New Jersey Fashion Week continued today in a tent in Pier A Park in Hoboken, where NJFW founder Donnella Tillery said she hopes will be the event's permanent home in the coming years. The festivities kicked off at 2:30 p.m. with the VitaminWater Zero Fashion Show, which featured three of the five designers who competed in the VitaminWater Zero challenge in June. Each designer created several looks inspired by a flavor of the popular drink.
Designer Jean-Ralph Thurin, of the Princeton-based Thurin Atelier design company, was up first with a white collection inspired by VitaminWater Squeeze, a lemonade-flavored concoction. Many of the dresses had citrus embellishments like golden sequins or light green trim.
Next was Liz Fields, who was inspired by VitaminWater Drive, a flavor she described as the company's "get-up-and-go drink." She brought a mix of bright colors like orange, salmon, blue-green and light blue and experimented with different textures, even creating headpieces for several of her looks.
Last was Elena Vasilevsky, who won the challenge with her VitaminWater Energy-inspired collection. "I was inspired by the sun and high spirits," she said. Her models must've guzzled several bottles of the drink before the show, judging from how the sass in their struts as they showed off Vasilevsky's flirty, dance-inspired looks. She played with different fabrics and textures using fringe, netting and beading in both subtle and bold ways.
The event was a magnet for many with big fashion dreams. For example, several Washington Twp. youngsters - Lindsay Feger, 8, Jenna Feger, 10, Gabriella Licini, 10, and Dominick Licini, 7 - had front-row seats to their first fashion show.
Gabriella, who spends her spare time designing wedding dresses, was excited for the event and squealed with her friend Jenna, who said she hopes to one day be a fashion designer. Handbag designer Charmaine Ho, 26, of Me Char Handbags showed off her Italian leather creations and said she hopes her New York City-based company can branch out into New Jersey and maybe even be featured in next year's Fashion Week. Newly signed model Kristen Kenzik, 17, of Wayne, also had a front-row seat and said she wanted to see the models in action to better learn how to walk.