Operation Smile

Hey All!

Back in April, Operation Smile Jr. had its gala fund-raising event. We three at xAZD were lucky enough to be asked by a classmate, on the OpSmile (student-run) board, to contribute hand-made, self-designed looks to the evening's fashion show. Our own work walked alongside designer pieces by full-fledged fashion labels such as Vera Wang (Lavender Label), ADAM, and Theory. We contributed total 6 self-made looks (2 each), and are glad to have been able to give our own personal time and efforts to such a great cause!
See our name (xAZD) on the program below as Fashion Sponsors! We were so exited when we saw one of these on each seat in the ballroom!The photos are not the greatest, but these are the actual live-runway photos. More images of these looks to come in a future blog post! All the models are student models (all the young ladies are board members of Operation Smile Jr.)

We each, essentially, made individually themed 2-piece collections. Zoe's were romantic, soft, Liberty print-esque, ultra-feminine looks. One dress was just above the knee, and looked fantastic with the model's flowy curly hair.
Zoe's second look was a full-length dress and featured similar nude, stretchy mesh and delicate, wheat-colored florals.
Prepping backstage! Zoe stands on the side making last-minute decisions; the board with the setlist of models/looks, Zoe's full-length dress on the student model, the rack of other soon-to-be-worn-down-the-runway clothes by professional designers.Daphne's 2 looks were color-block, happy, and bright, yet drapy and sophisticated. The first was a magenta silk charmeuse flowy skirt with an exposed zipper and belted, drapy matte dove gray silk top (with a convertible hood!).
Daphne's second look was a teal silk paper-bag style skirt with an exposed zipper in the back, and a wonderfully luxurious one-shoulder lime velvet top, secured with a feathered brooch (here covered by the hair).Alice's 2 looks were very "aggressively feminine" - while still definitely meant for a woman, whereas Zoe's looks were soft and pretty, Alice's looks were brightly colored and loud floral printed.
The first look was a silk charmeuse large-scale floral print scrunched miniskirt and a stripey tank top. More details to come on the tank top later (an individual post, again). Basically, Alice sewed alternating bands black stretchy mesh and soft white jersey to create a rugby-style black-and-white stripe pattern, which she then sewed into a tank top.
[One photo (with the yellow bow) is not from the actual OpSmile runway, since we also placed this look in our in-school, self-produced runway show, but the shot was so great we couldn't resist putting it here too! Full post with all in-school shots to be put up soon.]All the girls had so much fun modeling! They couldn't stop smiling, dancing, + laughing. Alice's look in the middle (with stripes):The second look was a hot pink magenta mini dress in the same fabric as Daphne's self-made skirt. Zoe worked a lot on this dress too, helping Alice to clean up the waist line (by sticking in an elastic band to make the dress fit smoother) and braided x-back straps with an exposed black zipper.
Alice's dress on the left, below:
On the runway! Just missed the end-of-runway shot.
The event was covered by Teen Vogue, and we're highly anticipating when the story is published! We'll be sure to post about that when it happens.

Have a great weekend!
xx,
xAZDdesign
Alice, Daphne, + Zoe

Operation Smile