Brenda Garza | The Rider
Mali Corpus de Cantu, creator of Fashion Fest and owner of The Glass House, will celebrate Fashion Fest’s five-year anniversary at 7 p.m. Friday at the McAllen Convention Center.
This year’s show will promote local designers and shops and will have many surprises in store for the audience.
In 2011, Cantu decided she would create the first Fashion Fest fashion show for the Rio Grande Valley.
“In McAllen, there was no fashion platform in which people could get any type of guidance on how to style,” Cantu said in Spanish.
Although there were other fashion shows, Cantu said they were mostly inside clubs. Women couldn’t sit down and enjoy the show.
“The difference this year, compared to the other years, is that McAllen has grown a lot,” Cantu said. “I want to give ideas and educate people on how to dress. I want to promote fashion and propose trends.”
After seeing last year’s Fashion Fest pictures online, Cindy Ngoc Pham, an assistant marketing instructor at UTRGV said, “I’m really impressed, to be honest. I would love for her to come and speak to my fashion marketing class because in the Valley, we don’t have much fashion events like this going on.”
Fashion Fest will do things that Rio Grande Valley fashion shows have not done.
Four fashion bloggers will post on their social media during the event, including a live stream of the show.
Unlike previous years, the show will have more front-row seating. Last year, the runway was shaped like a horseshoe. This year, there will be four runways that will allow for a better view of the garments.
Fashion Fest will also have pop-up shops.
“Everything that is seen on the runway will be available for purchase instantly, at the end of the show,” Cantu said.
Francisca Showroom, It’s Good to be Queen, Lace & Pearls Couture, Bm.Society, designers Alejandra Meza and Hanna Herrera, and The Glass House will be on the runway and will have their own pop-up shop in the lobby.
“We were discussing that customers really want the clothing right there and then,” said freelance social media blogger Luis Alejandro. “Mali tried it out last year and it went very well. So, this year, we wanted to try it with all the stores.”
Fashion Fest will have 50 models showcasing the collections. Five freelance hairdressers and five freelance makeup artists will work with the models backstage, all of whom Cantu selected.
“I feel like this is going to be a big event for the Valley and for girls who are into fashion,” Pham said. “There are several types of collections that are really unique, special and good quality.”
Alejandro said Mali is a “rollercoaster of creativity.”
“Fashion Fest is a walking canvas and an art show,” he said. “It’s an experience and mind-blowing. You don’t want to miss it.”
Doors will open at 7 p.m. and the show will start at 8 p.m. Presale tickets are $20 and $25. They can be purchased at the door, at The Glass House, 5723 N. 10th St. in McAllen; or in Francisca Showroom, 3400 W. Expressway 83, Ste. 730.
For more information, call 534-2166.
