Black Market, a new fashion boutique on High Street, was the stage for a fashion show on Friday. Black Market’s owner, Kelli Martin, a Columbus native and former “Project Runway” designer, organized the show to debut her new line, AntiLabel.
Martin’s clothes reflect the recent resurgence of ’90s grunge, with plaids and jeans abound.
“History repeats itself,” said 19-year-old Ania Urbanksi. “There’s this whole ’90s revival thing going on. [Martin is] doing the whole grunge thing, which is basically 90s.”
But the show also featured more formal evening-wear that reinterpreted styles from the ’40s and ’50s. For Martin, the show was a breakaway from the couture clothing she is used to designing.
“I wanted to step out of my own box and do something a little more wearable,” Martin said. “Almost every one of them you can wear off the runway.”
Martin’s show had two parts. The first half featured day-time street clothes with plaid collared shirts, jeans and jean jackets.
“The first half was more grungy, with darker colors,” said Dana Kosla, a senior in microbiology who modeled in Martin’s show.
“The second half, [Martin] used more make-up and brighter day colors,” Kosla said.
Kate Tobin, 25, wore one of the brighter, more formal outfits from the second half of Martin’s show. She wore a brown blouse with white polka dots and a silk skirt.
“It’s very ’50s vintage,” Tobin said of her outfit, which she said could have been titled “sexy housewife.”
Friday was Tobin’s first time on the runway, an opportunity that resulted from a chance meeting with Martin in a department store.
“She’s so nice, she’s so down to Earth,” Tobin said of Martin.
Martin has been designing and selling clothes for almost a decade.
“I started selling things I made on eBay in about ’99,” Martin said. “That’s when I was at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in L.A.”
Martin attended Ohio State from 2001-2003, studying textiles and merchandising. She starred on the fifth season of Bravo’s “Project Runway.” Her boutique, Black Market, is at 2579 N. High St. near Hudson Avenue.
Wilson Dizard can be reached at [email protected].
