An unforgettable night of philanthropy and fashion will feature five talented Ohio designers whose work will be featured in a special runway fashion show.
The DACO Gala will take place at 6 p.m., April 22 at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, 145 E. Main St., Lancaster, and will celebrate how the arts enrich the human experience through passion and imagination. Included in the event are delicious cocktails and hors d’oeuvres; tours of the current exhibit, Flower Power: Flora in Fashion; and a stunning fashion show that will be a dazzling display of color, texture and form.
Let’s meet the five Ohio designers who will showcase their spectacular work:
The DACO Gala will take place at 6 p.m., April 22 at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, 145 E. Main St., Lancaster, and will celebrate how the arts enrich the human experience through passion and imagination. Included in the event are delicious cocktails and hors d’oeuvres; tours of the current exhibit, Flower Power: Flora in Fashion; and a stunning fashion show that will be a dazzling display of color, texture and form.
Let’s meet the five Ohio designers who will showcase their spectacular work:
Celeste Malvar-Stewart is a Filipino American fashion and fibre artist who focuses on sustainable design, emphasizing the importance of slow fashion within one of the most harmful industries. She works with Ohio family farms to obtain luxury wool and alpaca fibre to create her hand-felted textiles and ethereal couture fashion, using all natural and upcycled materials. She has exhibited her work in various museums and galleries and is widely published both nationally and internationally. Celeste is a full-time independent artist and adjunct faculty at the Columbus College of Art and Design in the fashion department, as well as mentoring several students and alumni. She is a Columbus Makes Art artist and serves on the board of the Greater Columbus Arts Council.
Tracy Powell is a Fashion Designer/Artist and founder of The House of IsA. Tracy was born an Air Force Brat, which made for a unique childhood. She lived in many non-English speaking countries, which sparked her desire to read comic books that set in motion her world of creativeness and fantasy. Tracy’s love for textiles and the juxtaposition of materials - the rough and the soft, the shiny and the dull - adds a uniqueness to her designs. Tracy has been featured in runway shows and exhibitions throughout the Midwest and widely published in magazines and articles internationally. She also has designed uniforms for several local hotels in the Columbus downtown area, and under her independent brand, has designed for celebrities, sport celebrities, corporations and film.
Peruvian Fashion Designer Juan José Saenz-Ferreyros was inspired at a very young age by the many parties attended by his parents in Lima, Peru. He sold his first designs in Lima as a teenager and attended school in Lima and Buenos Aires, Argentina, before becoming an assistant to fashion designer Jaime Almonacid. Juan has designed for Miss Colombia Universe, Miss Peru USA and other celebrities, and has mounted runway shows in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Columbus and Washington, D.C. He also designs home furnishings for MG Home, an exclusive store in Lima. Juan José spends most of his time creating one-of-a-kind clothes and elaborate costumes for his private clients, and his clothes are sold in two boutiques in Lima. He occasionally presents a ready-to-wear collection in Columbus.
Yuqi (Crystal) Zhang was born in Weihai, China, and is a fashion/ textile designer living in Columbus. Zhang combines fashion and fine art to give life in stasis a path to metamorphosis. She brings her unique aesthetics when creating garments and makes them become one-of-a-kind wearable art with her imagination and textile manipulation. Besides her collections, she also creates customized clothing and shoe designs.
Renae Kotarski studied fashion design in Atlanta and has worked in various areas in the fashion industry for years. After completing a master’s degree, a set of unique circumstances thrust her into the world of fashion. While at a café, Renae was discussing all things fashion with a stranger, who asked her if she would be interested in entering the KMAC museum’s KMAC Art Walks the Runway in Louisville, Ky., in 2017. Renae decided to give it a shot and was successful in that show - leading her to design again. Renae started AnàStasi Fashion LLC later that year and marketed the brand with a fashion company called Louisville Bespoke, which hosted annual fashion shows at the Louisville Speed Art Museum. Renae moved her brand, AnàStasi Fashion, to Cincinnati in 2020, and has been featured in Passport2Fashion of Columbus Fashion Week.
Tickets for the DACO Gala can be purchased here.
Tickets for the DACO Gala can be purchased here.
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