Indiana Fashion Week '22 Recap
Two weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to participate in Indiana’s very own “fashion week”! The Indiana Fashion Foundation annually hosts one week that is based around Hoosier artistry, design, fashion, and creativity. From July 25th - July 30th, creatives from all across the state joined together to participate in fashion shows, competitions, networking events, and much more. As a photographer for PATTERN Magazine, an Indianapolis-based fashion print and digital magazine, I got the opportunity to see a lot of these events firsthand and capture them. In this recap I will go over my two favorite events that I participated in; a photo competition hosted at Selfie WRLD Indy, as well as a finale runway show at the Dallara Indy Car Factory. After reading this quick recap, I want to implore anyone who is interested in participating in Indiana Fashion Week, or any local creative event, to never hesitate to do so. There are countless ways to get involved and every contribution is greatly valued. If you would like to view more work from any featured artists, I’ve linked their work throughout this post!
Photo by Leo Soyfer
Selfie WRLD Photo Competition
The first Fashion Week event I attended was a photography competition taking place at Selfie WRLD Indy. To those who are unfamiliar, Selfie WRLD is a type of “selfie museum” where visitors can travel through the building and take photos of themselves in a variety of decorated rooms with unique props and backdrops. This competition was a preface to something called Content Night, where any visitors could buy tickets and take photos of themselves or with other fashion week enthusiasts. I got the chance to compete alongside some talented Indy photographers. Here were the rules: 15 minutes to take photos in one room, then another 15 minutes in a second room. Select the top photo from each room and submit them to the fashion foundation by the end of the night. Here are the two photos that I captured with the help of stylist Taylor Felder and model Shelby Jessup, featuring pieces from the Lux & Ivy boutique. (Photo set to the left)
This was definitely a creative challenge for me. While I was comfortable with the equipment I was using, the time limit put my team and I under some stress. However, we were extremely happy with our results and we came out in second place in the entire competition! First place went to an extremely talented photographer by the name of Cozy Visuals who also had a great team on her side! The photo set on the right are the photos that the winning team submitted.
Photos by Leo Soyfer
Photos by Cozy Visuals
Finale Runway Show
The final event of Indiana Fashion Week was the Finale Runway show at the Dallara Indy Car Factory! The night was a showcase of eight designers based in Indiana. The runway featured a very unique, square layout that made for a great viewing experience. An Indy car placed at the center of the show acted as a beautiful and interesting set piece. The rest of the venue was lined with examples of Dallara’s work in racecar development. The show ran for a couple of hours and included the designer showcases, an audience fashion competition,
I’ve added a great video recap of the event made by Kelsey Matthias
My purpose for attending this event, as well as participating in the fashion week as a whole, was to support and capture these local designers, models, and artists. A lot of them were people with whom I’ve worked with in the past, as well as many that I hadn’t and wanted to network with. That being said, this was definitely still work and I had to deliver a lot of it to the editor in the exact same night! I wasn’t working alone, but working on the press team meant that if there was something that needed to be covered, I had to step up and cover it. There was quite a bit of stress building up from working on so many events within the week, and it peaked at this huge event that I had spent my entire day working on.
My job at the event was to capture the individual designs, behind-the-scenes progress leading up to the show, and some impromptu style of any audience members. Most of the day was spent backstage and in the green room. While models were getting hair and makeup done, I would roam around and photograph the preparation. Some designers opted for very specific looks that would coincide with their designs. This entire prep phase took around 4 hours due to the specific processes, as well as allowing for breaks to practice runway walks. Up in the green rooms, I photographed designers and stylists preparing the pieces that were being showcased. There were a lot of adjustments and fittings being made throughout the day, even up to the final minutes before the show. When the time came for rehearsals, I would watch carefully and plan out my position during the show. My ultimate goal throughout the night was to get as unique of a shot as possible, as often as I could. There were quite a few other photographers covering the event, so creativity was a huge focus.
Following the final walkthrough of the models and designers, I began the my final tasks for the night. I prepared my equipment and made my way home. After spending 12 hours on my feet, I now had to sit down and select my final images to send to my editor. This lasted up until 1 AM in the morning, at which point I passed out from exhaustion. The day was extremely difficult, but looking back at my results I was very satisfied. I just got to witness and photograph the premier fashion-based event in the state of Indiana. It was one of those rare moments where I felt proud of the community and all of the hard workers around me.
To return to my earlier statement; to anyone who has ever felt like they want to get involved in something but are waiting for the right circumstances, I can only recommend that you just do it. You don’t have to look in other parts of the world, or be at any particular level of involvement from the start. If you had told me two years ago that I would be working with organizations that value my creative work, that actually want me to be involved, and that make me enjoy the work that I do, I would laugh and follow it up with an “I wish”. But it did happen, and it will keep happening because I took a chance surrounded myself with the right people.
Photos by Leo Soyfer