Omaha Fashion Week is inspired by an amazing lineup of Emerging and Featured Designers who will be showcasing on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night of our fall showcases.
Emerging Designers are either brand new to the OFW runway, student designers, or veteran designers trying out a completely new method of creation. They will explore themes of nostalgia, revival of youth, and societal issues.
Featured Designers are experts at their craft who will showcase high-quality, ready-to-buy looks on the runway. They are inspired by themes of luxury, upcycling, and honoring cultural heritage.
Meet a few of our Emerging and Featured Designers below:
EMERGING DESIGNERS:
4 Moore | Sydney Moore Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
I started designing at a very young age, I used to watch Americas Next Top model and design outfits based around the models challenges. My grams started to teach me sewing around age eight and from their my love for fashion never stopped.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Jacquemus is one of my favorite fashion labels at the moment their use of bold colors is exactly my speed. Since I was young I have always loved Karl Lagerfelds' work with Channel, the tradition in his shows is something I will always admire.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
My collection is inspired by the reality of watching and participation in womans movements, my personal struggles with sexual assault, and conversations I've had with close friends. I walked in my first woman's march when I was eight around the same time I was falling in love with fashion, this line is a reminder that to myself and others not to give up because the fight is worth fighting if it means we can bring change.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
Im extremely excited to be showing again! The last show I did as a designer on the OFW runways I was seventeen, I have grown so much since then and become even more involved this community which I could not be happier about. I am most excited, of course, for the night of show-the energy back stage at OFW is unmatched- everyone is so excited to be there!
BS Designs | Bo Weisenberger Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
Fashion/clothing has always been a way I could express myself. As I’ve grown and become more comfortable with who I am, I’ve wanted to express that through my clothing design.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Waler Van Beirendonck is a designer who has a very bold aesthetic and expresses similar themes and ideas that I want to express in my works.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
My collection is a mix of western and streetwear. Tying in themes of sexuality and gender expression.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
Having the opportunity to put myself out there and express who I am, on a stage like OFW is so awesome. I’m looking forward to making new connections and bringing my ideas to life!
Emma Plante Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
During my senior year of high school, I had a fashion teacher who made her own clothing, head-to-toe. This was my first fashion course I had ever taken, and she truly inspired me to pick up a needle and thread.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Of course, I love Iris van Herpen, Collina Strada, and plenty of other big-name designers. But my friends and small/local designers are really what keep me inspired! Carl's Bad Designs is one for example, we met in college and she continues to inspire me to this day!
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
The inspiration behind Garden Ho is based a lot on my own personal style. It is ever changing but this collection leans more towards a fairy/whimsical aesthetic. I was heavily inspired by plants, botanical gardens, and the urban hippy style.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
This will be my first time on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway! I am so excited to share my collection and to see all of the other amazing designers this season!
Furlow Designs | Carley Furlow Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
I’ve always loved sewing but it was not until the pandemic that I started creating unconventional clothing! I love creating unconventional clothing because it gives old objects a new life!
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
I love the 90s and playing board games! So I decided to turn my collection into 90s game night! I’m taking old board games and making them into 90s looks!
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
I’m so excited to branch out into the Mid West! I think Omaha is a great place for up and coming designers and I cannot wait to show my new collection!
J.Lidan | Jayna Lidan Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
I was inspired to start designing clothes as a tall 8 year old who just wanted to wear pretty dresses that fit. My grandmother started to teach me to sew and even helped me create my first newspaper dress. I knew from the day I created my first dress I never wanted to go back!
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
My favorite fashion icon is Zendaya there is something fearless about her style. Tim gunn is a favorite as he gave me the courage to keep being me when meeting him in person. Kini Zamora is one of my favorite designers as his construction and creativity never failed to impress me.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
My inspiration comes from my own personal journey of struggling with self love when I skinny and when I was bigger. I want to tell the story of how even though both sides my be struggling with opposite sides or reasons that we are all in this together. Only once we learn to heal and uplift others will we really be able to make a true change in the world! Normal will always be beautiful!
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
You can really tell just how much Omaha Fashion week works really hard to uplift the entire community of smaller creators. It provides us with a platform to really shout out who we are. I get so excited to be a part of such positivity being spread and it is very inspiring.
Mayed by Rey | ReyAnna Moore Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
I started upcycling my own clothing in high school as a way to explore my own creative style. Since then, design has become my main outlet for self expression and allows me to share my often abstracted thoughts with the world.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Some of my favorite designers are Madeline Vionnet, Claire McCardell, Madame Gres and 60s/70s era Yves Saint Laurent. I am inspired by vintage eclecticism and bohemian design work.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
This collection is inspired by vintage lingerie sewing patterns and their ability to communicate an idealized view of femininity. The intertwining of ultra feminine details and subdued street elements creates an individualistic representation of traditional femininity. An aesthetic layering of sorts, this collection takes conventional ideals and translates them into an aesthetic reflective of one's self expression.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
The runway is a space where I can create what I love and connect with others to whom it resonates with. It's a reminder to myself to make space for intentional creation. Being a part of such a creative and inspiring environment is most exciting for me.
