2015 Geneva fashion show

2015+Geneva+fashion+show

October 8th, 2015 marks the first annual Geneva Fashion Show. I was lucky enough to be invited and get the chance to hang around the designers and models to get a taste of the organized mess that is the “fashion world.”

Originally, this show was just meant to be one shop’s styles, but quickly expanded into a much larger affair, including C’est La Vie, Evernia, Men’s Warehouse, Jane Pabon, Veiled in Elegance, and State Street Jewelers. C’est La Vie by Sylvie presented the idea of a fashion show to the event planner Shuki, and what they wanted the show to represent. The proceeds from the show’s tickets, sponsors, and donations all went to the organization, Fox Valley Food for Health. It’s mission is to get volunteers to help families dealing with illnesses by providing organic meals, nutrition education, and support.

Sylvie Baumann, owner and designer of C’est La Vie and Beauté by Sylvie, is a welcoming red-haired woman that always has an agenda. She seems to be a million places at once, but can easily catch your eye from across the room and send you a sly wink. I was able to catch a a moment with her on the big day, and chat about her success.

How would you describe your designs?

“Casual chic. That’s what I wanted to do with C’est La Vie is to create a casual chic for people to feel comfortable in jeans with a nice top and sweater.”

How did the fashion show start?

“We’d been talking about it a long time and when we wanted to create the fashion show I have a charity that I really care about and so we wanted to do a fashion show that we could tie with the charity. And when we received our fur, it was the first time we were carrying fur, we were like ‘this is it, we have to do it now.'”

Do you think your styles are French influenced? 

Yes, I think they are, but my goal is to dress everybody today, like everyday not like couture or extravagant. 

Unfortunately, Sylvie had to run to finish preparing for the show, but I was able to finish out my interview with Sylvie’s right hand women, Helia Montano and Jennifer Rakow who both walked at some point in the show.

If you could describe Sylvie’s designs in the show in three words what would they be?

HeliaChic, fashionable, and comfortable.

If you had to pick one favorite look from the show today what would it be?

HeliaThere’s this Aventures des Toiles coat that is amazing, and she just got this collection. And the cool thing about this brand is that every season they pick seven paintings by seven French artists and then they transform the paintings into clothing.

Jennifer: Sylvie has gorgeous cashmere and mohair sweaters in there right now. I love those, I’m wearing one of those (in the show) it’s a Bella Jones and I love this gorgeous Giorgio coat I’m wearing. The outfit I’m wearing is my favorite. 

The show itself was a major success, filled with beautiful styles from all designers. The theme seemed to be comfortable fall with many deep green army jackets and parkas. Men’s Warehouse stayed classic with clean looks. Evernia showed off some VERY distressed fall looks.

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The end of the show was dedicated to thanking the sponsors and designers, (one of the sponsors being Jenny McCarthy and Donnie Wahlberg, but “they couldn’t attend due to being on the New Kids on the Block cruise”- which was just about the most bizarre sentence I’d ever heard).

All in all, the show showed many trends that can easily be worn by every day people, or as Sylvie put it “casual chic.” This show gave viewers a taste of fashion within Geneva, and kicked off our very first Geneva Fashion Week.