 "Photo: Photo Courtesy of Briana Purser")
“It just makes so much sense to be in Austin and to put on a fashion show that is vintage and rock and inspired,” said Shari Gerstenberger, expert buyer for Buffalo Exchange. “Those two things … seem like pillars of Austin culture.”
From this concept, Fashion Freakout was established. A year ago, Audrie San Miguel, co-owner of Prototype Vintage Design, and Jason McNeely, a local event producer, created a fashion show that incorporated the core elements of Austin society.
San Miguel and McNeely will present Fashion Freakout 2 on Friday at the Mohawk, with doors opening at 8 p.m. and models walking at 9 p.m.
The show is same concept as the original affair last year, but with more models, more vintage clothing (80 different looks to be exact) and most importantly, more rock ’n’ roll.
“Being in the vintage and rock ’n’ roll realm, I thought that there was definitely a party that needed to happen, and I think that is was separates Fashion Freakout from different fashion shows,” San Miguel said.
Style and music influence each other, especially in Austin. Dubbed the live music capital of the world, Austin has an immense population of artists who, because of their nonconformist lifestyle, cannot afford new clothes.
“There is a creative class here in Austin … that don’t have a lot of money to go out and buy designer clothes,” San Miguel said. “So what do they do? They hit Austin’s huge community of vintage stores where you can find one-of-a-kind pieces.”
Demonstrating this blend of fashion and music are four major presences in the Austin vintage circuit: New Bohemia, Prototype Vintage Design, Buffalo Exchange and online store Laced With Romance
(www.lacedwithromance.com). To represent the rock ’n’ roll segment is Hacienda, a group from San Antonio that will entertain the crowd by playing two sets throughout the evening. Mike Wiebe, vocalist for the local band the Riverboat Gamblers, will be the official emcee of the event.
Prototype Vintage Design will style the party and stage decor as well. San Miguel cited various influences for the furnishings from the ’60s and ’70s, including arena rock shows and Soul Train.
The show’s vintage designs construct and enforce the trends in Austin.
“These fashions we are trying to showcase. They are not for people who are stuck in a time warp or are wearing granny’s polyester. These are still for very fashionable people,” San Miguel said.
Fashion Freakout aims to improve upon what has already been accomplished in the vintage scene. This entails seeing it in a different context than originally intended.
“It’s definitely always trying to make this thing and always trying to make it better, because I don’t feel like I have ever done the perfect show, I don’t feel like I have ever written the perfect song, and I don’t know that you ever can,” Wiebe said. “But for me, I think it is really exciting… trying to find different things about it you haven’t figured out before.”
The vintage community in Austin emphasizes the individual when it comes to style, and its members rely on each other for support.
“One thing that makes us stand out from the rest is the sisterhood that we have,” Stephanie Villalobos, founder and owner of Laced With Romance, said about her company. “Every person has stood beside me and has believed in something that has been really difficult to get off the ground. It is a true labor of love.”
All involved agree that a central premise in the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle and Fashion Freakout is rebellion.
“Ultimately, what rock music is supposed to do is to kind of push things and hopefully offend the right people and coddle the right people … and I think that is what some of the fashion scene is intending to do … it’s supposed to be really divisive,” Wiebe said.
Essentially, Fashion Freakout is rock ’n’ roll. The integrated fashion show embodies all that is Austin: enduring vintage style and impeccable music.
“It is the spirit of youth; it is timeless and universal,” McNeely said. “I always like to use the word rock ’n’ roll because it is not as trendy — rock ’n’ roll will always be; it will always exist.”
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