It was five years ago that a fashion designer from New Richmond and tattoo artist from Hudson collaborated for a modeling show that at the time was unlike anything ever seen in a two-state region.
Both Laura Fulk, then 26, and Jay Langer, then 35, had won multiple awards, been widely published in trade magazines and featured at conventions. Even Michelle Obama, through a design competition, had expressed interest in one of Falk’s dresses. Others were purchased by the Minnesota Historical Center.
The event was unusual for even the Twin Cities, since it was a solo show with a full runway format and Fulk’s dresses were the only ones being displayed. As part of MNFashion Week, theirs was a rare collaboration of two artists who merged diverse forms of fashion, Fulk said. Langer’s tattoo art was scanned onto a computer and digitally transferred onto dress fabric, rather than the usual use of screen printing, she said.
Such collaborations and use of technology were hardly seen outside of the east coast in 2009, although incorporation of tattoo art was catching on, Fulk said.
This was Fulk’s second runway show in the Cities, and Langer’s tree-themed art will be used as a backdrop for her avant garde dress designs, many of which have a brightly colored sci-fi look. “I’ll be printing those branches on the models faces,” Langer said.
In earlier days, Fulk had made clothing for tattoo artists in exchange for receiving body art. The two discussed doing their own fashion line after meeting in 2007. “We started rattling off raw ideas,” Langer said. Then Fulk designed his jacket for a formal ball in Hudson. “Then at Halloween she did my Jimi Hendrix costume,” Langer said.
The event was at the Lab Theater, 700 First St. in Minneapolis. Langer’s studio has been in downtown Hudson, just south of Ellie’s on Main.