Celebrating Icons and Hats

Last week, local fashion lovers gathered at Kansas City’s Historic Garment Museum for a reception of the exhibition, Fashioning Kansas City Icons: The Art and Inspiration of Heidi Herrman, Steve Gibson and Amina Marie Hood.

This current show centers on Heidi Herrman’s spring line KC Icons Collection. Each design has it’s own inspired hat by Amina Marie Millinery and a Steve Gibson photo of the dress united with its inspirational Kansas City icon.

For starters, I have two photos of the very talented designers of this wonderful collaboration.

Heidi Herrman and I with the Kauffman dress. This is one of my favorite designs, because the Kauffman Center For the Performing Arts is one of my favorite places to go.


Amina Marie Hood and I with The Shuttlecock dress. Amina designed a hat tailored to each dress theme. I am not going to describe each hat design that accompanies the dress, but know that I love almost everything this lady designs. I already have written a post about her HERE.

The Shuttlecock design is inspired by the Nelson Atkins Museum’s Oldenburg/van Bruggen outdoor sculptures of the same name. Yes, there are two gigantic shuttlecocks in museum’s outdoor sculpture garden.

A solo shot of the Shuttlecock dress, hat, and accompanying photograph.

Next, we have a capped sleeve shift inspired by The Scout. The Scout is a statue by Cyrus E. Dallin. It is more than 10 feet tall, and depicts a Sioux Indian on horseback surveying the landscape. The Scout was conceived by Dallin in 1910 and is currently located east of Southwest Trafficway in Penn Valley Park, which is south of downtown Kansas City.

The back of this dress is a depiction of the statue itself. One would make a spectacular exit in this dress. The contrast between the grey and chartreuse is appealing to me.

The relatively new (2006) Kansas City Star’s printing and distribution facility is the inspiration for this high collared shift. This is another amazing color combination. The angles and geometry on this design make it one of my favorites of the collection.

This strappy sundress is inspired by Kansas City’s Union Station, which has undergone remarkable renovations during the last two decades. Union Station is also where Kansas City Fashion Week is held and where we first saw this collection last fall.

The next design is taken from the iconic Power and Light skyscraper, which is one of downtown Kansas City’s landmark buildings. The Power and Light building was started in 1930 and finished in 1931. Design wise, I feel that the negative space is a very important part of this dress.

Kansas City has 200 registered fountains in the metropolitan area, so how could there not be a design based on them? This particular design is taken from the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain located on the Plaza.

The sculptures on top of the Bartle Hall Convention Center are depicted on the front of this shift. These sculptures are very dominant on the KC skyline. They have always reminded my daughter and I of futuristic kitchen appliances. On this dress, they give me a 30’s sci-fi vibe. I love the ocean-blue grid background on the fabric.

I am so sad that I didn’t get a photo of the Moonliner dress. I realize now where it was (bottom floor entrance) and it just slipped my mind. So instead, I have the Moonliner dress from Heidi’s website.

TWA and my family have a connection. Dad was a sheet metal mechanic there for years, and TWA gave me a great opportunity to travel when I was young. I remember driving down with Dad to this building to pick up last minute plane passes.

Photo by Steve Gibson

And finally, the Western Auto dress; another design that I didn’t get a picture of. I think this is the most pictorial dress. What do you think about this one? For me, there might be just too much going on image-wise. I do find the bodice very intriguing and wish I could have gotten a closer look at it.

Photo by Steve Gibson

I am going to close with what I wore that evening. I went with my “new to me” (code for Thrift Shop) black crepe sheath dress with a wonderful off center slit in the front. Except for the label (Sheri Martin/New York) there are no other tags. I am guessing that the fiber content is mainly rayon, because it can wrinkle. It was a bit too large, but I took it in about 3/4 inch on each side.

Black can be a tad formal, which I didn’t want. With that in mind, I added some casual accessories. My shoes are black cloth from DSW. Does anyone remember when Jason Wu did a line for Target? I found this bag on clearance from that collaboration. Do you see what’ s wrong with this picture? I have my clutch backwards! We were late and in a hurry, so I didn’t even notice it until after I downloaded the photos. Oh well, things happen.

It was a cool but sunny evening, and I decided it might be a good time to try out my Beetle scarf by India Hicks (I went for the brightest Beetles she had). I figured that you couldn’t look too formal with rather large hot pink beetles crawling around! It’s a huge scarf; I would say shawl size and did an ample job keeping my shoulders warm.

And the Polish……………

Finally, a change to include one of my newer and instant spring favorites. This is Zoya’s Zahara, which debuted this spring in their Petals Collection, and was what I picked to wear for the evening.

It is on the thin side and I used three coats. The color is an orange-leaning coral with blue and pink flakes. Zahara was durable. I finally took it off after six days to go with another color. It’s a pretty one!

In its heyday, the Kansas City garment industry boasted 75 factories and employed between 4,000 to 7,000 workers. It was second only to the area’s meatpacking industry.
– See more at: http://meadowtree.blogspot.com/2016/03/rightfully-sewn.html#sthash.VzMqo8FV.dpuf

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my thoughts on this show.
The show will be up until July 16th at the Historic Garment Museum, which is located at 801 Broadway Blvd., KCMO. The museum is open on Saturdays only from 10:00 A.M to 4:00 P.M. It is free and self guided.

The museum is located in what was once a thriving garment industry in Kansas City. In its heyday, the Kansas City garment industry boasted 75 factories and employed between 4,000 to 7,000 workers. It was second only to the area’s meatpacking industry.

Does anyone else enjoy or get the chance to go the shows celebrating design? I so enjoy being around creative people. We do live an hour away from KC,so I have to pick and choose what I attend. Nevertheless, when I get there, I have such a great time whether at the Nelson Atkins, First Friday in the Crossroads or fashion events. It has always been worth the drive. As I will never give up my life in the country, that is how it is going to be.

In closing, I have listed some extra links of interest.

Heidi Herrman Designs

Amina Marie Millinery

Steve Gibson Photography

Kansas City Garment Museum

Kansas City Landmarks To Visit

India Hicks If you don’t have an India Hicks sales ambassador, please use mine Karen Albert.

I will say goodbye for now. Take care until we meet again. I will be back around the same time next week. I usually publish on Sunday afternoons.

This week, I am participating in a few link ups:

Patti’s Not Dead Yet Style’s Visible Monday HERE, Cherie’s Style Nudge’s Shoe and Tell HERE, Catherine’s Not Dressed As Lamb’s I will Wear What I like HERE, Color and Grace’s Link Up Party HERE, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish Turning Heads Tuesday HERE, Shopping My Closet’s Style Me Wednesday HERE, Living On Cloud Nine’s Style Perspectives HERE, Sydney’s Fashion Hunter’s Fresh Fashion Forum HERE, High Altitude Style’s Link-Up HERE, Fashion Should Be Fun’s Fun Friday Fashion Link Up HERE and Style Diary By Osy’s Friday Link Up Party HERE.

This week, my photographic credits are mixed. Michael took the one shot of me. I took the others, except when I grabbed a poor unsuspecting onlooker to take the shots with Amina and Heidi.