Sashay Over To Detroit Fashion Week

Fashion Week
(Photo; Brian Heath)

Detroit Fashion Week starts Sunday, so shuck off those saggy sweats and show off your swanky style at a bevy of local events. Think Detroit doesn't have style? Sashay your way over as best you can in 6-inch platform heels and prove those naysayers wrong. Four fashion week events are spread across the region, so pick your fave and dig in.

Know that Detroit's Fashion Week was started seven years ago by noted fashion photographer Brian Heath, who modeled it after New York's famous Fashion Week -- and act accordingly. "Everybody's excited," Heath said about the 2011 event. - Christy Strawser

emagine
(emagine.com)

Kick-off party

Emagine Theater
200 N. Main Street
Royal Oak, MI 48067
248-414-1000
www.emagine-entertainment.com

The revelry kicks off with a preview party at 8:30 p.m. Sunday at the new Emagine Theater in downtown Royal Oak, where you can mingle with designers, sponsors and fellow fashion fans. The Emagine fun begins with a red carpet entry into the theater. Inside, you'll find live music, a comedy show, fashion walk, acrobatics show, and an appearance by CW50's Detroit Gossip Girl Bethany. "This is a big event, there's going to be live entertainment, live acrobatics, a fashion show, cash bar, we're going to have previews of all the things you'll see during the week," Heath said.

Charity Auction

Royal Oak Farmers Market
316 E. 11 Mile Road
Royal Oak, MI 48067
248-246-3276
The good times roll on to Thursday, Sept. 22, when Royal Oak Farmers Market will host a charity auction hosted by WWJ-TV's Lori Pinson, a viewing of the Young Survival Coalition and the Living In Pink Design Showcase, which will bring custom designs to the runway.

Heath 4
(Photo; Brian Heath)

Student Showcase

Willy's Overland Lofts
441 W. Canfield
Detroit, MI 48201
Friday, Sep. 23, will bring a student design showcase and Party By Design sponsored by the Michigan Aids Coalition at Willys Overland Lofts. Eighteen representatives of eight Michigan college and university fashion programs will bring their best. Have you seen Project Runway? Everyone had to start somewhere. "We've got a live band, a DJ, the fashion showcase, we're in partnership with DIFA  -- There's going to be stuff you can eventually wear, some creative fashions as well. It's going to be a little bit of everything," Heath said.

The Culmination

Detroit Public Library
5201 Woodward Ave.
Detroit, MI 48202
313-481-1300
www.detroitfashionweek.com/designer_show.html
A blowout event is planned for Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Detroit Main Public Library's Adam Strom Hall. It's a seven designer showcase featuring the Taiyon Collection's 2012 runway show, with an after party at Kacent 630,located at 630 Woodward Ave., Detroit. In addition to the Tayion Collection, designs on display will hail from: the Uneek Collection, Odie King, Lyudviga Shneyders, Toni McClendon, Kate Lorenz, and the Asylum Fashion House.   

Heath 3
(Photo; Brian Heath)

What to Wear

The beauty of fashion week is that anything goes. Is plaid the new black? You decide. Think Sarah Jessica Parker, Andre Leon Talley, the cape-wearing fashion director of Vogue Magazine, Halston in the 1970's, Dynasty in the 1980's, Tiffani Amber Thiessen in the '90's, -- or a mishmash of all those inspirations together. You literally can't go wrong.

And if you do go wrong, pretend like you did it on purpose. "Initially, we wanted everyone to dress up, but what we found was that people want to have fun, so we tell them to be fashionably chic. People wear everything from jeans to gowns. It's an eclectic collective, a statement of what we think fashion is," Heath said.

Tickets

An all-access pass that covers attendance at every event is $150. The rest breaks down like this: Premium seating at the Emagine launch event is $75; a regular ticket is $10. A ticket for the Living In Pink showcase costs $35. Student show tickets are $15. A premium seating ticket for the culmination event at the library is $75, and that includes attendance at the after party. A regular ticket for the final show and after party is $40; and an after-party only pass is $20. Buy tickets at www.detroitfashionweek.com.  Front row ticket purchasers will get swag bags.

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