St. Louis Models Invade Fashion Week NYNY

There's a new breed of models operating out of the heartland of the nation, St. Louis USA. They call themselves A Coalition of Independent Models (ACIM) or simply the Coalition and until recently have confined their activities to St. Louis, Chicago, and surrounding smaller cities. These independent operatives are out to build their own career and they're not waiting for any so-called mother agency or talent search. They are learning what they need to know and doing it themselves. This coalition of leaders and highly motivated individuals has just returned from an extremely successful engagement at New York City's 10th Annual Fashion Week sponsored by Mercedes-Benz.

For those of you who don't know, the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week occurs in both the Spring and the Fall in both New York and LA. The LA Fashion Week will occur in late October. The New York Fashion Week has just occurred and, as always, was a major fashion event, even in New York, which is itself a world class fashion center like Paris or Milan.

The New York Fashion Week occurs in a series of large tents amidst the beautiful, old world charm of Bryant Park, which is located at the northern tip of Manhattan's Fashion District. These tents are connected together into one very large tent in which, at almost any time during the Fashion Week event, you will find a barrage of top fashion designers, models, hair designers, photographers, art directors, journalists, promoters, and nearly anybody else in any related industry who can manage to acquire a ticket. Fashion shows showcasing the often exotic and cutting edge fashions of top designers are displayed on high resolution monitors at the entryway of each adjoining tent even as they are occurring within. Entry is by invitation only and tickets are not for sale. Fashion Week is a major social, business, and arts event with after parties occurring all over Manhattan and lines of people waiting to get in that can stretch all the way around a New York block. Designers pay something between $16,000 and $36,000 for a few hours access to one of the tents, the true value of which is defined by the audience that attends.

Two flights of concrete steps lead up to a main entryway which is heavily guarded by big men in dark suits demanding tickets. Clad only in Michael Tomlinson designer fashions these American fashion revolutionaries engaged in the same Guerrilla Fashion techniques that originally won our independence from Europe. Jeremy and Janell broke through the outer ring of spectators and moved directly to the small platform halfway up the crowded stairs. As planned, the first set of poses projected some very serious attitude. You could feel the intense, almost angry emotions emanating from both models and people began giving them a wide berth. St. Louis and Chicago fashion photographer Nik Landon began shooting pictures while angling to show different facets of the entryway and the crowd.

St. Louis models Jeremy Thomas and Janell Barnes performed like the top professionals that they are and Michael Tomlinson's mind-searing designs worked their own magic. A crowd began to gather thinking this must be part of the show. A few flashes went off and suddenly Jeremy and Janell were smiling and posing for the cameras around them while answering questions about who they are and who the clothing designer is. Michael Tomlinson had just had his first of what turned out to be a series of mini-exhibits at Fashion Week, New York, New York. For the next 45 minutes Jeremy and Janell networked, passed out cards, and did set after set of poses for professional fashion photographers and anyone else who pointed a camera at them.

While Janell's long legs and exotic black American image won her constant attention, Jeremy attracted the stars like Finola Hughes from All My Children who he had recently met on The Montel Williams Show where he was named the "Sexiest Man in America". This beautifully ostentatious, well-organized and executed performance won them an invitation into the main tent where the performance was repeated over and again at the request of fashion photographers and for the pleasure of showing off for the elite of the fashion industry.

With the success of the Guerrilla Style Fashion Exhibit at Fashion Week NYNY, the St. Louis models headed back to the old world luxury and grandeur of the Roosevelt Hotel to change into new Michael Tomlinson designer outfits and prepare for a night on the town destined to end in a 3am photo fashion shoot in the subway trains and tunnels beneath New York City.

Jeremy’s and Janell’s haircuts and hairstyling were done by Terry Harrison, owner of Salon St. Louis located at 3012 S. Grand in St. Louis, 314 771-8820. Terry has studied and worked abroad and travels frequently within the US doing hair designs for the rich and famous and teaching at other salons. He is the only hair designer from the Midwest who was asked to come work at New York City’s Fashion Week. Terry’s design work is frequently showcased in national and international magazines. Nik Landon, the organizer and producer of this New York Fashion Invasion, as well as a number of other extremely qualified and gifted volunteers are members of the Model Resource Group Advisory Board. Nik is an accomplished fashion photographer and the owner of Quantum FX, an advertising and promotion company, 224-558-6447. Nik has photographed such renowned fashion designers as John Paul Goebel, and has had his work published in over 70 editions of various fashion publications. Models Jeremy Thomas and Janell Barnes and fashion designer Michael Tomlinson can be reached through A Coalition of Independent Models (ACIM) which is a division of Model Resource Group (MRG) ...for truth in modeling, 314 361-1312 or by EMAIL through FashionWeek@ModelResourceGroup.com.

Coalition members are currently considering what kind of fun they might have at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in LA this October. Stay tuned.