Namaste NYC | Ritu Jadwani Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
Crafts and textiles are slowly dying or diminishing in India and globally. Working full time is still a taboo for a lot of women in many countries. Namaste NYC was initiated to create employment opportunities for vulnerable women and sustain the crafts and textiles of India.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Isabel Marant, Rei Kawakubo, Anita Dongre are a few global designers that inspire me, who use crafts with a modern aesthetic.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
The idea was to mix colors, prints, and patterns of India to create modern contemporary looks. Namaste NYC works with local crafts to create global looks for a niche audience.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
The mid-west is booming, with growth in all sectors. Showcasing at Omaha Fashion Week Runway will be a fantastic opportunity to bring the crafts to a niche selective audience. As a UNL student, I am very excited to showcase in Omaha to cater to a fashion conscious audience.
S.Nicole by Shabeba | Shabeba McDonald Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
I think several things stimulated my desire to become a designer. First, I grew up not knowing fashion but I was seeing it everywhere., I wanted to have a voice through style.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
My fashion icon is Iris Apfel My inspiration starts with my own culture ,and my designer inspirations are Alexander McQueen, Dior, Chanel, and Jean Paul Gaultier
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
The Mexican Culture is so diverse vibrant and mysterious I will highlight the culture to inspire you to discover more of Mexico character and History
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
It is like watching Vogue or EllE magazine come to life. A great opportunity to be on the best in the Midwest platform.
Sommer | Le’Mario Sommerville Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
Fashion and art have been an escape for me ever since I was little. I’ve found confidence and strength through the beauty of fashion, and want to help and inspire others to do the same.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Diana Vreeland, André Leon Talley, Manfred Terry Mugler, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen are all people I look up to. I feel like they understand that fashion is about fantasy,and how much of an important role it plays in our society.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
My father passed away when I was 7 yrs old. Fashion and art became my safe haven without me even knowing. This collection explores my journey of self discovery, and how something so tragic help me fall in love with beauty.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
The opportunity to build my portfolio and show the world my designs. I’m also excited to be reunited with people within the local fashion in Fashion.
TOS | Tara Simmons Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
Growing up in theater where I had a lot of exposure to historical costumes and a mom who was a seamstress were the roots of my desire to make clothes. As a kid I wanted to be an architect because I liked drawing floorplans. I didn't know at the time that what I was doing was designing. As I got older and my obsession with vintage and fashion grew stronger, the innate desire to create through building turned into designing clothes. I wanted to be able to recreate garments I liked but make them my own. I think what inspires me most is being able to create exactly what you want from basically nothing.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Basically anything from the 70's is my inspiration. There's just something about that decade that speaks to me.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
I got in my head that I wanted a collection that was 70's inspired with a Western flare. But with elevated modernity.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
I'm excited for all of it. This is a challenge I have never taken on before and seeing it all come together on the runway will be a thrill.
FEATURED DESIGNERS:
Bakker Brown | Tim Brown & Cecilia Bakker Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
We both have an appreciation for the care and craft demonstrated in clothing produced before fast fashion, a pattern making text book lead to a production shop where we cut and sew.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Inspired by modern updates that still retain style, we especially like good fit rendered in durable easy care construction.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
We are about working and walking outdoor, we look at nature and the colors of the season.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
We are happy to introduce our work to the OFW community.
Molly McPherson Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
I've been designing clothes since I was a kid, learning how to use my mom's sewing machine and crafting costumes from my imagination. My love of history inspired me to use clothing as a way to be transported to another time or place.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
I'm heavily inspired by the mid-twentieth century fashion greats like Balenciaga, Charles James, and Gilbert Adrian. But I also follow designers of today like Yeohlee Teng and Rosie Assoulin.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
This collection is an ode to the historical dress collections I've had the opportunity to work with here in Nebraska. Each of my garments is a love note to a historical one that I found inspiration from.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
I've never done something like this before, so I'm really excited to show my work here! OFW provides so many resources to their designers that I know it will be a cohesive, professional, and creative show!
