RSS'Season to Change' fashion show tonight on Front Street
ON Magazine
From left, Christy Holtzinger, Garden Dance owner Michelle Wyles and Carly Holtzinger try on clothes at the Front Street boutique in preparation for an tonight's fashion show Carly is organizing as a fundraiser for homeless teens in Yakima and Seattle.
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Carlynne M. Holtzinger, a young philanthropist and fashionista with a heart for the homeless, loves the changes taking place in downtown Yakima.
The old-fashioned-looking street lamps and oversized flower pots. The redone brick roads and upgraded sidewalks. The new businesses.
Not one to sit back and waste a summer vacation, the 20-year-old fashion design major decided to get involved with the renaissance.
She has spent the last month planning a benefit that combines historic and refurbished North Front Street with a few of her loves: clothing, accessories and helping those in need.
"I wanted to use my time well, to incorporate myself into the community while I'm here," says Holtzinger, who goes by Carly and starts her junior year at Seattle Pacific University later this month.
A Yakima native — she's a 2006 Eisenhower High School grad — Holtzinger has organized a fall fashion show to highlight the apparel of local boutiques as well as some of her own creations, exhibited under the "Morrison" label, her middle name.
"My collection is really inspired by mermaids," she says. "As a child, I always loved mermaids — the freedom, the mystery, the beauty."
In high school, she designed her prom dress. Last year, she designed the evening gown she wore when she competed in the Miss Seattle pageant.
Tonight, her clothing will be paired with jewelry made by her mom, Sara Holtzinger.
"I'm passionate about design, and I love planning events like this," the younger Holtzinger says. "This project has been a really good learning experience for me. My hope is that the community will come together."
Since July, she's been speaking with business owners and arranging a street closure, donations, equipment and 15 models, including her 16-year-old sister, Christy.
"All the restaurants were welcoming to a 20-year-old's idea to close the street and have a fashion show," says Holtzinger, who's no stranger to hosting events like this one.
Earlier this year, she arranged makeovers for battered women. She called the project "Shine." And as a 17-year-old senior at Ike, she refurbished several rooms at the Union Gospel Mission. She called that project "Beautify." To fund the building's facelift, she also organized a fashion show — "Runway of Light" at the Yakima Valley Museum — and raised $6,000.
The museum, as well as Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, the YWCA, Santiago's Gourmet Mexican Restaurant and Yakima dentist Timothy Drumhiller, have donated to tonight's event.
Other sponsors include the Capitol Theatre, which is providing the staging for the runway; First Presbyterian and Yakima Foursquare churches, which are supplying the chairs; and Yakima Tent & Awning, which is furnishing a tent.
Music and a DJ are being provided by radio station 107.3, and Rave A Salon has donated the models' hair styling.
The show features the fall lines from Garden Dance and shoes from Denyse's Shoe Boutique.
And it has several goals: Draw people to Front Street, promote local businesses, kick off Downtown First Fridays' fall season, and benefit programs for homeless youth on both sides of the state. "Season to Change" is a fundraiser for Yakima's For a Better Tomorrow and Seattle's New Horizons Ministries.
New Horizons, a Christian ministry, has been serving homeless young people in downtown Seattle since 1978. For A Better Tomorrow, a local civic improvement organization, is working to establish Rod's House, a resource center for homeless youth in Yakima.
The fashion show starts at 6 p.m., with seating at 5:45 p.m. Before the benefit — as well as afterward — attendees are invited to shop, dine or sample cocktails and appetizers on their own at various Front Street businesses and eateries. Many will be donating a portion of their profits to Holtzinger's cause when fashion show-goers present their tickets.
"I get the most reward from using my talents to bless another's life," says Holtzinger, who's scheduled to graduate in 2010. "So with that in mind, I do hope to find a career in which I help another feel beautiful. Fashion has the power to give a person confidence in themselves."
If you go
WHAT: "Season to Change" Fashion Show.
WHEN: 5-7 tonight.
WHERE: North Front Street, just off Yakima Avenue.
HOW MUCH: Tickets cost $20 and are available at Garden Dance, 25 N. Front St.; Gilbert Cellars, 5 N. Front St.; Denyse's Shoe Boutique, 3105 Summitview Ave.; and Rave A Salon, 1603 Summitview Ave.
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