Cosmo Couture Fashion & Interior Design Event (3rd Annual)

Imagine a dress made out of wood veneer, a fabulous frock made out of carpeting materials or a suit made out of wall coverings – these are just some creations that will be hitting the runway for a good cause when the 3rd Annual Cosmo Couture Fashion & Design event takes place on Thursday, September 20th.  The annual event is produced by the Washington Metro City Center of the International Interior Design Association Mid-Atlantic Chapter (IIDA-MAC).

Cosmo Couture fosters a direct collaboration between local Architecture and Interior Design firms and their manufacturing partners in the Washington DC area, to create garments reflecting a given theme.  The garments are judged by a panel of DC notables during a runway show with awards given to design teams in different categories.  Twenty one design teams will participate in this year’s event.

For the third consecutive year, the beneficiary for the event is My Sister’s Place - DC's oldest domestic violence shelter providing comprehensive programs and services that holistically address domestic violence and the unique challenges survivors face.  For the past two years, the Cosmo Couture event has generated over $40,000 for My Sister’s Place.

This year, IIDA-MAC has partnered with the Corcoran Gallery of Art for the event’s theme and inspiration.  The inspiration is based on a selected and enigmatic painting which is part of the museum’s Contemporary Gallery titled Red Star by Raymond Saunders (1970).  The artwork combines Saunders’ expressionistically worked surfaces with pop art of the sixties.  Its random, yet structured composition includes powerful fields of vibrant color, calligraphy marks, stenciled numbers and a huge red star with an ampersand at its heart (painting link:http://www.cosmocouture.org/designtheme.shtml).  The Corcoran Gallery of Art will also assemble all of this year’s garments into an exhibit to open on September 26, after the Cosmo Couture event.   In addition, a team of students from the Corcoran’s Graduate Interior Design program will form the first student team to ever participate in Cosmo Couture.

Last year’s event attracted over 800 attendees, selling out for the past two years.  This year’s event will be emceed by Alison Starling, evening news anchor for ABC7/WJLA-TV.  Tickets to the event range from $80-180 and are available online at www.cosmocouture.org.