ORLANDO DUGI

34 year old Orlando Dugi who is originally from Arizona, but now resides in Santa Fe is the newest member of Santa Fe Fashion Week.  Orlando has been designing women’s evening wear now for three years, this self taught designer received his first sewing class in middle school home economics class, and this was the catalyst for this designer who began by sewing dresses for his sister.

Orlando admits he is inspired by European Haute Couture and began to hand sew his creations just recently he began to use a sewing machine for his evening gowns, but says he still employs hand sewing for many parts of his designs.  Orlando asserts that it can take months to create one gown.  His last collection was called Opulence.

 

 

DEFY MI

 

Cody is the creative director of Defy Mi and is the newest designer to join onto the Santa Fe Fashion Week team, the 36 year old Phoenix, Arizona designer is Native American from the Navajo Nation, before designing clothes Cody was a Mathematics teacher for seven years.

Self taught designer of Defy Mi has learned much by working with other local designers and as a seamstress and alteration specialist she has a keen eye for detail, which she has obtained from Couture sewing,  Defy Mi also works with their clients for individual designs.

Defy Mi will be presenting their new collection this year which will consist of tailored pieces and easy separates with classic shapes with a contemporary twist

CREENISGAA DESIGNS

Linda Lavallee is the creative director of Creenisgaa designs, newest designer for Santa Fe Fashion Week, at 47 she has been designing hand crafted foot wear for 29 years, the product of three generation of manufacturing Foot Wear.  Linda is originally from Timber Bay, Saskatchewan Canada.

She was taught the fine art of boot making by the best of her elders and she also attended the Shoe School in Port Townsend, Washington.

The collection she is designing for SFFW will be based upon the Native American traditions of the Cree and Nisgaa Nations.  I look forward to seeing these designs at Santa Fe Fashion Week in November.

MODEL COORDINATOR

Allow me to introduce you to the newest member of Santa Fe Fashion Week; Blake Elizabeth Lewis, SFFW’s Model Coordinator!  Blake 23 years old is originally from Georgia but now resides in the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico.

When asked what a Model Coordinators Job was, I already had the answer but it was nice to have Blake’s insight into the job description, Blake described it thus; to maintain communication with all models, as far as dates, Meetings, run throughs, auditions...etc.  To keep everyone organized and on track behind stage during the actual Fashion event.  Models go to Blake with any and all questions or concerns and she tries to reach everyone’s needs the best to her ability.

When asked what she plans to bring to Santa Fe Fashion Week?  Blake’s answer was that she would bring a lot of positive energy, as the Models can talk to her about whatever.  Blake keeps a notebook of creative idea’s to refer to for other events as well.

WOLFON WEAR

Allow me to introduce you to an additional design member of Santa Fe Fashion Week, Robert Powell of Wolfon Wear.

Robert is 53 years old and was born in Madrid, Spain to an Air Force Family; Robert was raised in Midwest City, Oklahoma and currently resides in Houston, Texas.  Robert, in addition to being a designer served our country 12 years in the U S Marine Corp.

Mr. Powell has been designing clothes now for 15 years, starting off sewing historical Renaissance Garments; his first major Fashion Show was in April 2011 for Houston Fashion International Group (HFIG) Fashion Week, in addition to Houston Fashion Week, his designs graced Austin Fashion week (2011) and this year’s Dallas Fashion week.

Mr. Powell studied Fashion Design and Fashion Merchandising from Houston Community College where he received his AAS in Fashion Design in 2010.

RUDYLEE JR. FASHION DESIGNER

 

Allow me to introduce you to the newest member of Santa Fe Fashion Week, Rudylee Jr. who just happens to hail from the state of New Mexico, to be specific Santa Cruz, NM.  Rudylee  Jr.has no formal design education, but has been featured at Houston’s Fashion Week, therefore there is talent, he gives credit to his Grandmother and other seamstresses for his amazing talent, stating that he has been designing clothes since the tender age of ten, now the designer is twenty-six years old.

Rudylee Jr.’s aesthetic changes with every new collection, giving us a new outlook on fashion as it should be with fashion. His last two collections which debuted at Houston’s Fashion Week gave us a glimpse at class with a sexy edge, the collection called V.I.P. along with his *Evolution* collection which was created by combining strong color contrast and unusual draping and cuts.

When asked about the future of Rudylee Fashion Designer, his dream is to be mass produced and to add a men and children’s line to better reach the masses.

My hat is off to Rudylee Jr. and I wish him abundant luck in his endeavors.

FASHION COORDINATOR

Those of us who have been to a fashion show or who have at least live streamed them, know what a chaotic mess they can be, not to mention backstage, were the models have all of 45 seconds to one minute to get hair/makeup touched up while dressing and undressing to get back on the runway.  We are also use to major shows kicking off 15-20 + minutes late, not with Santa Fe Fashion Week!

May I introduce you to SFFW’s newest member Ezra Estes the Fashion Coordinator, my question to Ezra was, what is a fashion coordinator?  All that I have mentioned above is exactly what they do. Such things as keeping a clear path for models to *run* through while undressing/dressing, making sure the flow of the runway is consistent and flows and that designers are able to breathe.  When I asked Ezra about major shows here in New York starting 15-20 minutes late, would I expect that from SFFW, he assured me if he has anything to do with this, this will not be the case…whew, what a relief!