East meets West in an entirely different way when it comes to fashion.
On Saturday, Sept. 24, the Alliance Française de Washington in conjunction with Art Soirée Co. hosted a Franco-Russo fashion show, called Nuit de la Mode at the Hillwood Estate. The Estate, located east of Van Ness near Rock Creek Park, once belonged to Marjorie Merriweather Post, a name familiar to D.C.-Maryland concert-goers for a certain pavilion.
Saturday night, Post’s extensive Japanese garden and manicured lawn hosted a young stylish crowd eager to bring European fashion to Washington.
The show opened with a collection by designer Marina Asta. Most of the models wore silky shirts with floral or embroidered patterns tucked into skirts made from heavier materials like tweed and velvet. The vibrant reds, cyans and winter greens combined with embroidered wool and tulle conjured a fairy-tale like image of Russian folklore, a reflection of Asta’s Russian roots.
Although the runway outfits were too dramatic for everyday wear, they inspire a woodsy peasant theme with their colors and textures.
In addition to designing clothes, Asta is a painter, and had a collection of hand-painted dresses that weren’t featured at the show. The dresses sell for about $100 and can be found at marinaasta.etsy.com, for those who are looking to wear a unique piece of art.
Unlike Asta, who explored the romance of feminity through color and texture, the next designer, Camille Pascal, stuck to a cotton-spandex texture and the colors red, black and electric purple.
Camille kept the texture and colors, only changing the cuts and necklines to emphasize the different parts of the model, whether it was the bust or the collarbone.
Her dresses were the kind to be worn to job interviews or dates. Most of them cost about $220 and can be seen on her website, camillepascal.com.
She also featured her line of LBDs and minis — the stand out piece was the Sophia, with its unique pattern and combination of red with purple.
A bridal line by Elizabeth St. John concluded the show, but the evening continued on. Docents offered tours of Hillside that proved what a perfect location it was for the show.
Upon entering the foyer and seeing the crystal chandeliers, ornately framed portraits, marble and blue and cream china, one assumes the house was designed in a strictly 18th century French style.
Yet, after stepping further into the hall, Orthodox icons and Fabergé eggs introduce the other stylistic influence: imperial Russia.
Post had obtained rare Russian pieces (like a chalice from Catherine the Great) during her husband’s diplomatic tenure in Moscow. Not only was Hillside a beautiful location for the fashion show, but its Franco-Russo hybrid perfectly matches the juxtaposition of Asta’s and Pascal’s lines.
Many attendees and workers extended the celebration of D.C. art to the street festival stretching 7th Avenue between Chinatown and Shaw, where graffiti artists worked on sidewalks, people gathered in circles around break dancers and galleries opened their doors wide for the public.
From high-heeled fashion to dancing in the grime of the streets, Nuit de la Mode helped advance D.C.’s growth into a more artistic, stylish city.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
