People come from all over the world to experience New York Fashion Week. Here, designers premiere their new collections for the season while the fashion world eagerly awaits the genius that will inevitably grace the runway. With four and a half hours between our campus and the city, sometimes the greater fashion world feels almost irrelevant in its distance. We know, however, that fashion is everywhere, it just needs to be found! So last week we did a little hardline investigative reporting and stumbled across a fabulous fashion show right here in our very own humble Hanover.
The Pink Alligator is a consignment boutique for women and teens located on Main street next to The Nugget. Recently, owner Allison Weiner Sawyer brought fashion to the Upper Valley when she showed the variety of looks present in her store. With models from age 5-81, the variety of looks well represented the diversity of clothing in the store. The models included Heather Ballard and her two daughters Phoebe and Elise, Erica Freund (shown in gold,) Libby O'Neil, Lucia Liddiard, Meg Zuttermeister and Loida Boy with make-up by Sissy Murihead. Ayisha Swann '12 and Annie Norwood '12, two Dartmouth students, were also models and work at The Pink Alligator.
Though all of the models were absolutely fabulous, there was one model who stole the show. Thelma Rowley showed off her years of professional experience and gave the audience a taste of the origins of runway modeling.
In her golden days Rowley was strictly runway, "I was never tall or thing enough for print," she said "I used to lie and tell them I was 5ft 7in when I was really 5ft 4in."
Gaining her fame in the days of the renowned fashion photographer Richard Avedon, she remembered her colleagues of that era calling to mind Twiggy whom she described as quite the "phenomenon." She went on, "Everyone was in love with her because she had an accent."
Rowley modeled for all of the big name department stores of the time, some names that stick with us today such as Lord & Taylor, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue and others have passed on only to be remembered in the archives of Fashion History but she modeled for all of them. After marrying her current husband, a Dartmouth alum and hung up her heels until this show.
This fashion show was just one of many happening this season in the Upper Valley and Ms. Weiner Sawyer, along with her colleagues at various trendy boutiques in the area, has been instrumental in creating a style of fashion show that fits perfectly with the New Hampshire setting.
Don't fret, fashionistas, in our attempt to report on breaking news in the Hanover fashion community we have not forgotten about our very own sources of inspiration here on campus, so stay fly. You never know, you could be next. If you see fashionable people on campus that you think deserve to be recognized, blitz DMStyle. We would love your help keeping Dartmouth fashionable.
