2024 designers

Cori Giacomazzi, Lillith Moon

With a love of color and texture, travel and adventure, an interest in multicultural and historical textiles, and a passion for unique fashions, Cori started creating her own lines of wearable art and accessories. She has become known for the exclusive and custom corsets she creates and high quality, one of a kind, handmade fashions and accessories. 

Shea Zahedi, Opal Heart

Opal Heart is an independent label dedicated to the slow fashion movement, designed and hand-sewn by Shea Zahedi. The line eschews traditional fashion “seasons” to focus on garments with year-round appeal that can be fitted and customized for the woman who has a romantic, old soul.

“Not Your Average Grandma’s Garden” Wearable Art, Kaylee Ayer

Part time quilter trying to use up one scrap piece at a time.

Tonight’s look is reimagining the traditional 1930s pattern, Grandma's Garden, with a modern twist utilizing scrap pieces from Kaylee’s ever-growing quilt fabric pile. The piece is her personal spin on an outfit worn by climate activist, Pattiegonia.

Tsiin'gyimgm'aatk (Jeremy Barrett), John Trout, Miilgm Ts’amtii (Michael Milne) and Kyle Hudson, Cape Fox Collective

Cape Fox Collective, a designer quartet, is made up of Tsiin'gyimgm'aatk (Jeremy Barrett), John Trout, Miilgm Ts’amtii (Michael Milne) and Kyle Hudson. With designs heavily influenced by their Indigenous culture and formline techniques, the clothing line showcases Alaska Native art through a contemporary lens.

Shelly Wright, Shelly Ford Wright Designs

Shelly is a versatile designer that includes evening gowns, theater, dance, and opera. She has created many characters while designing for children’s theatre, Alaska professional theatre, and many different community performing organizations. She believes that as a successful designer she uses a story, characters, and historical facts, and translates them through an emotional and artistic lens.

Joel Loosli, AK Clothing Co.

Joel is an Alaska-born designer living in Anchorage. His Alaska-themed apparel company, AK Clothing Company (formerly known as Claimjumper AK) has recently opened a store front in the Peterson Tower in downtown Anchorage. It is in a space called The Cove.

He creates visually-appealing designs that immediately grab your attention with use of color and composition then subtly reveal the Alaska-themed elements.

Sara DeVolld, Vintage Train Case, “Towards the Sun” Wearable Art

Through her Vintage Train Case designs, Sara DeVolld seeks to bring joy, light, and elegance to a world that can seem dire, dark, and overwhelming. She is a 16-year-old, fourth-generation Alaskan whose LED “Artwear” creations have been recognized by 3M, Discovery Education, The Alaska Society for Technology in Education, and The Alaska Youth Summit Awards for her innovative fusions of science and technology with art and design.

Susanna Evins, Mountain Momma

Susanna Evins, the creator and owner of Mountain Mama Originals, is a visionary designer driven by a passion for quality, innovation, functionality, and beauty. Her personal journey is as unique as her creations.

Join Susanna on her creative journey as she brings together the influences of her upbringing, her passion for unique style, and her commitment to quality craftsmanship. It’s more than just a brand; it's a celebration of personal expression and the art of fashion.

Juliah Barnett, REDEMPTION

Juliah Barnett lives and works in Wasilla, as the Project Manager for REDEMPTION, a clothing line and therapeutic job-training program of MY House that raises awareness about the human trafficking pandemic in Alaska. With two years of garment constructing experience under her belt, Juliah is honored to pull inspiration and influences from her life and work with others to create a collection that represents the long roads and never-ending work to redemption.

Lori Bradford, “Cloak of Life” Wearable Art

Lori Bradford began her sewing career when she took her first sewing class at the young age of seven in Miami, Florida. During her career, she has designed and created costumes for JanDar Productions, Alaska Contemporary Dance Company, Alaska Dance Theatre, Cyrano’s Playhouse, DanceWest and many other projects.

Rena Pitka, Kodaalaa Creations

Rena Pitka “Kodaalaa” is Koyukon Athabascan and was raised in the Yukon River community of Notaalee Denh, also known as Galena. Her grandpa gifted her the Denaakk’e name Kodaalaa which means lucky. Rena is the youngest daughter of Terry and Nancy Pitka. In her nature-inspired beadwork, Rena creates her earrings with antler, tanned fish skin, moose hide, and walrus ivory.

