A downtown fashion show next month called Midsummer Night’s Dream Machine will have a unique distinction: The designers and models involved are experiencing houselessness and poverty. The show is a project of Gather:Make:Shelter, a nonprofit that does arts workshops and mentorships with the homeless community.
Attendees will see about 20 fresh looks on the runway at the free fashion show on Aug. 14, happening on the South Park Blocks at Portland State University. A group of about 15 more people have been sewing and collaborating with the designers on their original wearable art; there’s also a hair and makeup crew. Many of the designers are modeling their own fashions, says Dana Lynn Louis, founding director of GMS.
“The main thing is for people to feel safe and be in this collective and have their voices heard,” Louis says. “And, hopefully, they’re seen as neighbors and enter into the workforce and do all the things neighbors get to do.”
Louis, a visual artist in her own right, started GMS eight years ago. The organization now has a studio, gallery and headquarters in the Pearl District.
GMS put on a similar fashion show three years ago, but this one levels up in a few ways. SoundsTruck NW will bring its solar-powered mobile stage to help transform the Park Blocks into a fashion runway. Also, a string quartet with the Oregon Symphony is collaborating with the designers to offer live accompaniment to their runway walks, if they want it. (Some might choose a piece of commercial music or even spoken-word poetry instead.)
“The musicians will work with them to figure out how to support their artistic vision,” says Annissa Bolder, director of education and community engagement at the Oregon Symphony. “It’s truly a collaboration, not just ‘show up and play some Beethoven.’”
GO: Midsummer Night’s Dream Machine at the PSU South Park Blocks, Southwest Park Avenue at Mill Street, info@gathermakeshelter.org, gathermakeshelter.org/. Blankets down at 5 pm, fashion show at 6:30 pm Thursday, Aug. 14. Free. All ages.