Fashion week has returned to the Queen City, and Villa Maria College is helping to make it a success.
Rick Warne, an organizer of this year’s event, as well as the former Buffalo Fashion Week director of photography, believes that Villa’s sponsorship has helped spread the word the affair, which has been aptly named Queen City Fashion Week. “Having Villa, a school with a permanent fashion design program, on board as a sponsor has added credibility to our event,” said Warne. “We’re excited about the partnership.”
As part of Villa’s sponsorship of Queen City Fashion Week, Warne conducted a two-part workshop for Villa’s fashion and photography students. The first session of ‘Tips and Tricks for Successful Fashion Photographs’ took place last Saturday, September 17.
“During part one of the workshop, students worked with a live model,” said Warne. “Fashion Design and Merchandising students posed her as if she were wearing their designs, and collaborated with the photography students to take professional-grade pictures. Photography students learned to work in conjunction with the designers, take direction and how to work with a live model. The workshop was great, and some really good work was produced.”
Kat McCabe, a senior photography major at Villa, participated the workshop. She feels like the opportunity to learn from Warne was incredibly helpful. “I feel lucky to have someone like him working with us,” she said. “He showed [the photographers] the right way to pose a fashion model and showed us how to work with both models and designers to get the perfect shot. I was lucky enough to use Mr. Warne’s 70-200 mm lens, which helped me get even better quality shots. I know I will take everything he taught us, work on it, and use it every chance I get.”
Rick Warne with model Cassy Leigh during his workshop at Villa. Photo by Kat McCabe, photography, ’17.
Participating students had one week to put Warne’s lessons into action. The second part of the workshop, a critique of the photos they’ve taken throughout this week, took place on Saturday, September 24.
In addition to financially supporting Queen City Fashion Week, Villa students will be volunteering at each of the fashion week events.
Queen City Fashion Week is a four-part event that kicks off on October 9 with a Queen City Coronation Photoshoot. The timeline for the rest of the events are as follows:
- Tuesday, October 11: For the Love of Fashion industry mixer, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum (220 North Street, Buffalo, NY 14201). Sponsored by Mercedes Benz of Buffalo.
- Thursday, October 13: The Crown Runway Show at the Foundry Suites (1738 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14207). Boutique Show at 6 p.m., Designer Show at 8 p.m. Sponsored by Villa Maria College and Visualeyes.
- Friday, October 14: After party at Pasion (153 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14201). Sponsored by Buffalo Love Tees.
For more information on fashion week, please visit www.queencityfashionweek.com.
