Some of the Festival of Nations’ 100,000 visitors this weekend will be drawn to the event for the musicians and dancers performing styles from around the world. Others head straight for the extensive vending area. Judging by the typical lines, many festivalgoers prioritize the long row of food trucks and stands.
The 2024 iteration of the annual festival at Tower Grove Park adds a new forum for cultural exchange: fashion.
The Festival of Nations Global Fashion Show will happen at the Global Artist Stage at 12:45 p.m. Saturday and repeat at noon Sunday. It will include work by St. Louis designers who immigrated to the U.S. or who have an international family background.
“This is a really historical moment for the St. Louis fashion scene, because it's very rare that you find all these cultures on one runway celebrating the different nations,” said fashion designer Brandin Vaughn, the event’s producer. “A lot of times I walk into a fashion event and I kind of see the same culture of people. It's because of events like this that are causing us to all come together and figure out how we can produce a show that's more inclusive.”
Designers will show contemporary looks as well as clothing that reflects traditional elements of the clothing styles commonly found around the world. Models also will showcase the work of Hairan Zuchelli, Maxine Roeder, Moraa Nyambe Nyaribo and Yasi Fayal. Each designer will present about a dozen looks.
Vaughn grew up in University City, which he describes as a melting pot, and said his work is influenced by Japanese fashion. He owns a brick-and-mortar shop on Cherokee Street where he works on his signature collection and meets with clients interested in custom pieces.
Reflections of late 18th century and early 19th century Brazilian styles show up in the work of Zuchelli, a costume designer and dress historian who grew up in Vitória, a city on a small island off the coast of mainland Brazil.
“Fashion is a part of history. Everybody knows how 18th century French fashion looks like — you can just think about Marie Antoinette. But do you know what people of color in Brazil would wear? It is really important that we're showcasing different ethnic groups onstage, because a lot of people have never had access to Brazilian fashion,” Zuchelli said.
People brought styles from Rio de Janeiro to Caribbean nations and eventually the U.S., through New Orleans — and fashion is one way to understand cultural exchange among peoples, she said.
“People can relate and be like, ‘I’m from Jamaica, and look, we have a similar shirt.’ Or ‘I have a great-grandmother from Tennessee who was Cajun, and she wore something similar. Why is that?’" Zuchelli said.
Family trips to Shanghai were a big influence for Roeder, who completed her fashion degree at Washington University this year. She does not frequently employ specific Chinese motifs in her designs but was inspired to put her own spin on the culture’s long history of fine embroidery and other forms of intricate, surface detailing.
Roeder, whose mother is from China, said fashion is one way she understands her identity as a person of mixed race.
“I like finding ways to merge my background with things I’m passionate about. Seeing myself as a mixed person and the daughter of an immigrant, I think fashion is just a unique way to explore my background,” Roeder said.
“Fashion is just so different from country to country, but especially in the 21st century there’s been so much blending of fashion. Sometimes that can be problematic,” she added, “but I think that just having a platform to showcase the apparel from a culture is really important. It shows the evolution of culture and how it can impact society.”
The International Institute produces the festival, which dates to 1934.
