When the models step onto the glam runway of Afterglow, they’ll be supported by designers who put community first.
The fashion-forward celebration and fundraiser for The Center on Colfax is a night of celebration, elevation, and transformation honoring the bold self-expression, creativity, and cultural influence of LGBTQ+ communities.
Kristi Siedow-Thompson, a designer who has worked on looks for RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, the Emmys, and the Grammys.
“We need people to come together and be the community that we are, instead of fighting each other,” said fashion designer Kristi Siedow-Thompson. “If you have an event where you're centralizing around the community versus around the people giving the money, I think that's what it's about. It's about the people and helping those people be connected with one another and find support within The Center and within each other.”
Siedow-Thompson grew up in Fort Collins and lived in Denver until 2016, when she moved to New York. There she has designed for celebrities and the RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Awards Show. While living in Denver, she spent a lot of time designing for local drag queens.
“I've done an Emmys look. I've done a Grammys look. I would love to do a Tonys and an Oscars look. So, if you know anybody, I want to get my fashion EGOT.”
Add Afterglow to the EGOT(A).
“I love coming back to Denver from New York, because a lot of my community, the drag community, the queer community, the arts community, theater community out there, are all stuff that I'm entwined with,” Siedow-Thompson said. “I just love Denver. I love New York more right now, because, as a fashion designer, it’s the place to be and grow.”
She’ll use her talents to outfit models for the fundraiser for The Center on September 26.
“The best way I can support an event like this is making some models and some community members look and feel amazing and get to dress up and show off fashions for and with a community that has been one of the reasons that I've found my success,” she said.
A look designed by Kristi Siedow-Thompson.
Siedow-Thompson is thrilled to style for her friend Coco Bardot, a burlesque dancer / drag queen. “She's somebody that I've been wanting to dress for years. She and I both have daughters. She has a 6-year-old daughter, and I have a 5-year- old daughter. We bonded online about raising daughters in queer households and I'm super excited to dress her, because she's a fabulous person.”
Siedow-Thompson has a lot of passion for her work. She’s been sewing for most of her life. Early on, she said, she didn’t really know what she was doing, but learned from her mom who sewed for a living and never turned down a Halloween costume idea from her daughter. After watching Project Runway, she knew what she wanted to do for a living.
She now makes Halloween costumes for her daughter, and in her work focuses on creating fashion for all body types.
“There are a lot of limitations in the way that the fashion and clothing industry is structured that make it hard for people that don't have a specific body type,” Siedow-Thompson said. “That’s what I call straight size, which is up to a size eight or 10. If you're not in that demographic, it can be very difficult to find things that fit you off the rack. “
She said people come to her because they know her work, and “above a certain size range, there's just limited stuff.” She added: “I could be a size 20, but I could be a size 20 with a C cup. I could be a size 20 with an F cup, or bigger. I could have no butt, or I could have all the butt. The way that we are structured can be so different.”
People finding clothes that fit well can make or break the way people feel about themselves, she said.
“I've definitely been that girl in the JCPenney parking lot because the largest size pants don't fit me well. I've been that person, and so I think it's important, especially for big events with red carpet looks.”
“Our community needs to be stronger than ever”
Artist Gary Adrian’s runway looks for Afterglow are a series of four costume designs that represent his life in Denver, moving here after his mother died.
“The first look is a phoenix because I was rising from the ashes after moving here,” he said. “And then I have a butterfly, a caterpillar that turns into a butterfly look, and a dragon, which is the counterparts of the phoenix, and then a lionfish which I just wore to an event.”
Artist Gary Adrian is one of the designers whose looks will be featured at Afterglow.
The lionfish costume, Adrian said, made him feel powerful. He’s not sure he can envision anyone else wearing it, so you are likely to see him on the runway at Afterglow, fulfilling “every merman fantasy” he’s ever had.
Ever since he’s been in Denver, he has been on a healing journey and now that that’s over he created a new company early this year that’s taking off and doing well. He describes the Haus of Other as “a creative collective that supports creativity in the queer community and queer non-profits.”
“Our community needs to be stronger than ever now,” he said. “I recognized that I needed to build community, and I also realized that the queer community needs an outlet, to express their pain and frustration about what's going on with this administration.”
Haus hosts crafting night with easy projects to do. Adrian said people can craft for a few hours and get out their frustrations, then come to an event and see their creations.
Haus of Other, he added, is for “anybody that's ever been able to check that box of other. They are allowed to come and join us in this endeavor and create beautiful things together.”
House of Other also works to support local nonprofits like The Center. “I think that this administration is coming for nonprofits already, and we're in a capitalist society at the end of the day, so I want to help nonprofits,” Adrian said.
Gary and a friend pose for a photo in handmade garments.
“Afterglow, to me, feels like a cherry on top of an already amazing cake of our first-year business,” he said. “It just feels like a really great way to cap it off. Any queer business that can triumph in any way, that's a win, something to celebrate.”
Along with Adrian’s costumes, and a trip down the runway, Connor Barret and Nadia Evangelina will be modeling their own designs under the Haus of Other umbrella.
Haus of Other costumes, Adrian said, help “give people stuff to post on Instagram.”
On September 26, you’ll be able to join this night of fashion and passion from designers like Kristi Siedow-Thompson and Gary Adrian at Afterglow.
“We are the generation that has to stand up now,” Adrian said. “This fight has just begun. We have every right to be here and to celebrate our truth and be who we are, just by the nature of being born on this planet as human beings. Having those rights challenged and taken away again is not something that I'm willing to stand for. The more people who can adopt that mindset, the stronger we’ll be.”
Join Gary, Kristi, and the other designers for an evening of community and celebration at Afterglow. We hope to see you there.
About the Author: Linda Kotsaftis
With over 25 years of experience in the broadcast media industry, Linda is an innovative content leader who works to create impactful, engaging, and diverse stories for various audiences and platforms. Linda is the current editor of Front Porch Newspaper and the winner of multiple awards for her work in journalism, diversity, equity, inclusion, and innovation.