KMAC Couture has become a staple in the weeks leading to the Kentucky Derby. It’s an event that elevates Louisville’s art scene with a good dose of fashion. The fundraiser event for KMAC Contemporary Art Museum is in its 12th year and its popularity has grown. It is one of the events that locals, in particular, look to before the official Derby kick-off.
KMAC Couture is a “wearable live art runway show.” The show features artists at all career stages from emerging to established. As well costumers, designers, and milliners show off their talents in this wonderful display of creativity and concept.
This year, KMAC Couture happens on Saturday, April 13. The show starts at 7:15 p.m. beginning with a cocktail reception, followed by the runway show and then the after party… and what an after party it is! Tickets can be purchased through the portal at kmacmuseum.org.
This year, LEO wanted to highlight a few of the artists who are participating in KMAC Couture. The artists from different careers, and different stages as artists; and are participating in the KMAC show for different reasons. For some, it is a way to connect with lost loved ones, or with pasts that have moved on. One thing is for certain, this year’s runway will be as special and spectacular as ever.
Cynthia Norton
“Honey Biscuit Derby Dress” Wedding Dress
For KMAC Couture 2024, multidisciplinary artist Cynthia Norton designed a wedding dress that evokes the Kentucky Derby through a lens of Southern culinary culture by using flour packages designed to contain biscuit mix produced by Weisenberger Mills.
Weisenberger Mill, located on South Elkhorn Creek in southern Scott County, opened in 1865 — 10 years before the first Kentucky Derby. Nortons explains that the mill has been providing a local source of fresh biscuit mix during Derby and other domestic celebrations for 160 years. Inspired by the mill’s place in Kentucky’s history, Norton designed her wedding gown with flower sacks as adornment to the blousing fabric, offering “a conceptual filigree, a kind of drop biscuit, honey-golden, silhouette.”
A live band will escort “Honey Biscuit Derby Dress” down the runway. As an accessory to the garment, Norton is crafting an instrument made of biscuit mix. This sculptural detail recalls one of Norton’s first solo exhibitions, which incorporated bread instruments, kinetic sculptures of bread hair, and Depression-era images of advertisements for bread.
The central metaphor of sustenance and concepts of “extender-based economics” in the Depression-era South inspired Norton’s MFA thesis exhibition in 1995 and have stayed with her throughout her artistic career. The folkloric and the historic will be on display in her entry into KMAC Couture 2024.
—Aria Baci
Deji Lasisi
Balancing Haute Couture Fashion with Engineering
Full-time engineer and KMAC board member Deji Lasisi says “My dress this year embodies the essence of horses, roses, excitement, glamor, and class. It’s a celebration of tradition and elegance fused with the thrill of the race day atmosphere.”
As he designs his garment, Lasi merges two aspects of his creative style. “Leveraging my analytical mind as an engineer, I meticulously consider spatial aspects and motion, ensuring the flow of my dresses while maintaining an inherent simplicity.” Each fold, curve, and embellishment is calculated to harmonize with the model’s movement as well as with the overall aesthetic of the piece.
Lasisi says he also channels his inner artist in the hope that it will keep his art abstract enough for each viewer to interpret it in their own way. “I believe that art should evoke emotion and stimulate conversation,” he says. “Some of my most cherished moments during the event are the diverse conversations sparked by the interpretations of my work.”
His creative process begins with sketching and painting, followed by material selection, with a consideration of texture, drape, and ability to “bring my envisioned geometry and motion to life.” For Lasisi, the process often involves experimentation, “pushing the boundaries of traditional materials to achieve innovative effects.” He approaches sewing with a consideration of physics, particularly for his intricate 3D designs. Each stitch is strategically placed to enhance not only the structure of the garment, but also, the movement of the garment, in an effort to ensure that form and function are integrated.
