Madison Waldrop, 14, wears a dress of her own design during the first half of the evening of her fashion show. The rosette on the shoulder incorporates fabric from each dress in the collection.It’s that time: The pride-filled moment at the end of a fashion show when the designer emerges to soak up the appreciation of the crowd.
White folding chairs fill the atrium of the Hunter Museum of American Art. A hot-pink runway carpet zigzags through a row of seats and down the middle of the room. Girls and women, from ages 7 to 51, stand in front of the crowd, dressed in colorful cocktail dresses and eveningwear.
Eyes turn expectantly toward the staircase leading down to the first floor. A young teenage boy, dressed in a tuxedo, waits on the landing.
Katy Perry’s “Firework” plays over the museum’s sound system. “You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine, just own the night like the Fourth of July …”
And here she comes. Blond hair done in waves, dressed in a black dress with a fabric cut to look like petals. The graduated hemline shows hot-pink lining, matching the evening’s color scheme. She takes the boy’s arm, and he escorts her down the steps.