Portland Mercury
April 11, 2019
by Wm. Steven Humphrey, editor-in-chief

Held twice yearly, Fade to Light is the fashion show for people who love fashion shows. Created and produced by former Mercury style writer Elizabeth Mollo, Fade to Light pushes the boundaries of standard runway shows by encouraging local designers to experiment and reveal the muses that inspire them. And the recent spring installment of Fade was just as exciting and thought-provoking as always. Portland Fashion Institute students showed remarkable maturity and fashion-forwardness with their intricate and innovative draping and fabric manipulation techniques. Other heavy hitters included Altar’s always excellent house line, Ale O’s asymmetrical minimalism, and strong, fantastical design chops from Ai PDX’s Ibet Lopez, Tyrone Spencer, and Bi Quang Pham. That said, the crowd went absolutely nuts for Holy Voids’ smartly tailored “Where the Wild Things Are meets Satan” fashion freak-outs, as well as COLTY, whose snappy, sharp line of leather handbags, backpacks, and body harnesses were revealed as scantily clad models tore themselves out of body-length stockings. It was scary, kind of disturbing, and entirely sexy—providing yet another shining example of how Fade to Light adds a jolt of creative electricity to Portland’s already fantastic fashion scene.