Buffalo Rising Online

Oct 18th 2008, 11:59am By queenseyes

When I last spoke with Erin Habes at Krudmart, she told me that she was organizing a fashion show that would basically put the city on the map for creative runway use. The plan is to turn Lafayette Church into a haven for high fashion on Friday, November 14th. It sounds as if she is attempting to do something that should have been done a long time ago. She's planning on tapping into all of the local apparel stores, while working alongside Buffalo State College (where she teaches fashion), a holy venue, the Elmwood Association, and a nearby restaurant. It's being called Mass Appeal. Here's the plan straight from the fashion diva:

"When I did The Runway (photos from the Albright-Knox) in April I put Justin (from the Elmwood Association) in the front row and he was extremely impressed. Then Patrick from Block Club told me how impressed he was. From that event I started brainstorming about doing it at another venue... and it turned out that the Lafayette Church embraced the idea. I wanted to reach out to the Elwood Avenue businesses. We are bringing ten stores and six salons together on that evening. I'm teaming up the clothing stores, the shoe stores and the salons. The cool thing is that the church is going to be moving the pews to face the runway - that's a lot of work. We are planning to light between 200-300 candles on the alter. The models will have spotlights on them and there will be dim lights as well. We're shooting for a soft and romantic look. It's the precursor to the holiday season, so this will create some buzz for the Elmwood shopping district.

"We want to take this show to whole other level. We want to show people high-fashion and where to buy it for the events they attend around Buffalo. We're going to do some fun mixing of fashion trends... you may see preppy clothing mixed with crazy 80's hair - the businesses are bringing me ads featuring clothing (on models) that they want to feature... to show me how they want to pull it off. The after-party will be at hosted at Bullfeathers. There will be a cash bar (beer and wine) at the church. Buffalo has never seen a production like this. I could only let 480 people in at the gallery (photos) and 2800 people showed up. We turned away a ton of people. I'm pulling models from my network while working with the Buffalo State Fashion Association... they are going to be my right-hand girls. A lot of people are getting involved. I'm excited to get paid to be creative while raising money for the association, the church and the shops. The practicing Presbyterian church has been amazing as well. They want to be part of the community and it shows."

*Mass Appeal doors will open at 7 p.m. and the show will begin promptly at 9 p.m.

All funds raised from this event will go to support the mission and programming of the Elmwood Village Association.