all photos Katie Sugarman

This is The Way We Are, Now

“The love for fashion spreads, and now the whole studio is thriving off of it,” exhibition curator Shantanice Swain explains. “For me, fashion is about what you’re comfortable with. It can shift, and it can be anything — clothes, earrings, shoes, drawings. It’s a bold and courageous way of saying, ‘I am who I am today.’” That’s what we see in this year’s NIAD Fashion Show.

Fashion has the power to affirm and transform: what we wear tells a story about who we are and who we might one day hope to become.

Saturday September 14, 2024

“The Way We Are Now”

NIAD Fashion Runway Event

NIAD Art Center 551

23rd Street Richmond, CA

NIAD FASHION SHOW PROGRAMMING

SATURDAY AUGUST 17
Opening Reception for the Annex Gallery Exhibition
1 to 4pm
The Way We Are, Now: NIAD Fashion Illustrations 
An exciting preview of NIAD’s fashion extravaganza/runway event coming up on Saturday September 14, these sketches and illustrations showcase the design talent coming out of NIAD’s Fashion Class.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14
Trunk Show
1 to 4pm
Browse NIAD’s deep archive of one-of-a-kind textiles, jewelry, and all types of wearables in unexpected shapes, colors and textures. Also on offer: new variations on t-shirts and merch with the NIAD designs you know and love. In celebration of NIAD’s flair for fashion, we’re offering a rare sale on wearables.

Artist Performances
2pm
Fashion meets fantasy with a dance performance from NIAD artist Heather Hamann and an opera recital from Kaya Davis. Dorian Reid will give a spoken word performance powered by a lifetime of animal advocacy.

Runway Event
2:30pm to 3:30pm
Food, drinks, music, art and fashion at NIAD!

See it all in motion on the NIAD runway in the culminating event of The Way We Are Now.

The inclusive spirit of the title is woven through the event:

— 26 NIAD artists wearing one-of-a-kind designs by fellow NIAD artists will leave it all on the runway, emceed by NIAD facilitator Kate Laster. 

— NIAD Studio Director and DJ Liam Golden will be spinning tunes as diverse and genre-defying as NIAD’s artists. 

— The NIAD kitchen will offer a crowd-pleasing spread with bites for every palate. 

— Show-stopping hair and make-up from NIAD facilitator Terri “Champagne” Moore.

ARTISTS PARTICIPATING IN THE NIAD FASHION SHOW

Participating Artists

Dorian Reid

Nakiesha White

Samantha Kershnar

Rebecca Jantzen

Saul Alegria

Ann Meade

Heather Hamann
Shana Harper
Raven Harper
Shantae Robinson
Heather Copus
Deatra Colbert
Maria Radilla
Karen May
Julie MacDonald
Robin Rakoczy
Jonathan Valdivias
Alice Sampson
Richard Naranjo
Esmeralda Silva
Julio Del Rio
Felicia Griffin
Christian Vassell
Halisi Noel-Johnson
Jason Powell-Smith
Arstanda Billy White