Music, theater and visual arts are a staple of Taste of the Arts. This year, the downtown festival includes another art form: Fashion.
The Evolve Fashion Show begins at 4 p.m. Saturday on The Landing along West Columbia Street.
Davyn Wright, a member of the festival steering committee, is the fashion show’s creator. He says the name references his own career as well as the ever-changing world of fashion.
Wright, also member of local band Midnight Mimosas, only recently stepped into the world of fashion and styling. Fashion allows him to show a different side of himself from music, and Wright says he wants to embrace everyone’s beauty – all shapes and sizes, and not just women.
Segments of the free show will include a throwback to the ’90s with a tribute to TLC and Aaliyah. The show isn’t just fashion – music is a big part of the presentation, and Wright says picking the right tracks wasn’t an easy task.
“I can honestly say it took me forever picking songs for the ’90s because it was so many songs that were awesome hits,” he says. “So I’ve been stressing for like five months to pick 30 seconds of a song from the ’90s. … But I feel like I finally got the right experience.”
Everyone that comes out to Evolve is going to see and hear something they love, Wright says.
Among other sets is one focusing on denim; rock star styles and feature makeup; his own brand, The MNGL; and business fashion.
From music to business, high school and college, all the segments of the show are nods to parts of his life, including how he grew up skating. A female skate crew will perform for several minutes allowing the models time to change.
Evolve will include work and styles from Glam Strands, MakeMiGorgeous, Rage Boutique and Pretty Rae’s Boutique, among others. Wright sees everyone involved as a team with him bringing them all together for with “this crazy vision.”
Though personal fashion has always been a big thing for Wright, 32, he never thought he would be involved in something like this. The Elmhurst High School graduate had hoped for a football career until that dream was cut short because of injury.
“If you would have told me a few years ago that I’d be doing a fashion show, I probably would have looked at you a little crazy,” he says.
Wright was also never a guy that thought he would be making music, but says he has embraced it. Midnight Mimosas will perform after the fashion show.
After all the preparations for the festival and the fashion show, not to mention the day itself, Wright admits he’s going to be a little tired. But he says he has a great support system in God, family including daughter Nielle, and friends that inspire him.
He says Taste of the Arts is going to be great, and not just because his band is performing and he’s organizing Evolve – though he is excited to work with his group of models and creators in the fashion show.
“There are some amazing artists in all the stages,” he says of the festival.