Nuevintage | Terri Jen Buckner Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
By pure accident and without intention. I needed to utilize my damaged vintage collection that was transported from Los Angeles to Omaha when I relocated to Nebraska. So, from humidity to a pair of fabric scissors and a newly purchased sewing machine, I became an eco-sustainable designer, without knowing how to sew. I just knew I needed to do something with all of the damaged, gorgeous, vintage that I had acquired from my life’s journeys. So, here I am, 13-years later still creating one-offs from discarded textiles, dead stock, and salvaged vintage.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Ralph Lauren is my favorite designer. His designs are truly genuine of who he is and it always comes through. He never wanders from his design north. From his home collections to his fashion collections there is such a rawness to his classic style. Grit and glamour. The old west and the chic. Class act. Love the entire vibe he’s created.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
I was inspired by the traditional tailoring of menswear with the frilly softness of women’s formal wear and combining the aesthetics of both with a twist of flowers and funk.
*Nuevintage’s collection inspirations have evolved since the recording of this feature.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
Who wouldn’t be excited to show in the fourth largest runway in the United States?!! It’s always a thrill to share my latest work to my hometown community. It’s an amazing opportunity and I am always so humbled by the experience.
Rachel Marie Hurst LLC | Rachel Hurst Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
I have always been rather shy, and being rather quiet made me feel voiceless and invisible. Clothing became my shield and gave me power, the more confidently I dress, the more confident I am and feel. I like to give that super power to other women too.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
I have always pulled inspiration from strong women like Tracee Ellis Ross, Zendaya and Janelle Monae. Sometimes the inspiration has been subtle in just color palette, other times it’s been more in your face but not matter which one, I feel like my collections stand out and are bold.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
My brand has seen a rebirth and an awakening, now it’s time to be confident with the women I have become. This collection uses aspirational woman (a dash Grace Jones, a hint of Audrey a Hepburn and a pinch of Josephine Baker) and combines it with the idea of flowers. I hope the effect is a bit surreal, romantic and edgy.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
I am excited to show at Omaha Fashion Week because the attention to detail is amazing… everything that is done behind the scenes ensures a fantastic show. Additionally, the Omaha community seems like a family, all working together for a common goal and I cannot wait to join it!
Sarah Dexter Designs | Sarah Dexter Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
Being from a rural area with limited options and an extreme affection for artisanal practices and a love of fashion inspired me to gain skills in creating apparel. Due to a lack of access, the custom of being self-taught is common in my hometown and with a limited amount of funds and shopping options, I desperately wanted to make my own clothing. Technical training in fashion was not an option and there is only so much one can self-teach. I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to leave my career and Alaska to get a degree in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC in 2021.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Zero Waste Daniel and Eileen Fischer inspire me to be environmentally and socially responsible. I am enamored by the aesthetics and tailoring of Alexander McQueen/Sarah Burton. I love the humor of Moschino and Schiaparelli.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
I adapted the story of “Red Shoes” to feature a night blooming flower (Moon Bloom) as the object of obsession. Playing with exaggeration to symbolize the excessive nature of fixation and sheer fabric manipulations that express the owning and wielding of this power to fascinate the observer. The wearer is a force of magnetism that commands and deserves obsession.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
I am excited to get out of my design corner and develop new relationships with the fashion community in Omaha!
Smullywear | Joseph Aggrey Cobbina Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
I was born into a family of fashion and also have the passion for fashion.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
Billy Porter, Rihanna, Jidenna , Audrey , Versace and Gucci
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
The name of my collection is dubbed Good vibes so irrespective of whatever is happening all you need is a good vibe around you to move on . it’s a ready to wear collection that can be worn for parties , red carpets , events etc all adding up to the good vibes only.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
Everything about Omaha fashion week makes me super excited I also see it as opportunity to show the world my great designs I’m excited to be part of the spring edition.
TRBROWN | Tiffany Brown Follow on Instagram
What inspired you to start designing clothing?
Fashion has always been something that I have been passionate about. I have always been fascinated by the fact that an individual can create with NO RULES... NO RESTRAINTS. I am someone who doesn’t follow rules so I knew I was at home by designing clothes.
Who are your fashion icons and/or designer inspirations?
My biggest designer inspiration is Dries Van Noten. He is a designer who truly loves and lives for textured fabrics when he designs, which is something we have in common. I love watching his process or creating his own fabrics but I also love seeing his process when he designs.
What inspired your collection for OFW Spring 2023?
My collections are always inspired by one thing and one thing only… strong women. The emphasis on the empowered women is ALWAYS my inspiration and Social Club is no different.
What makes you excited to show on the Omaha Fashion Week Runway?
I am extremely excited to be able to come from Los Angeles and show my collection where my design career started, THE MIDWEST!! I have never shown a collection in Omaha, so I am looking forward to bringing TRBROWN to a crowd who has never seen any of my creations.
You’re not going to want to miss these incredible and innovative collections by our Emerging and Featured Designers showing on Friday and Saturday of Omaha Fashion Week Spring 2023 DE PONTE Season.