Austin Designer Sloane Lenz To Show At Memphis Fashion Week

One of the fun things to watch as a reporter is to see designers grow and flourish through the years. I remember watching Sloane Lenz of This is Sloane at the 2015 Austin Fashion Week and what a pleasure to view a collection that was styled, fashion-forward, truly unique and what a true “runway moment” for all. Impressive for a then 19 year old premiering her first runway show.
Sewing since she was eight-years-old, Sloane creates unusual collections from materials found at her local hardware and grocery stores. At one point during her runway show, I asked myself, I think that dress is made of toilet paper! Lenz is co-creator of ALLUMER, a blog that focuses on music, style, and culture. Her garments utilize eccentric materials, with a preference for plastic and canvas.
Lenz, now 21 years old, has seen a substantial growth in her business since her Austin Fashion Week debut. She is now represented by a New Yorked-based company called Nineteenth Amendment a platform for fresh, independent fashion pre-sales, is now available for purchase online.
After Austin Fashion Week Sloane continued to show collections at Dallas Fashion Week 2015, Spring New York Fashion Week 2016, and Atlantic City Fashion Week 2016. Her runway pieces are comprised of wearable art, avant-garde clothing pieces, and custom dresses for musicians such as Carrie Fussell of Calliope Musicals as well as others.

This Is Sloane ~ Austin Fashion Week 2015 photo: Gerry Hanan for Fashionably Austin

“My brother and I make music videos as well, so we’ve been staying really busy working on a lot of film and editing projects too. It’s really crazy to see how everything’s unfolding. So many surprises have popped up that I couldn’t even have

And the fashion mentions for Lenz continue to come in with a mention in an upcoming issue of British Vogue, which she is still in shock about. Currently, she is finishing up her new Collection 5 and getting ready to show at Memphis Fashion Week, April 5-8, 2017.

“This collection is sort of inspired by the world and all the craziness that’s been going on these last few months especially. I imagined these girls deciding to run away to a new world, whether that’s a world inside their mind, or somewhere on another planet far away in a distant galaxy”, added Lenz. Her 60’s mini dress silhouettes and gypsy/peasant sleeves blends decades into something unusual and somewhat strange.

Additional opportunities have also popped up during SXSW that she will be able to share about soon and after the Memphis event she will be traveling to Cambridge, MA to present ten pieces constructed from unusual and unconventional materials in their annual Identities Fashion Show.

You’ll be able to see Collection 5 at Fashion X Austin’s Austin Fashion Week on the opening night of runway shows on May 18th. But I am sure this won’t be the last we’ll see of this young and talented designer who will always make a runway show an event you won’t forget.

Photos: Catherine Lenz, Nineteenth Amendment, Gerry Hanan.
AFW This is Sloane from Fashionably Austin on Vimeo.