Bobbie Meszaros, Garnet Ann Designs

Bobbie Meszaros is Coast Salish (Old Man House)/Tahltan (Crow)/Tlingit (Eagle) from Shtax’ Heen Kwaan the community of Wrangell, Alaska. She draws inspiration from traditional artwork, landscapes and Alaska culture to create a versatile mix-match lifestyle line.

Jennifer Younger, Jennifer Younger Designs

Jennifer Younger is a Tlingit artist of Eagle clan and was raised in Yakutat, Alaska. She creates artwork that reflects her own style of traditional Tlingit formline designs and uses a metal carving technique to make jewelry and sculptural pieces. As an apprentice to Dave Galanin, she learned the technical and traditional practices of carving Tlingit formline design.

Tessa Franz-Healy, Tessa Franz-Healy Designs

Tessa started sewing at a very young age, making crude Barbie clothes out of her mom’s fabric scraps on a hand-crank chain-stitch sewing machine. Fast forward to 2010 and Tessa and her mom designed and sewed her wedding dress, which increased her love of sewing. In 2018, she finally stepped away from her tourism career and put her focus into creating art as her full-time job. Tonight’s collection is a concentration on both swim and every-day-wear in loud, fun colors to brighten these dark Alaska days.

Jordan Dardis, Trued North Pattern Making

Nestled in the heart of Talkeetna, Jordan Dardis of Trued North stands as a pattern maker and costume designer, weaving threads of history, fantasy and elegance into each meticulously-crafted piece. With passion and an unwavering commitment to authenticity — whether you're a business owner, historical re-enactor, a cosplayer, or someone seeking a truly unique garment — Trued North is here to transform your dreams into reality.

Cynthia Gibson, Lateral Designs, “Salmon in the Trees” Wearable Art

Cynthia has always had a fascination with nature.  Being outside, immersed in the elements, is where she feels most inspired. Over the years, she has found working with fish bones and fish skins a fun and inspiring medium and has loved overcoming the difficulties of working with these materials in her wearable art pieces. Tonight’s piece is a giant tree constructed with Sitka Spruce bark and wool wrapped in silk ribbon, wire, and leaves made of salmon skins and parashoot material.

Mary Kelsay, MEKA

MEKA is a brand that takes modern and indigenous inspiration to create simple, yet classic looks in her designs. From the very beginning, MEKA has used the world for inspiration. Recently, MEKA has been digging deeper to know her Unangax history. A favorite has been taking the masculine Aleut Hunting Hat worn by the men to go fishing, and creating a feminine style, putting the shape of the hat into sleeves of a sheath dress. MEKA has also worked on spreading awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Elie Bishikwabo, BAC Fashion

Elie Aganze Bishikwabo, a Congolese fashion designer, entrepreneur, and the founder of Bantu Kingdom Foundation, resides in Palmer, Alaska, with his wife. He was born in 1996 during a time of civil war and grew up in Bukavu, South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo as the son of a Christian pastor father and a seamstress mother. His introduction to fashion came from the training he received from his mother in the sewing shop attached to their home. Elie Aganze made his debut into fashion design in 2009.

Reine Pavik, Alaskan Sole

Alaska Soles, owned and meticulously designed by Reine Pavlik, a proud member of the Tlingit community in Yakutat, Alaska, draws deep inspiration from both the breathtaking landscapes and the vibrant art that characterize her surroundings. Alaska Soles boldly stands as a brand with a distinct purpose – to illuminate the urgency of climate issues.

Iris Addie Benson Nash, Iris Addie Designs

Iris Nash is an artist and designer living on the edge of the sea in the rainforests of Sitka, Alaska. She embraces life in the north and celebrates personal style alongside functionality in this dynamic land. She believes ancestral craft skills are sorely needed in our current world for its therapeutic and community building benefits.

Taline Markossian, Sireli Floral, “The Forager” Wearable Art

Taline was born in Alaska, but was raised with strong Armenian roots. She grew up roaming the coolers of Cedars Floral Wholesale, her family's business, where she was surrounded by flowers and community from an early age. Starting Sireli (which translates to lonely in Armenian) was only ever meant to be a passion project, a way to share the beauty and impact that florals hold in people's lives.

Sarah Dexter, Sarah Dexter Designs

Sarah Dexter is a Fairbanks fashion designer creating small-batch collections with a strong commitment to ethically-made-slow fashion. After graduating as the Valedictorian of the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2021, she returned to her hometown of Fairbanks and currently continues her dedication to growth as a designer and artist as an MFA student at UAF.