photo by Dale Liesch

Fantastic fashion: Johnathan Kayne and Taylor Yates, center, pose with models after the fashion show at ASCCA.

Project Runway finalist teams up with models to help ASCCA

By Natalie Nettles (Contact) | Dadeville Record

Published Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Lights, cameras and fashion abounded Saturday as the models in the “Live LIVE” fashion show at Alabama’s Special Camp for Children and Adults walked the runway for a worthy cause.

Reigning Miss Chattahoochee Valley Taylor Yates organized the event and said all proceeds from the show benefit Camp ASCCA and the Children’s Miracle Network.

“I was originally hoping to sell at least 50 tickets and we’ve sold well over 100,” Yates said. “This has been so much more than I could have imagined.”

Johnathan Kayne, a fashion designer and contestant on season three of “Project Runway,” spoke at the event and created the prom and pageant dresses modeled in the show.

Yates, a Dadeville native who graduated from Auburn University in December with a degree in apparel design, completed an internship last fall with Kayne.

Finalists for the upcoming Miss Alabama pageant modeled the gowns during the show.

Kayne said after the show that his design inspirations for his dresses come from the “hourglass female form” and fabric.

“I like to make women not only look beautiful, but also feel beautiful,” Kayne said. “That’s the biggest challenge, but I absolutely love it.”

Yates, who is deaf in one ear, said she has devoted her pageant platform, “LIVE,” to supporting people with disabilities and was thrilled to have Kayne attend the show.

“Having someone of his caliber come here and do this is surreal for a small-town girl from Alabama,” Yates said. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d have the opportunity to intern with him and then have him come do this. It’s a partnership and a relationship that I hope continues to grow.”

Camp ASCCA Director Matt Rickman said the camp was very grateful for all the hard work Yates and her family put into planning the event,

“Taylor made this so easy,” Rickman said. “We didn’t do anything aside from having the facilities. She did everything.”

Rickman said that although he has seen Camp ASCCA hold an array of fundraisers during his 11 years with the camp, the fashion show is the first of its kind.

“It’s great,” Rickman said. “It will help benefit out Campership Fund, which allows those who can’t afford to attend the camp to be able to do so.”

Laurin Holcomb, a ninth grader at Benjamin Russell High School, said she attended the event to look at the dresses and support the camp.

“The dresses were all beautiful and it’s very pleasing that we have a community who supports this cause.”

Yates said she could not have been happier with the fashion show’s turnout.

“The event went off without a hitch,” Yates said. “The food was good and the company was great. I’m very pleased.”

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