Over the past eight years of KMAC Couture, Lasisi’s designs have explored a wide array of materials, from feathers and Yorùbá Ashoké (Nigerian hand-woven fabric), to LED light, stained glass, cowries, beads, and wiring. “With each success, I’ve become more courageous in exploring new fabric manipulation techniques, pushing the limits of creativity and craftsmanship to create wearable art that captivates and inspires.”
—Aria Baci
Lilli Hale
“Spinning a Different Derby”
16-year-old Lilie Hale is a student at Francis Parker, a private, progressive independent school. This year she is participating in KMAC couture for the second time. She participated previously in 2023 with a friend. The theme for the show is Kentucky Derby and she wanted to do something different.
“This year I wanted to put a fun spin on the Derby,” Hale told LEO via email. “The Derby has never been something that has been a huge deal in my family so coming up with a design that resonated with me took a bit, but I knew I wanted to do something different than everyone else, expecting a lot of designs based on roses or old fashion pieces, so I took inspiration from the whimsicalness of a carousel.”
Hale, who studies art with another local visual artist, painter Skylar Smith, is creating her piece for KMAC from traditional and non-traditional means.
“I am working with different fabrics in my piece, but the material that stands out the most is the toy horses hanging from the skirt.”
Hale prefers textile work including sewing and crocheting but said painting and sketching are also enjoyable in her free time.
She lets her work direct the projects she does and how she executes.
I’ve always had a passion for art, doodling in school, and drawing whenever I could. Art really became important to me through my grandmother, who taught me how to sew, and was my biggest fan when it came to art. After her passing my biggest goal through my work is to create something that I know she would have loved to be a part of.” —Erica Rucker
Amanda Von Kannel
“Creating in Spirit”
Amanda Von Kannel teaches at Liberty High School, a Big Picture school that helps give students additional resources that help them build success at their current grade level and for their advancement into higher grades. She’s been working on her KMAC Couture project for several months with input from her mother. Just a few weeks ago, her mother passed away from a glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor. It was her mother, along with her grandmother that taught Von Kannel how to sew. For many, such a life-changing event might derail a big project.
But, Von Kannel is moving forward with her project knowing that it meant a lot to her mother, who helped her with the design and was able to attend the opening event. Now, working on and finishing the project gives her a sense of peace and purpose.
“It’s pretty important for me to do because my mom just passed away, and she’s the one that taught me how to sew — her and my grandma taught me how to sew,” said Von Kannel. “She helped me make all my costumes, and all kinds of dresses ever since I was in high school.
And so whenever I was coming up with a design, she helped me a lot with her opinions, and techniques that I should use. And, she was hoping to get to come because she’s like, ‘okay, when is it? It’s April. Okay, I can do that.’ Because she had brain cancer — glioblastoma — she didn’t make it, but she made it to the opening party.”
The design for Von Kannel’s dress pays homage to the Woodford Bottle.
“My dress is a nod to the Woodford bottle, with the mint juleps, and things like that,” she said. “My hat is like more of a nod to a mint julep and my dress, at least the silhouettes, it’s kind of like a Woodford bottle. And then, of course, I’m incorporating roses with the programs of the races, which I love because that’s how I pick my horses by getting a program.”
Each year, Von Kannel creates her own Derby hat or fascinator and loves the event. To obtain the racing programs, she asked the track for a donation. With these programs, she is making roses that she will incorporate into her design.
As a teacher, having her students see her progress and how she is creating is giving them some inspiration. She’s had students who participated in the event in previous years but this is her first KMAC Couture.
“During Covid stuff, they had a KMAC Couture field trip, a virtual field trip. I’d seen it. I was like, ‘Oh, this is awesome.’ I was doing it with my students, but while watching it, I’m like, ‘I wanna do this. I wanna do this.’ That’s kind of how it all started.” —Erica Rucker
KMAC Couture highlights creatives in the city and beyond. It is more than an art show, more than fashion. It can be a transformative experience for the audience and certainly for the artists. If you’ve never been, mark your calendars for next year and if you’d like to create for the show, keep your eyes on the kmacmuseum.org website.
